Summer Eureka! Linen crop pants and review of my go to pants patterns.

I have made two pairs of Eureka! Pants that fit pants for work. I have been super pleased with them! Of course it helps that I have perfected the fit of the pants through several muslins and with help from Sarah Veblen.  

Since my first 2 pairs worked out so great I decided to make another pair but this time as a casual summer pair. 

The fabric is a blue linen with white flower print from my stash. I wanted to be able to wash these at home so I washed and dried the linen a couple of times to shrink it up and to soften it as well. The linen was not sturdy enough for the style of pants I wanted so I underlined the entire thing with Imperial batiste in white. I did this by cutting the pattern pieces in batiste and hand basting them to the linen. This helps with keeping the knees and seat from bagging and cuts down on the wrinkles and the batiste feels so nice against my skin.

I did not line these since I felt the underlining was plenty for this casual pant.

So, how did I decide what changes to make to the original pattern? I put on a pair of the original pants that I made and first I rolled up the hem to a spot above my ankle that I liked and looked flattering. Then I worked on pinning the inseam and outer seam to get a silhouette that I liked. 90% of the width changes are done from the knee down and they are done almost evenly from both sides to maintain the correct grain line and hang of the fabric. 

Once I had pinned and measured my pants I traced off the pants from my master pattern and made the changes to the lower legs. I was carefull to mark the new pattern pieces as cropped/slim so that I can return to those pieces to be used again and know exactly what I have! 

The only difference between these and the first 2 work pair that I made is that I tried a different waistband treatment. The waistband is cut exactly the same only instead of using an interfacing I used elastic. The back lapped zipper and pants hook and eye are exactly the same. The elastic was cut 6 inches shorter than your waist measurement (per the directions). Honestly, I was a little dubious about doing it this way.... Thoughts of kids pants, old lady pants, yoga pants and all sort of this like that were swirling through my head. I am so GLAD I tried it! On my shape with a larger tush and relatively smaller waist it made the waist very comfortable. 

I am very happy with my pants progress! I now have 3 styles of pants down pat! A darted trousers/slacks type of pant. Fitted at the waist and skimming over my lower abdomen and hips to create a smooth silhouette. A casual type of pant with a yoke back and much more fitted, these would be my denim and corduroy jeans. The last is a knit pants, think yoga pants. 

I do need to work on my patterning. I have very precise patterns for my Eureka! Pants that fit. I have what I am calling my 'work' pants and then the variation shown here, 'cropped/slim'. 

For my Jeans pattern I have 2 versions, a straigh leg and a skinny leg. Each is marked with a different seam allowance for stretch versus non-stretch wovens. I am toying with the idea of redoing these and making totally separate patterns for stretch vs non-stretch and having a uniform seam allowance. This will keep things more uniform. 

The knit pants are more fluid. It all depends on the type of knit and the amount of stretch. I use a very scientific method of wrapping the uncut yardage around my hips (my widest part) to where I like it and then taking and using that measurement to base my pants off of. This does mean that I have several sizes cut out and use one that is closest to the measurement. This keeps me from having to make changes after construction because a fabric has more stretch than the original. What I would REALLY like to do is to correlate amount of stretch to a specific pattern size. For example a stable double knit or ponte versus stretchier knits and knits with lycra. I think if I had 3 pattern sizes determined then it would be easier to select the correct one from the outset without having to make changes on the fly.

I think I see a winter project on my list!!

Happy Sewing!!

I am off from work this week and enjoying a week of grandma camp. Helping out while my daughter and her hubby move apartments. I do have to tell you that I forgot how exhausting a 14 month old can be!!! And I am loving every minute of it :)

Silhouette Lana Jeans pattern strikes again! New jeans and Capri pants

I've made a new pair of skinny (well, sort of skinny!) jeans and a pair of Capri pants.

Once again I've used Silhouette's Lana jeans pattern. This is definitely my go to jeans and casual pants pattern. I have made these multiple times, in fact I believe this is my most used pattern ever! As of now I have used this 9 times with 3 of these being Capri pants or long shorts, 2 pairs of skinny jeans, 2 pairs of boot cut, 1 pair of courdoroys and 1 pair straight leg jeans.

The thing I find most interesting about making jeans is the sheer variety of the denim available, the varying qualities of these denims, the varying fiber makeup and the biggest is the varying fit of all of these different textiles. In fact the last 2 pairs of skinny jeans I have made have both been made with exactly the same measurements and with denim of the exact same fiber count but from different producers and the fit is different in both. The latest pair I made have a slightly roomier fit through the seat and thighs. I always baste the side seams after sewing the inseams to check any changes in fit.

I recently purchased a very high quality 100% cotton grey denim. I am thinking of making these with some tone on tone embroidery on the pockets and possible at the lower outside leg. This will be a fun project and tone on tone embroidery will be interesting without being crazy looking!

The jeans I always make with the coin pocket, embroidered back pockets and of course belt loops. The embroidery on these back pockets are from an Anita Goodesign quilting design. Totally fun!

Eek... Sorry for the bad call phone in the mirror pics!!!

The capris/shorts/clam diggers I leave off the coin pocket, back pockets and belt loops. These have all been made out of stretch wovens, not actual denim so I wanted them to be different. I have also cut the legs slightly narrower in these.

In all of my casual pants I always have fun with the pocket linings! The jeans have a traveler theme with antique map and compass cotton print. The purple capri's have a bright stylized butterfly cotton print.

These fun prints make me happy and I use all kinds of fabric for them. This time is cotton prints but I have used silk and poly prints as well.

I know the pictures of me in the garments are not the best.... However, hopefully with daylight savings and with hopefuly spring on its way it will be easier for me to set up the tripod outside on nice days! 

Happy sewing!

My granddaughter at the Chicago Art Insitute enjoying a Monet!

Me holding her on the metra train into the city. I'm so in LOVE!!

Jeans # 3 and why NEVER to use cheap/inexpensive denim

My third pair of jeans ended up being a major bust :( this is what happens when you use fabric that is not if good quality. A very, very frustrating experience. 

The idea behind this third pair was to make a couple of small changes in the fit and use a denim with a small amount of spandex in it for recovery. The spandex in a high quality fabric provides excellent recovery and is supposed to keep things like knees and hips from bagging out. However, be warned.... If you purchase cheap denim fabric with a small amount of spandex you will NOT get good recovery, you just get more and More and MORE stretch. Which results in EXTRA baggy knees and hips and thighs. 

Case in point. Take a look at the pictures below. The photos on the left were taken right after laundering. This was how they were in fitting during construction. A fairly fitted pair of jeans with some slight additional changes needing to be made. (A slight scoop,in back crotch and and a wedge removal at top of back leg.) not a bad fit for jeans and lovely topstitching details! 

The pic on the right was taken exactly 24 hours later after an 8 hour wearing. On the side view you can clearly see the knees bagging and all the extra stretch in the hip /thigh area.

These are the EXACT same pair of jeans. I certainly cannot have my my jeans growing all day as I wear them. And I'm not talking about the normal ease of jeans as they relax onto your body I'm talking about the fabric just growing and growing!!! Booooo. 

Lesson learned, quality fabric makes a quality garment! 

At th every least I can use these as another pair of wearable muslins. They will be good for gardening and around the house work. Now I need to find some quality denim and try again. On the meantime I have a very nice pice of finewale black courdoroy that I can make up. 

On another not about pants. I met up with Sarah Veblen at the Sewing and Quilt Expo last week. And she gave a good looksee over my non-stretch pair of jeans and she thought the fit was almost perfect! She said to try scooping the back crotch a bit. I did a pants fitting with her and Rae Cumbie for the perfect pants pattern. I need to make some non-jeans style pants and I thought it would be nice to work less on the fitting and more on design and sewing! 

This weekend I've been working on a quilt for my granddaughter and have 2 maternity dresses cut out for my daughter. These are the last of the maternity sewing that I have planned. Hopefully these will hold her out for her last 11 weeks!

On a not so fun note.... I am once again battling a nasty cold this time it is all in my chest. Really dragging me down... I think I will have to skip my physical therapy tomorrow and instead go visit my regular doctor and see what is going on.

Happy Sewing

Mom... your jeans are hemmed!

When I was home a couple of weeks ago my mom handed me a pair of jeans that she really looks good in but that were like 3 or 4 inches too long for her petite frame. She asked so nicely if I could pin them up to the correct length and then again so nicely if I could take them home with me because she worried that her sewing machine would severely balk at going through all that denim. So I did, cause I love her and I am a good daughter :)

So mom your jeans are hemmed and they look as good as new. The only difference you will see is on the inside of the hem. I don't own one of those special machines they use with twin needles and twin bobbins... I only have one bobbin thread to catch both top threads. But from the outside no one will ever know!

Before: that was how much shorter they needed to be so first I had to pick out all the twin lines of stitching then cut away the excess and then re-iron it all to the correct length.

Supplies: Denim twin needle and heavy weight thread to match existing thread on jeans.

I spooled out an extra bobbin to use for my thread on the second needle. and then hung the bobbin up behind the machine and thread both threads as if they were one,

I used a piece of soap to make a 'rubbing' of where the inside fold was. This allowed me to accurately line up the double needle to the exact place so I could be sure that it would catch the inner fold correctly.

Inside of hem

outside and all done!

Just need to wipe of the soap line with a damp rag.