So yes, I made a plan for my sewing, and it was totally going to start with a pair of black pants. But that was not to be. Not yet anyway.
Because these came first:
Here’s how that happened: Late in December, fellow ASG member Bonnie made me a new pants block. All it needed was a few refinements for my personal preferences. So I hopped to it, made a muslin to check… and promptly screeched to a complete halt.
There was a 1.25” difference in the inseam length – front longer, back shorter and needed to be stretched.
Not a problem in many fabrics. Total problem in the tightly woven, hard-finished fabrics I prefer for bottoms. Even my muslin wouldn’t stretch that far. Hmm… what to do?
Now if you’re thinking that I should have just asked Bonnie, yes, I can see that now. But I didn’t ask her because I didn’t want to feel stupid. (Ask me how I feel now, hehe) Anyway, I proceeded to make an alteration that I figured would solve the problem. It didn’t. In fact, it made things worse. Ugh!
Undeterred, I thought, I’ll just use the SureFit Designs draft and go from there. Three muslins later, I was getting really close.
And then the next day, I saw Bonnie at Sew with Joe, and mustered up the courage to ask her about the seam length discrepancy. She gave me two tips for how to handle it, and when I came home, I tried them. It looked promising, so I made a muslin. This is muslin #5, for anyone who’s counting.
And it went together like a charm! Yay 🎉
So you’d think I’d move right on to the black pants, yes? Well, no. I had a couple of pretty green cottons already washed and ready to go for PJs. So, PJs I made.
I took my now well-fitting, easy-to-sew pants block and turned it into a one-seam style pattern. The instructions are in Armstrong’s Patternmaking for Fashion Design under “baggy pants” except I didn’t want mine baggy so I omitted the part where she instructs you to add 1-3” in width. I placed my front and back so they just touched at the side.
And then I sewed it up in this bright green quilting cotton. I kept the front flat for 3.5” on either side of CF. Kind of a nice look but not sure I’ll do it again. We’ll see. For the second pair, I decided to raise the back waist 1.25” for a more pronounced back-to-front drop. I made that up in this soft and thick cotton flannel.
Total PJ perfection 😄
I mailed the first pair to my sister today so she can give me feedback on the fit. I’ve always used the same pattern for PJs for both of us, so now that I’m switching to this new one, I want to make sure it will work well for her too.
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Sewing all those muslins was… educational. It also used up quite a bit of fabric. 13.75 yds total. So that, plus 3 yds each for the PJs, puts me at 19.75 yds sewn so far this year. Not too shabby for one month.
And now I can really move on to the black pants so stay tuned.
Happy sewing!
