Pants: to do or not to do?

That is the question! Steph C over at 3 hours past is starting a pants block project and will be making this available as a service; I love that! Since I made my jeans last year I’ve only been able to wear them in the summer as they’re a bit too short (I forgot to add to the back calf the amount I took out from the back thigh for curved legs). And the front crotch still didn’t look right after a ton of tweaking (you should see the muslins I made, so many alternate stitching lines!)

 

One day soon I’ll make another pair of jeans, and hopefully make a TNT pattern for pants and jeans. Last year I started thinking about getting a core wardrobe made, and pants, both jeans and casual/dressy, are on the list.

Check out Steph’s post about the pants block here. From all the comments she got, there are a lot of us who’d love to do this.

Abacadabra No.14 Trousers for Boys

I bought this pattern about a year and a half ago, but when I looked at the instructions I just stuffed them back in the envelope! (I was so disappointed at the time, I just love this style.) I hadn’t started sewing Burda Style magazine patterns back then and so was really put off by not having the typical details and diagrams of the big pattern makers.

 

After making several Burda magazine patterns this year I thought I’d be able to tackle this one. So I traced it out last month and decided to do a muslin with some of C’s (my husband’s) old jeans that had ripped out in various places. The pattern is actually a great idea if you’re going to be making pants from various fabrics as it consists of 3 and 4 pieces for both the back and front. I used some cute yellow cotton print for the zipper fly and the loops at the back. Here’s a couple of pics; I haven’t put a waistband on yet as I’ve run out of denim!

The pattern actually has 2 large pockets on the back that line up at the side seams with the front pocket top and bottom seams. Since I didn’t have enough fabric pieces, and this is basically a muslin, I thought I’d leave them off. When I make the next pair I’ll definitely put them on, it’s a really nice design detail.

 

The pattern was actually pretty straight forward, despite the english translation and lack of diagrams. And this was the first fly I’ve sewn in over 15 years! Next time I’ll construct the pieces a little differently: assemble all the front and back pieces using the 5-Thread overlock stitch on my serger and then top-stitch everything with a thick thread in my sewing machine. That way you don’t need to keep switching the thread between seaming and top-stitching.

I’m really looking forward to finishing these pants, I hope O likes them!

KwikSew 3016 Pants for Kids

This pants pattern is a keeper, I’m happy with how it turned out. Next time I’ll use elastic that’s double the width that the pattern calls for as it seems a bit flimsy, and there’s lots of room in the seat so it wouldn’t hurt to lift it up a bit. It has a closer fit around the hip than the pants pattern from the KwikSew book for kids, which dates back to the 80’s.

The fabric is a stretch French Terry and the stripes are a simple cotton jersey. I like the leg bands, which are self fabric, as they stop the pant leg from falling past the heel. They are a bit too long yet for O (that’s my oldest boy) so when he wears them he doesn’t step on the bottom.

So easy to sew, I’m going to make more of these. And what kid doesn’t like sweatpants?!