While I’m still waiting for the fabric to arrive from America for my last Christmas present, I decided to add to my trouser collection and make a second pair of the black biker trousers, which are BWOF 05/2006 #112. I realised in my observations of what I’m wearing this month that my trousers in general are way too dark and I need some slightly lighter ones to allow me to wear (my many) black tops with them.
Our friends James and Dori‘s photographic setup has got me seriously jealous! They’ve got the light umbrellas and everything – it felt like a real studio in there, nevermind the added ease of not having everything move underneath you while trying to focus!
I really like this style of jeans – they’ve got the extra seam running down the front of each leg in addition to the inseam and outer seam, but I think the added topstitching on the centre seam really helps to elongate my legs, too. The pattern itself doesn’t call for back pockets, so I just freehanded a rounded-bottom shape and made a bit of a “mountain-M” motif on the back. The silver YKK rivets were a huge PITA, though – between James and I, we ruined about 5 of them before we finally got them to insert without bending halfway through. I might go back and rivet the pocket opening corner on the fronts if I can ever face the frustration of them again. Which is kinda strange, because I’ve never had any problems with brass rivets or set-in snaps, or eyelets, or even denim buttons before, so it makes me think that perhaps these are just made of a shoddy, soft metal or something.
While the last pair were a little tight sewn up in a non-stretch woven, I solved that this time by using some grey stretch denim bought from Fabric World on Goldhawk Road for £2.99/m. The topstitching appears to be white in contrast, but it’s actually light grey Gutterman upholstery thread (remember my denim topstitching tips and don’t use their “topstitch” thread weight!!). And with this much topstitching, these jeans took twice as long as they would’ve normally, what with having to rethread the machine for practically every seam! And to avoid the obvious double stitching at the start and end of each seam, I instead used a pin to pull the top thread to the back and tied off the stitches rather than doing the usual reversing to lock the seams. They end up looking neater that way, especially with such obvious detailing near the pocket opening.
And speaking of pocket linings – these are naughty kitties, because I just can’t have boring pockets on any of my trousers, no no no!
These also coordinate with my purple wool sweater and black yoga tee (as seen in the photos above!) as part of Pattern Review’s Endless Combinations contest. I’ve got a couple more ideas brewing in my head for what to make next in my line of purple and grey clothing, but I’ll have to make the last Christmas gifts before I can do those…