Monday, April 13, 2009

Possessed by a pattern

Ever have that happen?

While taking a break from the trench jacket one night last week, I cut out the main pattern pieces for the Ottobre 5/2007 #10 jeans. Since I only had one piece of denim on hand, I didn't want to use that and decided to use a nice plaid rayon/lycra woven from Metro Textiles as my muslin. I knew that these pants could only be so bad - Ottobre fits me well and the stretch would save me from any major fitting errors.

Turns out I could have used the denim.

Saturday I woke up to rain. Lots of rain, the steady kind that wasn't going anywhere, the kind that sent me straight to the sewing room. I cut out the rest of the pieces, and decided just to work on the pants for a little while. I made up the back pockets and put a couple of lines of ornamental stitching on them and pressed them. They came out nice and clean edged, so I decided that while I was in there, I should sew them onto the back of the pants. The plaid lined up nicely and the pockets went on.

Then I threw a load of wash in downstairs and decided to tackle the front pockets. Which again lined up nicely, plaids matching, and I sewed them together Hmmm, this was going smoothly. Maybe before my luck ran out I should do the fly front. It had been a while since I'd done one, having realized that I look better in side zip pants. Maybe I'd lost my touch? Nope. I did kind of forget what I was doing, but Ottobre's instructions for zipper insertion are really clear, though they do want you to do it after the pants are partly constructed and I prefer flat insertion. But it was simple enough.

Put the yokes on the back, topstitched. Sewed the backs together, topstitched some more. Joined the crotch seam and sewed the inside legs together. Topstitch one more time. Pin outer legs together, wiggle into pants, leave pin scratches on legs. Hmmm again. Fit seems good. Wiggle out, tweak pins, sew. Try on again - yep, they fit.

Mario knocks on the door after I get the bottom part of the belt loops sewn onto the pants. "Are you coming out for dinner?" Damn, it's 6:00 p.m., and other than popping in and out a few times to deal with the laundry, I've been at this for about 6 hours. I stop and we make dinner - omelets with all the leftover veggies in the fridge - and then I retreat back to my cave.

Construct the contoured waistband, check fit, smile, sew on waistband. Come out, watch a few minutes of TV with him so he doesn't feel neglected, come back in, attach the belt loops at the top, add a button/buttonhole, put the pants on one more time to mark the hems (another great thing about plaid), machine stitch hem. Press everything one more time, fold over stair railing for wearing on Easter Sunday.

The last time I made my TNT side zip BWOF pants, it took me 3-4 sessions. Much as I love my TNTs, maybe sometimes I just need to test drive a new pattern to perk myself up.

Though the next thing on my list (at least at this point) is cutting out another pair of these jeans, this time in the denim I was afraid to use the first time out.

BTW, I got a very cool sewing present for Easter from my aunt - pictures to follow.

8 comments:

Faye Lewis said...

I totally understand your obsession. I've been obsessed with Simplicity 2700 it seems all year.

Elaray said...

Don't you love it when everything goes right!!! The pants look good!

gwensews said...

Don't you love it when you get in the "zone"? Everything goes smoothly with no hiccups--what a feeling! Nice job on those pants.

Dana said...

Great looking pants, and that trench is FABULOUS! I am now fully inspired to tackle my next project, a tailored jacket. Hope the sewing angels are on my side today!

Gretchen the Household Deity said...

Sounds like a very soothing project! I'm jealous; I haven't had one of those in a while. Love the pants!

Ann Made Studio said...

Your pants look great,and how nice that they went together so smoothly.

Cennetta said...

Great looking pants.

Tany said...

The pants turned out great!