Quest for Pants

Lately I have been on a quest for pants. Not as important as say, a quest for fire, but very nearly so! I am just trying to make a pair of pants that fit. I have had a lot of "meh" and a couple that I would really consider successful. Not necessarily perfect, but still successful. They certainly look AS good as any of the RTW pants that are in my closet.

I am still trying to come to terms with what the steroids I had to take along with my surgery have done to my weight. Seriously, how can you put on twenty pounds in two weeks? Clearly, the ability to gain weight is my super-power. I'd rather be invisible or have wolverine claws, though. I don't really see my super-power as being all that impressive.

But, like I said before, I can't just wait until I lose weight to sew anything. I'll just try to be frugal and sew with fabrics that aren't too dear. Plus, my body larger is still pretty much the same SHAPE as it is when it is smaller. I'm still pretty much an hourglass, just more of an hour-and-a-half. I still have a waist 12 inches smaller than my hips. So, working out the fit issues on these pants won't be for naught, because I can just grade the pattern down if I manage to lose the weight.

I have decided to leave Vogue 2907 alone for a while, and work with a pair that does not have such a low waist. I started with McCall 5592, a wide-legged jean.


I thought that this pant would be a little bit more "forgiving" than some of the other patterns available. I did end up making some pretty significant changes, though. First, I added 1 1/2 inches of height to the rear end, to cover the "junk in my trunk" (you can see the line drawn on the pattern tissue below) I also cut the rear seam in by about 1 inch, so it would curve over my bottom correctly, and continued this through the yoke as well. I also added a bit of tissue at the outer hip:


The second black line on the yoke shows the extent of the alterations:


I also added a significant amount of tissue to the pocket bags, because they were TINY. I also curved the outer edge in over the hip. For this pattern, I started with a 20, but graded down to an 18 in some places, and even as small as a 16 in some areas, like the waist. Here is the finished product:



I know that I still have some work to do on the back, but hey, I can't see that!! So I'm cool, right? Coming of the high of a near-success, I decided to embark on a pair with narrower legs. I used an OOP Michael Kors pattern, Vogue 2873. This pattern is a straight-leg pant with rear darts and a flat front.


I did make a few changes to the pattern. I did lengthen the crotch curve at the front and back to give a little more room in the thighs. I also made this pair from a gray stretch twill from FFC. It was REALLY stretchy, and because of that I decided not to line it. Because I did not line the pants, I did flat-felled seams and also just cut two waist band pieces from fashion fabric, not one from lining. I also left off the belt carriers, so I flipped the waist band extension so that it buttoned on the inside of the waistband, and not the outside:


Other than that, I made very few changes. I cut essentially a straight 18, making a few small changes to the crotch curve using the previous pair's pattern for a template. These pants do not have pockets, but one of the things that I am happiest about is that I have achieved a good enough fit that the side seam is pretty much vertical, rather than pulling to the rear:


Overall, I am very happy with the fit of the second pair. I think some minor "tweaks" and I will have a very well-fitted pair of pants:



My next goal is to fix that puckering in the back, but like I said...I don't see it, so it's not really there!!