Back to the Free Range Slacks

I was looking for the blog posts of the four versions that I made.  And I guess they fell into the window of time when I didn't post all my makes on Insta, but I also didn't blog them.  It is too bad as my changes were substantial and included the narrow leg version, and I really thought I had taken photos of them!  

So, I have been known to put these down in comparison to the Pomona Pants, but the truth is that they are two different pants, and you probably need both. 

My size is 6 - could have made 4 but I never bothered to reprint the pattern from my first makes.  My very first was wide leg, in heavy weight linen. I still have these and like them, but don't want more of this wider leg shape.  (See my post here). I then moved on to the narrow leg version.  I shortened the rise by about 1" and I shortened the waistband height to create a 1" waistband - a bit tricky as you have to fold down the waistband facing which is angled, but doable.  I find this is just less commitment to the waistband and I quite like that, especially when I remember to leave the elastic relatively loose (it tightens up with washing, and many of my pants have ended up really snug because of this.) 

I wanted to use the leftover chambray from my absurdly massive Bisque trousers (they have found a happy home, do not fret.)  That fabric was just so nice in trousers - it's lightweight, holds a press nicely, and a perfect colour. 

I didn't have enough, specifically, for the side pieces.  Two months passed while I sadly had no time to sew, due to bad life choices.  I was so ready to make these and be done with thinking about it.  I had set out some silk to use for the size pieces.  But then it came time to actually do the job, and I realised what I wanted to do was tetris tiny pieces of the self fabric to create those side stripes.  So that's what I did.  It took an extra 2 hours!  And it's kind of funny that the extra work is really invisible.  

 My new photo location is in direct sun, I am still looking around for better spots.

 

I am happy with these, but they are never going to beat out my ridiculous plaid flannel pair.  I wear those crazy pants SO OFTEN.  Maybe I should make another pair in something that looks like pajama fabric?  Also, I note in my photos that the butt isn't entirely shapeless all the time.  

Since I didn't document these adequately (regarding those previous makes) there is no blog post specifically ABOUT the plaid free range slacks.  But I dare you to find 5 blog post instances when I'm wearing them to model other garments...

Sew house seven slacks, 2 variations

Version one was a success, I've worn them all summer. See here.

I wanted to make some changes to the pattern to turn it into my perfect lounge-linen pants pattern.

-Shortened the waistband by an inch total
-shortened the rise by a total of 2 inches in two separate locations

When I did this on the wide leg version, I had to do it on the short leg version too because I was too lazy to unpick my tape.

The wide version is out of a relatively loose weave silk from Nepal.  I'm pretty sure it's silk.  Once I put them on I was surprised by the heavy, clingy feel, which is what I'd expect from silk.  Also the only other fabric that I would have bought in Nepal is hemp and it doesn't have that texture.

But the loose weave - I thought it might be transparent so I added all the pockets and their excuse of a double layer.

The sewing up was straightforward, it's annoying that I can't write notes into PDF files!  So I had to read through my emails to find the seam allowances for the places in the pattern where they were missing. (I think I missed a chance to download an updated file.)  Otherwise, I have done this before so it was straightforward.

The elastic that fit in my casing was 1".
The changes are good. I suspect I need to be careful not to overfit this pattern - it's meant to be loose and drapey, after all.  Possibly because I am a lazy cutter-outer, the hems were totally mismatched, literally no two pieces were the same length.  So I cut each leg to be even, then matched the two legs and cut them even, and hoped that was right.  I didn't actually measure anything.

The clingy silk makes these into a kind of luxury wear, actually!

On to the narrow leg: well, why not some plaid, so they will be fancy winter sweatpants?  I have a new ruler and it makes shortening patterns amazingly easy!  No more hunting for straight edges and measuring things in 10 places, seriously, why didn't I have a ruler before?

These came together easily as now I'm a pro at this pattern.

I think honestly the linen is the best match for this type of fit.  In linen, it hangs down and the drape really advances the style.  In clingy lightweight flannel I don't think this is my most flattering effort.  Never fear, it'll be worn, it makes me instantly feel scruffy and cool, which is my favourite look.

I don't really like the shape of the narrower leg compared to the wide leg pattern - I think the wide leg pattern is basically perfect.  I did feel like I'd kind of overfit this one - also I might have been better off sizing down to the 4 instead of up to the 6, and it is possible that in a more drapey, heavy fabric, or in something with stretch, these pants would be totally fine.  Anyway now I have all the loose pants!  I will probably revisit this pattern for more linen pants in the future, but now I'm turning my attention back to jeans and work pants.  (And now I realise these would be perfect work pants, if only I had bought some black softshell fabric instead of all the greens...oops.)

Sew House seven Free Range slacks in linen

I had a vision!  I was meandering through all the local shops and swooning over the linen pants.  Hundreds of dollars for these things. Ridiculous.  They are so simple, and most of them don't even fit very well.  Obviously I needed to make my own.  And conveniently, I had some leftover linen after making my Wiksten haori.  I trawled the internet (I don't know where I used to get ideas about patterns!  Was it Indiesew?  Was it Fiona's monthly round up?  Now I know nothing about what patterns are out there, seriously.  No clue. It's all about just tripping over the right thing, figuratively.)

Anyway I discovered the Sew House Seven Free Range slacks and bought it within minutes.  This was totally what I was looking for.

With measurements of 27-37 I was halfway between a 4 and a 6, but I made this right at the end of winter, before going to Nepal and it seemed wiser to size up than down.  Obviously I'd go down next time.  I did remove an inch from the crotch height all the way around, which was genius.  They definitely benefit from that.

I took a few days, and went pretty slowly.  The instructions had an annoying feature of not being all lined up, I had to scan up and down looking for the next bit as they tell you to flat fell things and other details about french seaming that I didn't bother with.  I have to say I've found flat felling a waste of time.  It looks bad and it's not, in my opinion, any better than a faux flat fell.  All of my seams were faux flat felled, finished with the overlocker, and topstitched.

I did add the back pockets because I've gotten more sensitive to what makes a garment look like RTW.  And stupid, useless things like back pockets are IT.  But also these pockets make the pants.  They end at the side panels, which are genius, and overall create a really nice style that makes these slacks a bit original.

(I think the word slacks is incorrect.  It refers to something made of polyester, preferably with pleats.  But I can see that these aren't trousers and in some parlance, the word pants is quite funny, so we are out of options, aren't we?)

The front pockets also have self binding which makes them really solid.

The seam allowance jumps around from 3/8 to 5/8 which seems idiotic to me. Just stick to one thing!  There were a few inconsistencies in the instructions but I wrote to the designer and she got back to me very quickly and has updated the pattern as well.

I'm a bit smaller after Nepal and I put these on and thought I was swimming, ugh. But then I didn't take them off for three days. Success!  I might still make the narrow leg version.  Except somehow I got trapped in another tshirt binge oops I really need to not make any more tshirts.

Other things to change: size 4 next time.  Shorten the waistband and the elastic by 1/2 inch, and remove 1" from the crotch height.  As is, it's just a bit ridiculous.  I could stick a chicken in the front of my pants, there's so much room.  Luckily it's basically summer here in Gisborne (known for what people call "good summer weather" which apparently means hot early and then even hotter) and I don't really care as it's good for ventilation.