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
When the Closet Case Rome Collection dropped earlier this year, I bought the bundle with all 3 patterns. I thought they were all great but I especially liked the Pietra trousers. I finally got around to making them last week and here they are.
Looking at the body measurements, I was dead-on a size 10 so that's what I made. But I'm not 100% happy with how they fit. Look where the side seam sits on my waist. You can see in this photo how far back it is. I'm not sure if that's a design feature. I suspect it might be, because as you follow the seam down my leg, it is sitting at the side, where it's supposed to be.
It is, however, a little roomy at the waist. I could do with losing almost 2 inches. But if the elastic was tighter, the side seam would pull towards the back even more. Or, if I were to pinch out some excess at the front, I'm not sure the trousers would go over my bum. 🙈 I have to stretch them to the maximum in order to get them on. It's a head scratcher.
One change I made was to lengthen the legs. The view I chose was the tapered leg one but that is quite cropped and I wanted to be able to wear the trousers when it's cold. I added 3 inches at the 'lengthen here' line and I fully expected to have to take some away. As it turned out, it was the perfect length for me - I'm 1.59m/5'6" for reference.
They are the most comfortable pair of smart trousers I have. Hands down. But I'm still not sure about them. When I first finished them I thought they looked enormous. There's a lot of room in the front hip area but I guess I need that to be able to move and to get the trousers on and off. Having looked at these photos for an inordinate amount of time, I think they actually look ok. They certainly look better than I remember them. Maybe I need to get used to seeing myself in them.
The fabric I used was this Sevenberry cotton twill from Ray Stitch and it was a great fabric to work with. It's fairly lightweight and it works really well with the gathering at the back. The seams aren't bulky and the fabric is very malleable. They had so many colours that it was hard to pick but I wanted a grown-up colour that would go with lots of things in my wardrobe. Not black and not navy. I think this gray fits the bill.
The instructions were great and the trousers came together really quickly. The way they have you attaching the elastic is SO CLEVER and gives a really great result. None of the weird pulling you sometimes get at the side seams with methods I've tried before. I want to try the shorts next, as soon as my fabric ban is over I'll be looking for some pink twill or linen to give them a try next year.
Despite the small niggles I have with this pattern, I'm very glad I made them. I will try to wear them some more to get used to them. They definitely were much bigger in my head than they look in these shots. Isn't it funny how our minds play tricks on us sometimes?