Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Ottobre 04/2004-15

I am one of those people who cannot abide having unfinished projects hanging over my head, so I had to finish these pants before I started on Myra's flower girl dress. These are a pair of dress pants, refashioned from a pair of pants that Mitch had worn out, but in areas that could be cut away.Here is the front.
Back - I love the yoke!
And side. The front slash pockets are salvaged from the original pant as are the belt carriers, zipper and buttons. I am happy with the way that they came together. Ottobre has yet to fail me.
A few things that I am pleased with...
My hems are hand catchstitched. I am beginning to actually like handwork. The hems are very deep, in fact, the pants themselves are quite large. Between the fact that it is impossible to accurately measure a wiggly 3 year old and the rapid growth rate of the same 3 year old, I made these pants WAY too big. There will be plenty of hem to let out, should the pants survive that long.
I also borrowed a trick from RTW and added an adjustable waistband made of buttonhole elastic that can be taken in and let out by simply moving the elastic tighter on the buttons. This is one side, but there are buttons on both sides so that you can adjust the sides evenly. If anyone out there is interested in a tutorial, please let me know. I will make one with the next pair of pants!
A few things that I am not as pleased with...
This stain!! I knew it was there, but failed to account for it when I cut out the pants. Grr!
My zipper. I forgot to interface the front flaps where I attached the zipper, so I got some bunching when I stitched it down. I decided to see how well I would do inserting a fly front without checking and re-checking the directions, so I did this one without even looking at them. Other than the interfacing, it came out pretty well, and I definitely won't forget again!!
I also was in a bit of a rush with this one, since I wanted to get on with the flower girl dress. For seam finishes I just pinked all of the seams. This seems like a bad plan on a loose weave linen, but the original pants had pinked hems, which held up well, so I may get away with it.

7 comments:

wendy said...

very cute :-D
the fly looks OK to me- I doubt anyone is really going to notice if it's a little wonky!

Beth said...

Great idea--reusing something already made! Love the elastic--interested in the tutorial, but I can look and ask questions in person.

Kathi said...

They look great. I agree about that back yoke - it is a really neat feature!! Don't you hate hwen you do something like forgetting about that stain? It is so frustrating!

Ruth said...

So many things I like about these pants.... the repurposed fabric, the waist, the curved yoke.... great job!

Sarah said...

I would love to see your elastic waistband tutorial. My kidlets get super tiny waists around 3.

Renee said...

yes please! I love those waistbands. All my kids always get taller before they fill out. Belts are a pain.

DNAgallows said...

Very impressed with the adjustable waist band!