Stepping into Fall

Does anyone even wear real pants anymore?? I don't. Not really. Hence the 10 pairs of leggings I posted last week. But I still love sewing them and couldn't resist when I found this wonderfully stretchy fabric at a real-live in-person fabric store this summer. It's fun, right?

Pattern: based on Deer and Doe's Safran Pants

Fabric: 1.5 yds stretch denim

Cost: $20

I love a bright pair of pants and these orange ones seemed like the perfect color. A bit more interesting than khaki, a little less bold than bright red, perfect for fall and beyond. And for those occasions where I am able to picnic with friends, the high-stretch fabric makes them perfectly comfortable for sitting around in the grass. 

As you can see, I've been playing with various tops to complete the look. I like that the pants are high enough that I can wear them with a crop top but they also go perfectly well with my longer, looser Ogden Cami. 

While I have a few tried and true pants patterns, I do tend to make small tweaks each time I make them. This time I redrafted the back of the Deer and Doe Safran Pants a bit and also gave myself more room at the thighs and tightened things up across the stomach and waist. In past pairs, they have been tight in the thighs but slip down at the waist, a bad combination for getting your pants to stay up. 

I usually struggle to fit pants in the legs and have recently come to the realization that my thighs are at least a size bigger than my hip measurement in most drafts. Patterns don't usually list the thigh measurement on their size charts though, so I just realized this because Greenstyle Creations does provide this listing for their athletic tights. It was a big realization! I suppose you could also figure this out from measuring the pattern, but I find it gets a bit tricky with negative ease and all. Handmade PhD actually has a good blog post on measuring yourself for pants that I might try as well. 

Lower in the legs, my thighs taper significantly toward my knock knees, then back out for my calves, then back in at the ankle. This leads to some pretty weird-looking alterations. I did a lot of baste fitting for this pair until it felt like the ease was even up and down my leg. 

I didn't have matching thread but red thread worked fine. (I usually only buy black, white, gray, and red thread as I find it works for most of my projects.) Here's the back view with pockets and a fun little X in the belt loops. You'll also notice that this pattern doesn't use back darts, which I find pretty amazing given the wide disparity between my waist and hips. 

I actually have another pair of pants in the pipeline too - a wide-legged pair from this beautiful cone mills denim that I've been saving for ages. I might not have much occassion to wear pants but plenty of opportunities to sew them!