With my sprint training regime over the summer, I’d lost quite a bit of weight from around my waist and hips, while my legs essentially stayed the same size. This has meant that pretty much all my trousers are now too big (some of them, comically so), and I pretty desperately needed some trousers that fit properly.
With the Kimono Sweat pattern launch out of the way, I went through my fabric stash to find something trouser-y, and discovered a length of stretch navy twill from Ditto that my friend Pip bought me as a Christmas present two years ago and I’d been meaning to sew ever since. Then I had a little dig through my pattern stash for something easy with minimal fitting, and I pulled out Named’s Jamie Jeans pattern, which I’d previously sewn in silver denim. Unfortunately, that fabric was not the best quality, with the silver coating having worn away considerably despite zero machine washing, and are just murky black now. So sad. But I mostly liked the fit of those, and the pattern was ready to go, so the trousers were GO!
These photos were taken in Plaza San Martin in Buenos Aires last week, and were lightened to try and show the details a bit better!
In the silver pair, I loved the close fit through the legs, but the crotch was just not comfortable. To me, it felt like they were too low-rise, but upon closer comparison with my favourite (non-stretch) Burda jeans pattern, it turned out that the crotch curve was about an inch too high, so I lowered it to match Burda’s and the fit is just right now. So they hit at about the same point, just below my belly button, but the crotch isn’t pulling and feeling a bit too… camel-toe!
I changed the order of sewing these a bit to be my preferred trouser order (CB seam, CF seam & front fly zipper, then inseams and finally outseams last) and I really like the front pocket construction and that centre front leg seam, too. It’s these little details that really make these trousers special. On my silver pair, I used the reverse of the fabric on the top of the front pockets, but here I just changed the angle of the twill so they wouldn’t be such a contrast.
The back is quite plain, and I left the back pockets without any design – mostly because I always struggle with back pocket design ideas and I couldn’t be bothered to think of anything! I’m really pleased with the fit of these – you can see a few small wrinkles in these photos but that’s really just the way I’m standing, honest.
As always, I used my favourite vintage hand crank Singer for the topstitching, of course! It really helps when you’ve got a centre-leg seam like this where the topstitching is very noticeable.
I love to use fun fabrics inside my trousers and here I pulled out a Mah Jongg quilting cotton from my deep stash for the pocket lining, waistband facing, and fly shield. No one else can see these, it’s just a little bit of fun for me!
The last little detail in these was part laziness and part nice surprise – my overlocker was already threaded in red so I just changed the needle threads to black and kept the loopers red – it gives the inside seams a feel midway between nautical and selvedge denim!
While I’ve been away on holiday, Sewing Indie Month has started! I’ll be participating again this year, so you can look forward to some interviews and tutorials again this year, in additional to some fantastic prizes for the three sewing contests, too. And we’re nearing the end of the second pattern bundle sale, so make sure you buy ASAP if you want to get a bunch of great indie patterns at a deep discount!