Winter Wool Trousers

Trousers can be tricky, as we all know. Most of us have spent many frustrating trips to the fitting room in the stores to either leave empty handed, or with something not quite right, but ok for now. Fortunately, I have found a style/brand of store bought jeans that I love (and wear, pretty much exclusively in the colder months!). But when it come to trousers, I haven’t had much luck. This winter, I’ve been eyeing up the exciting patterned trousers appearing everywhere, and decided to take the plunge - with plaid. 

Enter the plaid pants!



Last year I made a pair of skinny jeans with the help of Winifred Aldrich’s Metric Pattern Cutting for Women's Wear. They somehow didn't get a post of their own, but I was pretty happy with the fit.  If you are at all interested in pattern drafting, I cannot recommend this book enough.


Pockets for work keys!

Here's a little figure analysis: Looong through the rise, low-ish bum, slim thighs, and, according to almost every pattern and rtw garment out there, larger than average waist. As I’m typing this, it sounds like I’m describing a rectangle! I do have curves in there somewhere, they are just not quite rtw trouser friendly. All this means is than my usual struggles in the trouser department involve a too short rise, and that by the time I size up to fit my hip-bones/waist, the bum & thighs are just a pool of excess fabric.

But no longer. When drafting to your own measurements, you are fitting your specific shape right of the bat. There will still be tweaking and adjusting, of course, but I find it easier to see where I'm going when I'm not struggling to add inches to the rise. All that chopping and changing drives me bonkers!

They are a bit more tapered than I was going for (partly due to having to adjust the grainline after I had cut them out - yikes!) and waistband is a bit high, even for me, but entirely wearable. I do not feel like they are going to slide off, and there is absolutely no danger of plumber bum, so that’s a win right there.



Smooth back view!
I did intend to have a front fly, but after putting one in, it had to come out - too bulky! So I went with a side zip instead, remembering to use a strip of grosgrain as a zipper guard. No danger of pinching while zipping! And they are fully lined, or let's face it, they wouldn't get worn at all!

Side view with slight model face.
I'm still not sure what came over me when I bought this fabric, but the plaid sure keeps you honest when it comes to grain lines! And not that you can tell in these photos, but the pockets are a work of plaid matching art.

These guys were finished these about 3 weeks ago, but the inside photos were not good. Here was the state of my back deck photo zone on Friday:



But thanks to some ambitious shoveling, it was back in action today!





Comments

  1. Hi Chloe! I like your plaid pants a lot! I haven't been brave enough to try trousers of any kind yet, but you are making it look easy!
    See you for the blogger meetup on Saturday!
    -Gillian

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, they are not too tricky to sew, just sometimes tricky to fit! It's pretty satisfying to get at least close to what you envision, though.
      And, yes, see you Saturday!

      Delete
  2. Hey Chloe! Very nice meeting you yesterday! These pants are looking pretty fabulous. I've been craving wool pants myself for a good while. Helpful to hear of that book that you recommend. I will have to give drafting my own pants a try soon.
    Adrienne p.s.: Pictures from the meeting are up!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Chloe. It was great meeting you on Saturday. Love these pants, but not sure if I would have the patience to match the pattern!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your pants look great! I may have to pick up that book. I tried sewing Clovers about a year ago and it was kind of a disaster.

    ReplyDelete

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