Trousers

The straight leg trousers created from my basic trouser draft have worked really well. I love the contoured band which makes the waist really comfortable to wear. Sadly the fabric is less than impressive and it had a nap which I only discovered after I'd made up the trousers. I did check the nap. Laid out on the floor, the fabric appeared to have no nap. So, I top and tailed the pieces, and now have trousers with the nap running one way at the front and the other way at the back. So they will get worn a couple of times to be sure the fit is comfortable and then the zipper will be harvested for re-use.

Apologies for the dreadful photos. This would you believe, is the best of a twenty minute photo session.

I spent this afternoon making a good pair of these, in some really lovely black polyester suiting. I got two pairs of trousers and a jacket cut from a four metre piece and all three pieces will be for my SWAP. The trousers I've been working on still need the waistband attaching and the finishing but I was pleased to get this far in an afternoon. I put a fly on the pattern and a straight waistband as I changed my mind about having pockets on both pairs of trousers and decided on this pair my new technique would be to cut the lining around the fly the way it was supposed to be, with a little triangle at the base, rather than my usual "bodge it and scarper" method of leaving the front seam of the lining open and pleating the lining into place before sewing it into submission by hand.

Meanwhile, the alterations I made to the petal hem trousers resulted in a "baggy butt" syndrome on a truly grand scale. Plus, the petal hem was a bit less impressive than I had expected so I don't think I will make them again soon. There was nothing wrong with the pattern but my alterations were ill thought out and I hadn't looked properly at the drawings so the petal wasn't where I wanted it to be.

I added length to the straight part of the crotch at the back. Hindsight being a wonderful thing, this does now seem a stupid idea.

The petal is drawn placed to the side of the leg on two of the drawings and on the third drawing it appears to be at the front of the leg. Marfy drawings are so elongated in the leg and foot that it can be difficult to tell where the ankle stops and the foot starts. So, in my head, because I wanted them to be, these became capri length with a front petal. Even though, on the pattern, the petal was quite clearly on the side seam AND the legs were the exact same length as my draft trouser pattern, which is NOT a capri length. Sometimes my ability to see what I want to see, then act upon it, against all logical evidence, truly astounds me.