Restingmotion

Thank you to Kathryn at sewingworld for today’s title.

I tried to make yesterday a sewing day.  My goal was 3 pairs of pants; it was not met, but I did get a lot done.  It would have helped if all the fabric had been prepared and at the ready and if I had not needed to redraft pants patterns.  The drafting work IS done now however and future pants will move much faster, at least as far as these styles go.

I started with knit one-seam pants from the last of the Nancy Erickson knits, the plain canvas knit.  I made the one-seams several times last summer and loved them and they fit pretty well, but not perfectly.  In September I was in San Francisco for one of Sandra Betzina’s Power Sewing weeks, and while I was there she had her patternmaker come in to give us a class on altering, drafting, and balancing pants patterns.  It was very interesting and after the class she spent some time with a couple of us who needed extra pants help.  In my normally absentminded way I did not write down the pattern person’s name, I want to say it is Monica, but knowing me that is probably wrong.   Any way, I came out of the class with a newly drafted pair of pants based on one of Sandra’s patterns, which was convenient and available.  I really was only interested in basic pants that fit, where the pattern came from was beside the point.  I learned that my back crotch depth and curve is very long and curvy, kind of bowl-like, and the back crotch depth is VERY LONG.  My front is short in length and short in crotch depth too with a very short little curve, more like a bump.  The whole front curve is less than 2 inches total dept from waist to center.

Here is a picture:

The altered pattern from the Sandra Betzina (Vogue 7940) seminar is on top of the old one-seam pant pattern (pants 101 from mysewnigclasses.com).  The yellow line was the waistline on the original one-seams but I changed it to match the new wasitline from the Vogue pattern.  Notice the slope of the new pattern and the steep angle from center back down to center front.  This sewed up beautifully and the waist band went right along the wasitline seam as I marked it from the pattern without any problems, perfectly positioned.  This is the first time that has ever happened to me.  I can see now why, when pants are  cut so the waist is perpendicular to the grainline, the pants skew off center while I wear them.  this way the grain of each leg is straight and the waist is angled to accomodate me.

You can also see the shorter front crotch curve and that it is a less gradual curve than on the original pattern (which was shorter than many patterns I have tried).  The back has a much longer and deeper curve and the tip of the curve actually curves back up forming a bowl shape although that may not be evident in this picture.

After I redrew the one-seams to match the new waist and crotch curve they sewed up very quickly and I love this new version of the pattern.  I spent some extra time stitching three rows of stitching along the hems, to make a deep hem and add extra weight to help them hang.  The twin needle was too narrow so I stitched three rows 6 mm apart.  This was tedious because the stitches really dissappeared into the fabric and was hard to see so I probably wobbled here and there.  All in all though, they look good and the extra stitching gives them a nice hang.

After the knit pants I traced the new altered top to a pair of basically straight leg flat front pants, not the narrow kind like the Vogue pattern, but a wider more straight-leg version, but with side seams.  These have about 20 1/2 leg at the hem, still pretty wide and they are good for linen and other light summer pants.  I am making these out of a blue linen, which I had thought to wash first, but I hadn’t pressed the fabric.  I did that and decided that there was a fair amount of show-through and I should line them so I had to search through the linning box and find a lining, then wash it and dry it.  The lining is waiting to be pressed, after which I will cut and probably flat-line these pants.

Then I sewed up a pair of basic chinos in a lightweight poplin.  These are fairly roomy through the thighs with deep pockets.  They are good work around the house and yard and good "adventure tourism" pants because they are casual and I can move around well in them if I need to climb or squat or get in and out of things in funny ways.  Those are done except for the hem which is marked and waiting for the handsewing fairy to come along.  This pattern is based on a menswear pattern and I did not redraft it because I am pretty satisfied with the pants.  They are more practical than stylish but they work well for me so I heeded the advise that "perfect is the enemy of good" and left well enough alone.

I also hoped to make a pair of silk pants out of a lightweight silk in a deep french blue.  I was going to line these with aqua silk and put a slit at the side seam, leaving them loose, kind of a dress casual kind of look.  I hadn’t washed any of the silk, and I wanted to do that although I probably will not wash the pants.  Luckily silk dries quickly so I was able to wash them, let them dry and press them, but no cutting out.

I do hope to continue today, but it is a busy day with a lot going on at work.  Tomorrow I have to prepack, at least get all the planning done and check supplies and make sure that everything works and works together.  I will probably still have some sewing time and I hope to get a few more of these things finished.