I've been wanting to move my blog away from Blogspot for a while but could never be bothered to actually do it. This week was the tipping point though, and I've now fully migrated over to https://patsypoomakes.wordpress.com/ . The blogspot address will remain here but all new posts will only appear at https://patsypoomakes.wordpress.com/ . There are lots of reasons for the move but my biggest one is how hard Blogger has made it for people to subscribe to receive new posts via email. It's such a basic requirement but apparently, they think it's too much to offer. I'm basing this purely on how I myself prefer to consume this stuff. I can't be arsed with feed readers anymore and emails are easy and convenient. When I receive one, if I fancy reading it, I will click through to it and, if not, I'll just delete it. Another reason is the spat between Google (owners of Blogger) and Instagram/Facebook/Meta. I don't even know if this is still the case anymore ...
I'm back! I've not been sewing much but I got back to it last week and I have something to share today. The whole month of May was a write-off for me. The first two weeks involved a fabulous trip to London with my bestie from Brasil and then she stayed with us for a few days, too. We had a sewing intensive and she made herself a top, but I didn't sew for myself at all. After she left, our kitchen was refitted. That didn't affect the sewing room, however, it very much affected my sewing brain space; which contributed to zero sewing motivation until last weekend.
I made the Avid Seamstress City Trousers and I think I have finally found my perfect smart trouser pattern. I've tried the Sew Over It Ultimate trousers about 5 times now (you can see one here and another here) but they've never been good enough. When I saw the City Trousers I immediately fell in love with the slash pockets and the semi-fitted look of them. I had to give them a go.
I made a size 2, which is the equivalent to a UK size 10. I was a little worried that the waistband would be too small for me so I added an inch to each end, just in case. When it came to sewing it up, I only used half an inch on each side and I thought that would be ok. After having worn it for a day, I decided it was far too loose. After I took these photos, I unpicked the whole waistband and zip and stuck to the original size. In the end, I made the UK size 10 with no alterations.
There's a cute slit option as well as a straight leg. I made the slits but taking a good photo of your ankle with a big camera is too hard, so this crappy phone shot will have to do. They're sewn in a very clever way and it gives the trousers a very neat and clean finish around the hem. It's possibly my favourite bit of them.
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| I hate feet so I feel the need to apologise for showing my foot. But the slit makes up for it. I hope! |
The fabric is bloody gorgeous. I used this Lady McElroy cotton sateen which I bought from Fabricate a few weeks ago. It was such a gorgeous fabric to work with and the 3% lycra makes it stretchy and comfortable to wear. It also withstood some serious unpicking without being damaged. I'm thoroughly impressed. It's has birds, butterflies and flowers all over it and the colours are magnificent. It's a directional print and I only had 1.5m of 140cm wide fabric, which was plenty.
I have to admit that the instructions are a bit weird. For some of the steps, they are very thorough -sometimes excessively so - but for other things, they are lacking. Maybe it's just a case of getting used to them, I suppose. They're definitely not bad, just different from what I'm used to.
These trousers have turned out so well that I can't wait to make another pair. They're so simple to make and come together very quickly. I have fabric for at least another 2, possibly 3. I'm not big on jeans these days so I need to fill my wardrobe with smart, comfortable trousers and I think the City Trousers are going to help me do just that.
