Hi everyone,
Hope you've all had
a lovely bank holiday weekend? I've taken mine quite easy, caught up
with family and friends and have managed to finish off a couple of
things.
I have always wanted
a pair of tartan trousers. I remember going to Camden Market as a
teenager and trying on the classic red punk pairs there but them
never looking quite right on me. A few weeks ago my manager was doing
a clearout of the house she grew up in and very kindly gifted me a
whole swathe of fabrics that her late mother had in her stash (more of this lovely stuff to appear as I sew it up!). As soon as
I saw this fabulous blue and green tartan I knew that I had to make
it into some trousers, especially after the success of my first Sew Over It Cigarette pants. The fabric is a firmer weave and I think a woollen,
but I used the pattern with the adjustments I'd made for the crepe
pair I made in class and hoped for the best. If you're wondering why there are so many rear-view pictures in this post, it's because that's where I did most of the adjustments on the pattern to get a decent fit- adding room for my bum, and also taking out some width at the back of the thigh underneath.
I did
my best at pattern matching and other than the centre back waistband
it was a success. Sew Over It patterns instruct you to overlock all
your pieces before sewing together, so was very careful about print
matching my side-seams and hoping it would work out fit-wise as my
notches had been trimmed off! If making these another time I think I
would overlock after sewing the seams rather than beforehand, as you
don't gain anything by doing this and I'd rather not lose my notches
again.
I made everything up the same as my first pair apart from some minor details. I
decided to use stay tape to stabilise the slant pockets, but I'm not
sure I applied it correctly as they do still stretch out a little. I also
did a double-turned hem and made the legs a little more cropped in
length by turning them up more.
My first pair were hemmed as per the
instructions – just overlocked, turned once and handstitched into place,
but I find when I want to cuff these I'm not keen on the line of
overlocking showing, so I made sure it was hidden on this pair (not
that I'd be likely to turn these up any more). One thing to try in
future is adding belt loops, which I wish I had in hindsight with
this pair to cope with the fit relaxing over the course of the day.
Another small thing
is that I followed the fly front instructions as given on the
pattern, and I don't think the result is very neat. For some reason
the zip teeth are very close to the opening, even though the fly
facings are pretty deep, but I checked back through and I followed
everything as written as far as I can tell. My fly front came out
better in class, but I think the teacher might have used her
expertise rather than slavishly following the instructions to ensure
a better finish. To be honest I might just follow the Ginger Jeans fly front method of construction next time (minus all the extra jeans topstitching) as I've never had a
problem with that and it always turns up a neat result. You can see the pocket bags and stay for these are made with scraps from my first Melilot shirt.
I'm very happy to
finally have a pair of tartan trousers, now I just need to try and
make sure I have enough neutral tops to pair them with! So far I've
worn them with a white shirt to the office (I don't think I could get
away with the skin-tight polo neck there, especially with the 'Sex,
Lies, Religion' slogan) and I think they would look great with a
plain white t-shirt with short cuffed sleeves, or a plain white
boatneck t-shirt with ¾ length sleeves.
Have you ever sewn something to complete a previously unfulfilled fashion vision?
Happy making!
NorseOtter xx
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