Flower Pants

Pattern: Colette's Clover
Fabric: Stretch woven
Cost: $20

For my second pair of Clover pants, I had a long list of tweaks and changes: Adjust the front! Adjust the sides! Lengthen the back! But instead of going through all the alterations, I decided to trace the Colette pattern and then trace over that with some ready-to-wear pants that fit me pretty well. That, combined with some additional fitting, gave me a pretty good fit.

They are not perfect so far, but here are the changes I made:

Modifications
I'm bow-legged! It turns out that the legs on my RTW are a lot more bow-legged than the pattern. Updated with those changes, a lot of the bag and sag was eliminated from the legs, and they look much better!

Fly front - I also combined the Clover pattern with the Juniper fly front and pockets. This caused some problems because I was also trying to modify the fit (see picture below), but I went back and changed them and they almost work now. I think with my next version it will be great. I also seem to have managed to sew the fly-front in reverse (twice!), but hopefully I'll get it right this time. 

Left side - baggy; Right side - fixed
Waist fit - As for those waist fit modifications, I took out some of the curve out of the hips, and pinched the waist in at the butt (small waist adjustment). Then I cut the waistband straight instead of tapered (which I figured out on the third try), and it all fit pretty well. Again, one more version and I think I'll get it! 

Waistline - Finally, I adjusted the back to sit higher up, and the front to sit a little lower. I must have a high ass crack!


Still to Fix for Next Time
Fit in the Knee There is still a little bit of bag here and there, and I hope to fix that by adding more curve to the knee area.


Making pants has definitely been a long process for me. I find that these wearable muslins keep me happy in the meantime. For now I have lots of stretchy fabric, and I'm realizing those are much better for fitted styles (even more fitted than above). After that, I think I'll be ready to transition to the not-so-forgiving non-stretch style. Wish me luck!

9 comments:

  1. Your clovers look awesome and I really like the flower print you used. If my second muslin turns out half as good as yours I will be a happy woman. Of I go to compare my own Clover muslin to a pair of RTW pants that fit.

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  2. These are so cute!!! They look great on you, and you're doing awesome with the alterations. Clover is such a great pattern. I had to cut a bunch out of the hips on mine, but other than that, it was a surprisingly successful first attempt at pants. You'll do perfect with non-stretch fabric.

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  3. Oh my! These are super cute. These are the time of pants I've seen all the ladies at fashion week wearing.

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  4. I love these in floral! Too cute. I bought the Clover pattern but have been too chicken to try it...

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  5. Wow. With all those alterations, you should just draft your own pants block (after you achieve the perfect fit, you'll probably have a pretty good idea how to do that!). Love the floral. They're super on-trend!

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  6. Yes, I think having my own pants block will be the result of all these changes. Someone was commenting that, while everyone loves the Clover pattern, it seems that it takes a significant number of changes to get it to fit right...

    Thanks for the comments ladies!

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  7. How fun are these pants! I like that the colors are a bit muted. All this pants fitting must be tedious, but it will be so worth it when you have a great, simple pattern to make again and again!

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  8. Clover Flower! It's so cute!

    Good luck on achieving that perfect fit. It seems like you are well on your way and getting very close!

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