Danvillegirl Sewing Diary

Prior to the pant journey, I was going to sew some indie patterns, particularly for the Sew a Garment a Month group.  The theme was to sew 3. Three of anything, blouses/tops/pants/etc.  My plan was to sew three indie patterns. 

Today I taped all the pieces together for the Blank Slate Pattern Austin T.  I have had this pattern since 2017 and there was an update in March that I added. I am sewing the front without the center front seam and adding the tie in the front.  I see many tops with a tie on various websites such as Nordstrom and Macy's and this pattern was perfect for this.

The fabric I am using is a recent purchase from Simply By Ti. (I am not an affiliate). 

This is a weighty rayon knit. It is a black background with peach and coral flowers.  It has a good recovery and a nice stretch for this pattern.
I will update you on the progress of this new to me pattern.

I am done with my pant project.  I mostly enjoyed the journey and decided this can end now.  The pants are not perfect and from the photos that follow I, as well as you, may also see where some more tweaks can/should/would be made.

I compared the final results to my side zipped Talbot's pants with some surprising similarities and some differences.  The back waistband matched the back waist of the Talbot pants. The front waistband on the sewn pants was about 3/4 inch longer. The crotch length was fairly spot on for both the front and back.  The major difference was the fullness of the legs, especially at the thigh area. The hip on sewn pants was still curvy compared to Talbot's and I trimmed that section down several times.

Here are the final results.  I have not hemmed the pants but did pin them to the length I would wear them. 

This is the front with side zipper. Still some excess fabric near crotch on the left when viewing the picture which is my right side.
This is the side…

I have tried on and taken off, made some adjustments, undone some adjustments, and tried some other adjustments with my pants fitting.  I have made my last adjustments and will attempt to actually sew with these final pant adjustments.  I have made so many adjustments and noted many and then lost track of some. 

This has been an amazing adventure. I think my final version will be the best I can do with this particular pattern.  Will I attempt to make another pair of pants? Perhaps but probably not this pattern.  Having said that, one real issue with this pant pattern is not choosing the right size and the need to better understand crotch depth and length.  I have more to learn.  I will take a break from pants and plan to sew some tops for the upcoming cooler weather.

DH and I have other plans for tomorrow and hopefully will be able to finish the pants, take pictures and write a final blog post about these pants by midweek.  I am soooooo ready to be done with this!!!!

P.S. I continue t…

This has been an interesting project for me.  I hardly give up on a sewing project; there has been a few though when I truly knew the outcome would not be wearable.  I have been close to giving up on this pant fitting journey I am on. I realized yesterday after putting on and taking off and repeating this action at least five times that I am actually learning more about fitting pants and decided to not talk myself out of continuing.

I am happy and actually amazed at the fit of the back of the pants with some tweaks for fullness in the back below my bottom/butt/bum.  This pattern has a side back and back pieces. This has allowed for a nicer fit in that area and without this, I would be folding out quite a bit of fullness. There is still fullness that I want to remove.

It was hard taking photos of the back as my DH was not readily available to help.  I lightened the photo so you could see what I am working with at this time.

The front is another fitting issue nightmare!  Actually, this …

I am finally sewing the pants. I pin fitted the pattern about 4 times and I think I will have a good fit when all is said and done. I love sewing the fabric, it was purchased earlier this year from Cali Fabrics and prior to our move to North Carolina.

The fabric is similar to Talbot's pants that fit me very well and the pants last forever.  I hope this fabric and the fit will be the same.

Here is a quick photo of pants in progress on the cutting table. The center front has been sewn and the back/side back and center back seams have been sewn.  Next step is to baste the one-inch seams and try them on for fitting adjustments.


More later.

I am making progress.  Between Pants for Real People book and Melissa Watson on Craftsy for pant fitting, I have made a lot of progress with my pant pattern.

I plan to actually cut out the fabric later this evening. Will provide more progress reports later.

At least I now know steps to take if you have smile lines in the front and back crotch.  I had to take a deeper crotch seam for the back and I reduced the pant length.  I also had to add to the center front for a fuller tummy!

More updates later!