Velvet Holiday Pants

Are you still struggling to get back into gear after an end-of-year break? I am. I've been slooow to get back into my regular routine. I'm still thinking about days of sleeping in, eating Christmas cookies, and seeing friends. And I haven't even shown you my sparkly new New Years pants yet! Well, here they are...



Pattern: self-drafted pleated pants, though you could get a similar look from the True Bias Hudsons
Fabric: 2 yds Haiko crushed velvet in Bordeaux
Cost: $25

There I was hanging out at the end of December with no real plans to make myself anything new for the holidays. Well, I don't know what got into me, but all of a sudden I HAD TO HAVE a pair of velvet pants. They would be perfect, I thought, for our relatively casual plans. Not as fancy as a dress, and with a stretchy waistband for all the Christmas cookies. Yet still with a bit of sparkle to say that I care.

It was a work day, but things were slow. I checked the nearest fabric store on the way home but didn't find what I was after. In fact, the velvet they had there was so wrong that I almost gave up on my idea. But with one more hour to spare, I ended up driving across town to Stonemountain, where I was blessed with a rainbow of stretch velvets. I had my pick and ended up with this beautiful crushed stretch velvet in Bordeaux, the perfect fabric for my pants dreams.



The construction for these pants was easy but a bit experimental. I used the pattern I had created for my little black jumper a few years ago. I have always adored the easy fit of those pants, which is tapered with a nice drape. I ended up scooping out the back crotch curve a bit more and playing with the fullness of the leg until I got something that worked in my fabric.

In addition to pleats, it also has some pretty useless pockets that I like to tuck my hands into. They are sewn with just the pocket bag topstitched to the front of the pant. That was a bit of a puzzle with the pleats, but allowed me to reduce bulk at the waistband. The waistband contains a elastic that 2 inches wide, which I had to topstitch down because it kept twisting inside the facing.

I wore these for both Christmas with my extended family and New Years Eve at my friends' house. Neither was a particularly glamorous affair, but both called for something a little special in our casual world. I felt comfy and warm in my crazy new pants, and maybe even slept in them when I was a little too tired/buzzed to change at the end of the night.

As for their future, I hope I can find a few more events at which to wear these. They also make wonderfully glamourous pajamas so I can see myself wearing them around the house as well (I may have already done this). The Mr, of course, thinks they're ridiculous hammer pants, but I think I like them that way.

Here's to a sparkly new year!

2 comments:

  1. they're perfect! i'll have to hunt down some similar looking velvet and craft myself a pair

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's a neat idea! I never would have thought to make velvet joggers. Nicely drafted too.

    ReplyDelete

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