The search for narrow pants.

 Wisdom gained:

a) I can sew knits! I just needed to pay attention to my sewing machine and all it can do!

b) I should take a course in proper pants fitting! (Maybe before I start on the jeans?)

Last year, I wanted to make slim, black pants. I could not find a suitable pattern, nor could I even find suitable fabric. I ended up buying a black & white tweedy/speckled pants fabric (mixed, unidentified fibres, if I remember!), and also a deal on camel coloured rough wool.

I decided to use a New Look pattern from my collection, one of those “easy wardrobe’ mixes. The pants have a cuff (which I wanted), a waistband and side zipper. I had never made these pants, and started with the wool. I have not usually needed to make a muslin as I fit well enough into standard sizes; or so I thought until I started looking more closely!

Well the pants fit well enough at the waist, but slim they were not! And the crotch seemed oversized, as well. I ended up just taking in the seams and the pants became serviceable. I liked the fabric, perfect for winter.

As I decided to try the second pair, I knew I would have to do some serious pattern alterations, which I did, then made a muslin. I considered taking an online course to draft my own pair from scratch, but decided to postpone that.

The muslin was still too droopy, so I created a Frankenstein muslin, with some unconventional folding and pinning, and had what seemed like an okay fit. The dart points were sticking out, and there were still a few wrinkles, but I decided to go ahead. This was not high-stakes fabric, and I figured that I could make something wearable, if not jaw-droppingly fantastic.

Frankenstein muslining

Earlier this summer Dianne had been helping me with fitting the (interminable) Marta dress and casually commented on how nice a contoured waistband was. I had never really paid attention nor considered such differences. As I looked at the stiff, rectangular fold-over waistband for these pants, I decided that since they were somewhat experimental anyway, why not play with the waistband. I looked online for some techniques, and in the end decided to adapt the Marta waistband. I also decided to use a piece of cotton as the waistband lining, instead of main fabric, to make it a bit less stiff, and softer (did I mention that this fabric appears to be scratchy on my bare legs!). I did not change the top of the pants, the new waistband seemed to fit nicely.

I also decided to use the lovely thread-tail method (from Heather Lou at Closet Core), to turn the corners.  The end result is a softer looking waistband, with nicely turned corners; but… how could I not have planned this better: one end is narrower than the other, and this shows as it is the outer overlap. Not a problem since I would never be wearing a top that shows the waistband anyway!

The crotch is still droopy, the butt darts are still pointy, and I may have made the legs just a bit too snug, but they will certainly be wearable this winter!

Bonus make - self-drafted raglan T with a nice black argyle print knit I had in my stash. Used this site to design it.

I don’t sew a lot with knits. I must have sewn one item, because this piece I pulled out had clearly been used for something. I drafted the pattern as instructed. The fabric available was going to be a bit on the short side… but it fit, more or less.

I used the stretch knit stitch on my machine, (Number 12 in the photo) and, of couse, I used my walking foot.

I don’t know how it works, but I do know that it is hard to pick out. Which I had to do on a sleeve! I got the four pieces together, then had to take in the sleeve seams at the neck-line, as they were gaping. That worked fine. I then looked at a few basic tutorials, and found that to make a neck band I should cut it about 90% of the length of the neck. So that is what I did and it worked perfectly.

The entire top is a smidgeon small: the sleeves are a bit tight and a bit short, and the length is a bit short. But it is surprisingly flattering, and should work with the new pants.

I am not thrilled with the fit, but I think I did the best I could with the pattern. I still have the pants-drafting online course open in my tabs, to try again for a lovely fitting cigarette style pant.

The next pants on the menu, though, are the jeans!