Back in the saddle with black pants and a bag

Ugh, nothing like a respiratory illness to put me out of commission for weeks on end. Especially as my body is still acclimating to the high elevation. I don’t remember much of it, and what I do remember wasn’t much fun. But this week I’m finally back to completely normal, yay!

I’d cut out these pants just before I got sick. And then the pieces just sat there, waiting. A couple weeks ago, I mustered up enough energy to pin, sew, and press the darts. Eight darts total so not a big deal, but OMG it took everything I had.

So the now-nicely-darted pieces sat there again, waiting. Mocking me.

Until today.

Because yesterday, I went to a friend’s house for a sewing playdate. She walked me through making the large Clam Up bag from By Annie. It was so nice to just work step-by-step, with Pam’s guidance and tips for all the tricky parts. When I left Pam’s house, my bag was done except for the hand-stitching on the inside.

Finished Clam up bag in a red/white check fabric with a black and white striped zipper. — *Finished Clam Up bag – the diagonal quilting is about 2″ apart.*

I finished the inside binding this morning at knit group, sent Pam a picture, and promptly moved on to serging the edges on the pants.

The Clam up bag inside out to show its lining in a black and white button print. The inside panels and binding are in the red/white check fabric. — *And the inside of the bag – a cute button print in black and white. I cut the binding and inside panels from the main fabric, but the button print would have worked just as well.*

Apparently, sewing with Pam was exactly the jumpstart I needed because although the serging was really all that I was going to do (having learned from the dart sewing experience, hehe), once the edges were serged and pressed, I sewed in the invisible zipper… and then just kept on sewing until the pants were done.

The fabric is Kona cotton – easy to sew and easy to press. And comfortable to wear, too. The pattern is from the same block I’d used for the green PJs but the waist is fitted and faced.

Mirror selfies to show the black pants from the front and side. — *Apologies for the mirror selfies, the weather and my photographer haven’t synced their schedules.*

I left a 1/2” seam allowance for the waist seam, and I didn’t clip it or trim it because I’m out of narrow twill tape so no good way to stabilize the curve of that seam. I’m hoping that the large seam allowance will do the trick.

For interfacing, I used black PerfectFuse Sheer from Palmer/Pletsch. I’d forgotten how nice it is. It adds just the right amount of body without showing on the right side.

I love that I once again have a pair of pants long enough to wear with heels. Wearing heels just makes me feel like me, you know? Even though they’re not the most practical.

And for the record, that’s 3 yds sewn this month for YTD total of 22.75 yds.

Happy sewing!