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 ...
These trousers have been in the making for a very long time... I made my very first pair 4 years ago almost to the day. I believe they were my first pair of trousers as well - no, I didn't go back and read the post. I still have that pair and a linen pair I made shortly after. In fact, I wear them all the time and I was wearing my first one on Friday while I was making these. How very... wait for it... FITTING! Wahey! See what I did there? I've also been watching How I Met Your Mother a lot, can you tell?
Usually, I don't blog about things I've made for the 4th time. However, having had such a big gap in between I decided it was worth it. I want to talk about things I did differently last week, having gained 4 years of experience in the time that has elapsed.
The first issue I needed to address was how tight the calves were. I've made the exact same size as 4 years ago, which was a 10. The fit has always been great except around the calves. They are fine if I am standing but as soon as I sit down, they become too snug. Bending my legs down is not really an option unless I want to risk popping my seams.
I did a full calf adjustment on the back trouser piece by slashing a V cut from about mid-thigh to the calf notch and then extending that V into a Y all the way to the hem. It's a super simple adjustment to make and a quick google search will give you countless options to follow, but this post is the one I learned from. I added 1.5cm to mine. The fit is perfect now and although my hem is a little wider, it's not by much and I don't mind it at all.
The other thing I was never happy with is the way the front of the waistband tugged at the sides. Having made a few other garments with a half elasticated waist, once I had a look at the Carrie instructions I knew they were over complicated for no good reason. I used the same method described in the instructions for the Estuary skirt by Sew Liberated and it finally sits flat.
I didn't have the presence of mind to take photos while I was sewing it - and I don't think a black fabric would have lent itself to very clear images anyway, but I'll try to explain it.
I attached the waistband as instructed, pressed the unsewn edge 1.5cm and then folded down the waistband, wrong sides together. Now, instead of following the instructions, I stitched in the ditch at the BACK OF THE WAISTBAND to create a channel for the elastic but I left the front portion free. I fed the elastic through, then pinned it at both ends and stitched in the ditch at the side seams to secure the elastic in place. These seams not exactly at the sides but in line with the outer pleats as you can see above.
Once the elastic was installed at the back, I then shut the front portion of the waistband by stitching in the ditch and bang! Done! I also ran 2 lines of stitching on top of the elastic to keep it in place because on my other pairs it's a bit of a nuisance having to rearrange it in the channel every time I pull the trousers on.
The fabric I used is a black viscose I bought over 3 years ago during my first visit to Copenhagen. It's a great fabric, really soft but a bit squirmy as viscose tends to be. I think this might be the first-ever black garment I've ever sewn. I don't like black, I don't wear black but sometimes I do think I could use a black top or a black bottom to balance out all the prints and colours I like to wear.
I can tell already I will get a lot of use out of this one. Not only it goes with everything (duh!) it is so damn comfy that I don't want to take it off. These really are secret pyjamas. I mean, if even my other pairs, with the issues I hadn't known how to correct, are still in constant use 4 years on, they really must be good.