The year of pants take 2

Here’s my crazy quilter Bermuda shorts:

Whoa! Look at that fabric. Kind of funky cool right? These are Burda Plus 11-2011 136B. Now to tell you how much I was paying attention to the little pattern sketch I didn’t even register these were pleated front pants until I went to sew in the waistband! And I had even marked the pleats when I cut them out!  I was too busy thinking “I need a pants pattern that works, oh here’s one in my size. Cut! Cut! Cut!” Honestly, not a fan of pleats, but here its not really detracting. Agree?

From the side, I would say they are actually flattering because they aren’t being pulled open. They are stitched down about an inch, which keeps them tidy, and if I had actually made functioning pockets, the pleats would make those pockets very comfy rather than “jean” tight like on flat front pants.

Here’s the back. Its harder to see, but there is a bubble under the waistband because of a protruding bum/swayback alteration that needs to be done. I drafted off a size 50 and used the flexible carpenter’s ruler to shape the center front and back seams and this fit well (I discussed this in a previous pants post.) I’m happy that I learned a trick that makes that part of pants fitting easier, though I think I need to tweak it slightly to get the waistband height correct. However, because I didn’t grade down to a size 48 or 46 waist, I have pins all over the waist band.

You can see it better here at the zipper opening. It fits in the hips, but I need to take out 3″ a piece at the side seams, and 1/4″ at CB top of waistband (a curve basically) and another smidgen at CF, and grade these down to the hips smoothly. I also really need to lower the waistband first because it’s covering my bellybutton and I don’t like that. Realistically to make these a wearable muslin, I need to seam rip the waistband, shorten the waist seam and lower the front pleats and back darts. Then refit the waist seam since it will be in a new position. Then after that fitting I would have to resew the waistband and insert a zipper. I didn’t have enough fabric for the lining of the waistband, so I will have to cut re-sized waistband from another fabric and insert that as well before deciding on exact hem length. Am I going to do it? Honestly I don’t know if I like them that much! At this point, winter weather really set in last weekend and I realized how few winter items I actually own so I’m motivated in that direction. This muslin is going to take a nap. When I went to put it in the box, I came across a UFO in need of a zipper.

Here’s a peak at the fabric. It needs to be ironed, but then I’m going to practice Susan K’s method for inserting a couture zipper. I bet you thought I forgot about that class! I’m slowly making progress, but I’ll post about that later when I reach my next milestone. Until then, I am going to finish this UFO and my pyjama party sew-a-long!