The pockets are quite high up - that's because these pants reach to your natural waist - a woman's best friend when it comes to combatting the 'muffin tin' effect.
I once said to my husband, "it's not so much that I wear the pants in this relationship, it's that you wear the skirt." Anyway, he took one look at these pants, and so, "no, you definitely wear the pants." Yes I sewed the front fly man style on the right instead of left.
Now I blame BWOF for this. When they say left, they don't mean left as you are looking at it sewing, they want you to imagine you are the fabric, and if you were the fabric what would be your left fabric self.
Hence the fly sewn man-style. No-one's going to notice and I'm sure not going to bother re-setting it because it's a fancy hidden facings / fly shield number. Fly shields are a nice detail but so unnecessary in womanswear don't you think? It's not like we drop our drawers to use a communal public toilet and need the extra coverage.
You may also have noticed the cotton batiste lining to protect the inevitable thigh chaffing courtesy of lurex threads. I have Kbenco to thank for that handy piece of advice. Funnily enough she then left me another message directing me to a thread where people were discussing the merits of using batiste as lining.
Naturally, the ones who had never done it before were the most sure it shouldn't be done. Well in the privacy of my own blog I get to say that they were wrong - it makes a lovely soft cushion from nasty pointy threads and is impreccably behaved falling nicely without skewing or bulking seams. Any bulk you see in these seams is one hundred percent natural. So there!
I made a couple of changes from the pattern - I eliminated the button and ran the zipper full length. I also added a double belt tab for centre back - a feature I copied from a pair of RTW jeans I had.
Finally, bless me father for I have sinned. I've stashed up big time. When Jenni-from-across-the-road rang to tell me that Nick's fabrics had a shipment of Karen Walker fabrics in for $4 a metre I knew this was the moment to break all the rules. For 60 bucks (about $40 US) I bought this selection of cotton drill, corduroy, silk cupron, silk satin with lycra, cotton lawn and denim. Peacock colours - aren't they stunning?
Trousers - BWOF 05-2009-101
Fabric: cotton lurex from Smart Dress Fabrics, Mt Albert.
Smart pants. I'm glad the batiste works for you too. I don't really understand why other people despise the idea.
ReplyDeleteYour new fabrics look gorgeous.
Very nice pants! I once made my husband a shirt which buttons right over left, woman style. He refers to it as his blouse, but he still wears it! No one but us has ever noticed, so I doubt anyone will notice your man pants. (If they do, they're too close anyway.)
ReplyDeleteThose new fabrics are gorgeous. Can't wait to see what they grow up into.
Mwahahaha!....I knew you'd succumb!
ReplyDeleteThose pants look great, by the way :-) I love the belt loop detail...might have to steal it ;-)
I always do man-style flies - all my shop-bought jeans have them, and I'm so used to it I feel uncoordinated trying to do them up the other way.
Carol gave me a good tip on how to remember which is which, though : "women are always right".
tehehe...
J
I can't wait to see you preen your peacock feathers and strut your stuff! The pants look great. I'm always confused by which way the fly should go anyway. The Alice & Olivia patterns seem to go opposite to my Threads instructions and my RTW jeans go the same way as Peter's RTW jeans. There is probably some sort of snobbishness going on in fly-land, but I say do it whichever way you interpret the instructions...less likely to get confused half-way through and mess it up.
ReplyDeleteNo one is going to notice the fly. The pants look great esp. the belt loops!
ReplyDeleteThe blue fabrics are stunning!
Look at you, hot mama! I swear, if I had great curves I'd always be showing off my figure! Those pants look great on you and I have to say, the detail shots are impressive -- i.e. the back tab, the close-up of the topstitching, etc. Very nice work, Mary Anna!
ReplyDeleteGreat pants! I would never have known about the fly, and I'm sure 99.99999% of people won't know or notice. I always have to do some mental gymnastics when sewing any fastening, to work out which side goes under/over the other. I'm not good at left and right either, which doesn't help. I usually end up having to check some other garments to make sure I'm doing it correctly.
ReplyDeleteLove the pants! I use cotton batiste to line, too. I know it isn't as slinky as rayon but it feels so nice and cool against the skin. And I once made myself a pair of side-zip trousers and put the zipper on the right rather than the left. I don't notice it when they're on, but I have to do some inelegant contortions to get them there!
ReplyDeleteLovely pants. Perfect sewing. The whole outfit looks great.
ReplyDeleteGreat pants - the fit is great and the details are great. Personally I like the shield - it stops the zip from pinching skin!
ReplyDeleteI have used batiste to line a skirt and loved it - I have never lined pants but must try it.
great pants! the style and cut are very flattering. Lucky you, that's a very nice collection of fabric. Love the colours you've chosen too! happy sewing...
ReplyDeleteI'll be the umpteenth person to say it but that little back tab is just the nicest detail. Of course with pants that really fit you won't even need a belt. They look great.
ReplyDeleteLets face it, in a modern marriage you both wear the pants. You just get to wear the hottest ones!
ReplyDeleteI am a total fan of cotton batiste as a lining, I always have a few meters of black and ivory to cover my lining needs. Though it does rise up a bit when I wear skirts with nylon tights.
ReplyDeleteAnd LOL about Gail's comments, I agree and you sure look hot in yours!
great pants
ReplyDelete