While I have been dithering over other projects (like the closet, which remains in planning limbo) and what fun things I want to sew next, there has still been a bit of activity in the sewing room.
Let me present 5 pairs of simple straight-leg pants:
From the bottom up:
1 brown cotton lycra
2 black cotton lycra
1 brown corduroy
1 wool stretch crepe (lined)
I was in desperate need of pants and I am happy that I now have something to wear other than the one pair of black cotton pants from which I copied this pattern, jeans, and one pair of black St. John knit pants.
I used a favorite narrow leg flat front chino from Eddie Bauer as my basic pattern, tracing off the pants, and altering the crotch curve to match the one in my basic pants sloper. I also altered one leg to compensate for the skew of one leg so that the side seams would hang straight, perpendicular to the floor. No commercial pants hang straight on me, and I have started exploring ways to compensate for this (see May 15, 2005).
The brown and black stretch cottons are from Fabric Mart and they look and feel the same, but the brown pants, cut to the same size as the black, seem a little more snug, and in fact the fabric has a little less stretch.
The brown corduroy pants were cut looser are is no stretch in the fabric, and I made the legs straighter for the wool pair as the fabric is quite drapey. However, I did not get the grain quite right on the wool pair, as the side seam still skews a little, more than on the corduroy pants, so obviously there is some issue with the drape and hang of diffferent fabrics, which makes sense as the way a fabric hugs my body will affect how it hangs over the swivel of the hips. We want to create the illusion that everthing is straight, but how the fabric hangs from the underlying structure will affect the final product.
In short all the pants are pretty good but not perfect. Sewing 5 pairs of pants in a row is pretty boring so it might be a little bit for I explore this issue again, but then I am intrigued by the engineering prospects, so perhaps, now that I am not desperate for clothes, there will be more incentive to play.
Since we were stuck indoors today due to snow and sleet, I tried on all the pants, marked the hems, and hemmed all 5 pairs.
It is hard to see the seam on black pants, especially as there is no really good light available today, but it is pretty straight. I am slowly making progress.
And now, having made 5 pairs of pants and one jacket, I have sewn more clothes in 2007 than I did in all of 2006, I am well on my way to meeting that vague "sew more" goal, and even progress on boring projects like straight leg pants is enough to keep the fire burning.
Besides, just having something to wear is incentive, especially when that something was made by my own hands.
