Finally, the rest of the fashion world has realised what I knew years ago – wide leg trousers/pants are simply fabulous! Daughter No 2 has been wanting a pair of those fabulously floppy, soft, wide legged trousers for a while now, and we’ve gone through loads of pattern options, but none were quite right. I thought I’d cracked it with the Landers, but no, not quite.
This summer I bought the Protea Pants pattern from Paradise Patterns as part of their fundraiser for the Hawaiian fire disaster. I’d fancied it for myself for a while, but not all photos on Instagram were ticking the boxes, so there was some doubt. Anyway, I offered this pattern to Ms Fussy Pants, and she graciously allowed me to toile it for her. She has a lovely piece of worsted wool suiting in navy that is begging to become a pair of wide legged trousers.
I toiled the pleat-free version, having traced both the size 2 and 4, but for the toile went for the size 4 without adjustments, and the 32″ leg length. Her measurements put her in the 4 for waist and 2 for hips, which is completely opposite to how patterns usually work for her. I usually have to grade out for the hips. So I was a bit wary. However – they fit perfectly! I was gobsmacked – I’ve never had a pattern fit her straight out of the envelope. All I did differently was to turn up just 3cm of the 4-5cm hem. The pants just skim above the floor when she’s wearing her converses.
So – at this point I’m happy, I can cut the wool and get started. Except the words I was dreading, but had expected, drifted across the sewing room. “Muuum – can you make these wearable…..?” Accompanied with the usual puppy dog eyes. I bloody knew it! But I’d sewn with white thread. She wasn’t bothered, so I kept going, doing all the visible stitching with the white too! Of course this means I had to pull the seams apart at various sections in order to neaten the seams, insert the pockets and retro-fit the zip and belt loops.
The pants actually look fantastic, and she’s worn them already! Good news is that they were comfy all day, didn’t drop in the waist and the pockets are a decent size for her phone and other paraphanalia. And she definitely wants those wool trousers now! So I suppose that’s this week’s job.
The instructions are good, but I ignored most of them, especially the zip installation. I have my own method that works just fine and is nice and quick and neat. I stuck the fly facing piece to the front at the relevant point in order to eliminate that extra seam and faff too, just cut off what you don’t need afterwards with the overlocker.
Of course, I haven’t traced them in my size at all yet…
THE COMPULSIVE SEAMSTRESS 