I have traced out the front and back onto a separate pattern so I don't ruin the original, (which is a pain in the backside), and I can already see these are going to have very wide legs. I like wide legs for summer, I find them comfy and cool. Well, really I just like wide leg pants all year round. The fabric I chose is from my stash. It's a beautiful bottom weight, cotton slubby piece in an olive or avacado? green, and I'm not overly attached to it, so if I wind up chucking them I'm okay with that. But if they turn out nice I will wear them.
Fast forward a week.
Well the green pants were cut out basted up and laid on the garbage bin for a few days-they were gigantic!!!!! I am a lazy sewist and was not in the mood for any challenges after making my military jacket, but as I was looking through my mountains of patterns, magazines, books and Pinterest for another project and not being interested in anything, they kept calling me back from the bin, "Make me, make me". Then I realized there are so many great features about these pants I just love. I must make peace with them or they will haunt me forever.
I love the wide legs, they are too wide but I think I can get them under control.They don't have a zipper they have Velcro and I have never done a Velcro fly before. The fly is self contained with facing and underlap- all one piece. They sit at the right spot on my hips. They have a faced waist band but it kinda looks like a waistband, which makes them skim over my figure rather then chop it into bulging bits. There are lots of pockets but they are optional as are the belt loops.
They are so big I decided to use the original paper pattern and recut them to a size 7/8- throwing all caution to the wind! From here on in any adjustments will have to be made on the garment.
When I recut them I didn't have quite enough fabric for the fly extentions so I Frankensteined some fusible interfacing together to make up the loss. Don't laugh! No one will see this except me and I hope it will survive the wash!?
This is the fly- look! No zipper. How cool is that!
For the large pockets on the front the pattern called for a partial facing that I wasn't thrilled about so instead I faced the whole pocket, using a printed cotton scrap, turned them inside out and top stitching them on. Much nicer I think and no bulky seams. The pocket is suppose to be a belt loop as well, but I "forgot" this step there by saving a lot of extra work. There will be no belt loops at all for my version;) or any more pockets for that matter. I'm more concerned about the fit and the construction then the add ons.
As far as the fit is concerned the crotch depth is perfect at the size 7/8 but for the side seams and back seams I used only a 1/4 inch seam. If my math is correct that added a lot to the over all size.
I made the waistband facing a bit too long which would not allow me to put a buttonhole on- thank you GOD! I've had my fill of those lately. I am very happy with the hook closure, it keeps the front flatter. I really should pay more attention to the instructions especially when they make sense. Duh!
I am so glad I retrieved these from the garbage. I think with a bit of work I can hone the pattern to a T. The instructions were sketchy on seam finishing, so for my next pair I will seam finish all my edges first thing.
The over all length came up shorter then I thought. I like a deep 3" hem on wide legs for the weight and swish factor, but I only got a 1" hem. Now that I think of it I could have put a contrasting facing in the hem that would have been so cute especially for a shorter model. This is what I like about blogging, processing the information a different way gives you a different perspective. I'm still not done, I have to stitch up the hem and add another bar tack on the fly. Then I will take some photos and post.
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