April 30, 2011

THE DAY IS STILL YOUNG....

It's the last day of the "Bottoms Up" challenge, but the day is still young.  I just finished the second bottom of the challenge.  Of course I originally planned to do more, but the day is still young, and there is no telling what I'll be able to come up with.  The sewing cave is littered with patterns, I would show it to you, but I'm much too embarrassed of it at the moment.  


These pants are a true olive; I thought the others were but now I think differently.  I bought this fabric at the March Expo from the Vouge Fabrics booth.  It was a large remnant and not clearly marked so the fabric content is still a mystery to me.  It wasn't exactly the weight I wanted, but oh well, I have to make pants out of something.  Made from my ancient TNT Simplicity 8707      pattern again.  I do think that I've got the pattern tweaked so it fits just right at this point.  But I thought that with the last pair that I made - after wearing them to work I couldn't wait to get home to tweak them some more.  I ended up going into the "safety hatch" (center back waistband and pants seam) to increase the seam, as well as taking them in in the side seams.  I also had to re-hem them again because they were much too long.


Besides going down a size, and decreasing the length 2",  I've decided to permanently scoop out 3/4" on the upper front piece from the side seam to the center front.  I arrived at this conclusion in an effort to get rid of the wrinkling that occurs in the front of my self-made pants.  I got this information from my blogger friend GWEN at ALL MY SEAMS who also suggested that I add Palmer and Pletsch's book "Pants for Real People" to my library.   It's a super easy adjustment too.  I've got one more pants pattern that I want to muslin, and of course if it doesn't work it'll be back to this TNT pattern.


I'll take this time to THANK ALL WHO PARTICIPATED IN MY APRIL CHALLENGES, or who planned on joining in but didn't have the time.  You are the element that makes this so much FUN!!!

NOTE:  Be on the look-out for a simple challenge I have planned for June...I think you'll love it... 

9 comments:

  1. Another great looking pair of pants! Can't wait to see them on you (hint, hint).

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  2. I never got anything posted for your challenge. I'm sorry. I did get a couple of things made, though. We've been to SC and back. We brought our daughter and 2 of the grands home with us! Fun!

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  3. By the way, your pants looks great. I guess once I get some more tops made I'll have to follow your lead with some pants. I will need advice on altering.

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  4. Great pants.

    Thanks so much for the double congratulations on my being published in Vogue Patterns Magazine. You were the first to congratulate me. I was thrilled that someone actually noticed.

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  5. Nice pants. Hmmm.., simple challenge.

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  6. I enjoyed your challenge. In case I haven't said so, I will be in for your June challenge. May's lining up to be a circus here, so please be sure to remind me! You know my email!

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  7. Great looking pants!! I can't wait to see what you have in store for June. I just got PFRP in the mail today from amazon. Hopefully I will have some muslins to put some of the tips to practice real soon.

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  8. Hi Faye, Thanks for commenting on my blog, which led me to your blog. I love checking out new, to me, sewing blogs. It's so nice to be able to sew good fitting pairs of pants and the olive color will be so versatile. To answer your question, I lined the dress with a swiss dot 100% cotton voile.

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  9. You know where I stand with my pants, so despite my intentions to post to the sewalong, nothing, nada.

    Your pants look wonderful !

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