New Pants! Deer and Doe Safran

Those who have been following along might know that I've spent the last three years working on my personal pants block made from an amalgamation of several different jeans patterns (my Mambo No. 5). But this past month, I decided to try something new - a new pattern! And because you can't make just make, I made three pairs of the Deer and Doe Safran pants to test it out. 

Pattern: Deer and Doe Safran Pants

Fabric: stretch denim, corduroy, and canvas

Cost: $20-35

One reason that I decided to try out a new pattern is that I wanted something with a higher waste. My Mambo No. 5 was mid-rise and my past attempts at tweaking them to sit higher hadn't worked well. I also admit that I am no pattern drafter, so after all the work on my other pair it's interesting to see how others draft things. And finally, I've had a lot of success with Deer and Doe patterns this past year and find they work really well for my pear shape. Having a larger hip size than waist size has made fitting jeans difficult in the past, so I wanted to give Deer and Doe a try. 

The Deer and Doe Safran pant is drafted for ~25% stretch fabrics. And lucky for me, my waist and hip measurements fall into the same size on the size chart, which almost never happens to me. I pulled some denim from my stash that were of good quality but from a discount store and got to work. 

Out of the envelope, the pattern worked pretty well for me. However, there were a few adjustments I made on the first pair. While my hip measurements matched the size I chose, many of you know that this doesn't mean that my body is distributed the same as the pattern. I tend to have more in the back than the front. Because of this, the pants pulled down at center back, while the front had too much fabric leading to folds at center front. To make this first version work for me, I trimmed the top of the pants so that they were straight and removed some of the fabric from the front inner thigh to shorten the front rise. This worked pretty well but I knew I needed to tweak the actual pattern for the next version.

The only gripe I have about this pattern is that the garment measurements at the waistband match the waist measurements in the size chart, meaning there is zero ease. This works fine on a stretch pattern. However, the instructions ask for you to interface the waistband, meaning it won't stretch at all. I dutifully followed the instructions but ended up having to rip out the interfacing as the pants felt too tight! After I did that though they fit well. 

For ny next version I did a full seat adjustment by slashing a vertical line across the back to raise the center back by one inch. I had already shaved off some from the front inner thigh (shortening the front crotch height) but now added that amount to the back inner thigh. I also made a knock knee adjustment, which is a pretty standard one for me and involves changing the angle of the leg to shorten the outer leg seam. This should help reduce some bunching there. You'll also notice that I played with some faux leather pocket accents on this one. 

I felt the legs fit much better after this. Unfortunately, I found I was still having the same issue with center back pulling down. I again leveled out the waistband but knew I'd have to adjust the crotch curve on the next version. I also found that I was disliking the instructions for inserting the zipper. Can you see it poking out there from under the fly? It is too centered. I vowed to go back to my usual method, which is from the Closet Case Patterns Ginger Jeans, for the next version. 

I actually might have stopped here except the fabric I chose for my second version was terrible and bags out over the course of the day. It was very cheap and leftover from an experimental pants project I did for my brother. It was a bummer to waist sewing time on an unwearable pair of pants, but I'll call it a muslin and move on. 

For my final pair, I deepened the back crotch curve by one inch and leveled out the side seams, which were too high on me. I also trued up the adjustments I'd made to the legs a bit more. If I were to do a fourth pair, I think I'd also shorten the front crotch curvey by making it shallower, as there's still some wrinkling there. Finally, I lined the waistband in power mesh to account for the fact that I didn't use interfacing - I still wanted it to stretch, but not bag out. Overall I'm very happy with these pants and they, along with the jeans, have found a home in my wardrobe. 

If you're curious, here's a diagram of the changes I've made, with the original in white and the changes in red. In sum, I raised the center back, deepened the crotch curve, and shifted the center crotch depth from the front to the back to account for my rear. I made a knock knee adjustment. And I gave the side seams a 1" seam allowance to allow for fitting tweaks. 

If you are pear-shaped like me, this is a great slim pants pattern. I'm most impressed by the fact that they don't have a yoke or darts yet have a great fit at the waist. They fill a big wardrobe gap, as many of my staple pants had started to feel a bit, erm, tight over the years. I blame this to five years in the dryer. I will probably make some more in the future as I'm a pants fitting addict, but for now I have promised my husband a new coat...