In a panic for pants (trousers)!

Hello again!  Here I am!  The real thing!

My RTW Fast year is close to ending and I am still filling in the gaps in my handmade wardrobe.  There is still time left to sew up some pants for myself though – I would love to have a pair of black, blue and brown pants suitable for work.

So to recap… You’ve seen my pattern, Vogue V2948.  It has princess seams front and back and a curved waistband.  It is fantastic for alterations…

And you’ve heard about the Craftsy course, Pant Fitting Techniques with Sandra Betzina, that helped me with my fitting and sewing my muslin…

I have already cut out a few fabric choices using the altered pattern I made from my muslin…

That certainly looks like a few ambitious piles of fabric.  Let’s start with the brown fabric.  67% polyester/30% rayon/3% spandex, very soft, not as stretchy as some of my polyester fabrics, but with a bit of stretch.  It actually reminded me of a heavy yoga pant fabric – maybe not suitable for work pants?  We shall see.

So this is the front of my pants, without any alterations.  You might notice  that I thought I would be clever and sew piping in the front princess seams.  Well I cut the piping out right away, it pulled and did all sorts of awful things to this slightly stretchy fabric.  You can really see it on the left leg here…

Back view, not any better.  My pants really need some more fitting.  I also need to pluck off that wad of white thread that I am carrying around on my leg!

You might notice the invisible zipper insertion?  It has been a while since I have done an invisible zipper and I don’t have an invisible zipper foot to use, but this is how I did it…  (If you click the photo words appear!)

Iron the living daylights out of your invisible zipper (it won’t melt). You are ironing it flat, but when you let go it goes all curly.

Put interfacing where the invisible zipper sides will be sewn.

I used Wonder Tape to baste on the side I was going to sew.

One side of my zipper basted down.

I sewed on the one side, as close as I could. I actually used an old Singer zipper foot on my Janome so that I could get really close to the teeth.

Close!

The other side was basted on with Wonder Tape too and sewn down.

Both sides sewed on, inside view.

The right side. If I pull on the sides of my front piece there is a bit of a gap, but you can’t see it when I wear the pants.

I sewed up the rest of my crotch seam to where I left off sewing the zipper sides.

I sewed down the two sides at the bottom to prevent them from flapping around.

Sandra Betzina suggested sewing a tab inside of your pants at the top to make a snap, button or hook closure.  This is so the zipper will last longer and be easier to zip up.  I thought I would give it a try.

How the tab looks from the outside, if the zip is unzipped.  This brown colour photographed in so many different shades.  I think this might be the most realistic colour shot.

Under stitching the top edge of my waistband, on the inside, to keep it in place.  I also have seam tape sewn inside the top edge of my waistband to prevent my waistband from stretching out.

And my finished pants, with my “Jungle January” top.  (No headshots today – sorry – my hair stylist and make up artist couldn’t make the shoot!)

Here’s an overexposed shot of the back of my pants.  Deliberately done so I could see how my fitting went.  Not too baggy, creases at the knees – that’s acceptable to me.  A bit too many creases/wrinkles under the butt.  Comfortable enough to sit.  All you helpful readers… any further advice out there on the fit, or correcting it?

I keep looking at my RTW pants (below) and am happy I can sew my own pants now.

Well considering how much more stretchy this brown polyester fabric was than my cotton muslin, I’m happy with the result.  Now on to the black pair.  I’ll have to think of an alteration in the style for them so I don’t have four pairs of pants in all the same style!

Thanks for reading!  And please let me know what you’re working on, I love talking about sewing!

Until next time, Happy Sewing!