It has recently come to my attention that Peppermint magazine has an excellent and most importantly free sewing pattern library created by the ever stylish In the Folds…and this is how I came to need some wide leg pants. And in fact this is the tale of 2 pairs of pants.
The instructions that In the Folds creates are fantastic and also they are really mindful of keeping our sewing community sustainable. And so as suggested I looked deep into my very petite stash to see if there was anything lurking at the bottom that would make me sustainably smug in the pants department. And lo and behold I found literally right at the bottom some gabardine with ever such a tiny bit of stretch, in bottle green with a sheen.
Turns out that was quite dumb…sorry I mean misguided…no I mean hopefully stupid choice of fabric. A super nice reminder to me as a more experienced sewer that just because you will it doesn’t mean that the fabric will bend to that will.
They came up too big because of the stretch, and then I singed the sheen right off one the knees with the iron…and I am blaming this fabric for the subsequent breakage of the iron…and then the hook and eye wouldn’t sit right. So many, many problems. oh and the darts at the back looked odd on my behind because they wouldn’t press flat.
Sometimes, in sewing its ok to admit that a thing you made sent you mad and you will never ever wear it. So I did the honourable thing and laid them to rest in the scrap bag after cannibalising them for the zip.
Sometimes its good for you to have a crap make under your belt and put it right…
And by put it right, I mean use the fabric that the pattern designer suggested in the first place. A nice lightweight 5oz denim.
I’ve realised that my experience of making a garment is intrinsically linked with how much wear it eventually gets…the more swearing and hate speech it provokes…the less wear its likely to get. Maybe you can sew your own positivity into a thing?!
Just look at those bum darts!
Oh and my top is an I AM MAMBA from the I AM pattern company. They are French and this was taken from their book but I think there are English versions of most of their patterns.
In other exciting news we are about to start on a massive, well it feels huge to us, building project. When we moved into our little home with a babe in tow 6 years ago we had no idea how much we would fall in love with our house and our street. You could literally hum the neighbours theme tune in our area everyone is so amazingly generous and helpful. So we decided long ago that the only way to go in our house is up!
All 3 of us need a space to make, and a space to host friends and students too, so this rather manky old loft space will hopefully be transformed over the next few months into the studio of our collective dreams. I’ve been really inspired by Making Spaces an interior designer and blogger who took the loft plunge and gave some super detailed advice along the way…
The reason this is on the blog for those sewing purists is just because quite often sewing and an appreciation of good interiors often goes hand in hand!
I’ve already spent way longer at the local tip than I could have ever imagined and I’m trying to ignore the new pile of rubbish that appeared after we finally finished emptying the loft yesterday.
The build begins tomorrow with a big preparatory plumbing job. hot water bottles at the ready as the heating gets switched off for the day.
So there you go, you came here to read about trousers and you ended up seeing the inside of my loft. Not straightforwards, not just sewing but that’s me!
MADAME TIFAINE 
These pants are gorgeous! Its a good thing that you persevered with this pattern as it has certainly paid off. Hope it goes well with your building work.
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Thank you! We’re approaching the build with plenty of hope and mock terror!
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