The pair of pants saved

As mentioned in the post about the horrible mistake of sewing the pockets in the back of a pair of pants I did want to finish them after all, because of the promise I made my daughter. She needs a couple of new pants and this was the first pair, more or less a trial version.

I have no photos of her wearing them, she took them home with her and I will hear from her whether they are comfortable in wearing so that I can make more.

This is how the back bacame. The pattern has no seams, I made a more sporty version of it, correcting the mistake. I had no fabric left to cut new back parts.

The front is as basic is the front of trousers can be. Here I changed the difficult pocket flaps to regular inseam pockets. I had no interest any more to do the pockets as in the pattern and if there’s a next version it will probably be inseam pockets again.

The pockets are the most difficult part of this pattern. Apart from my own mistake in sewing them in the wrong pattern piece I think a “normal” single welt pocket or the “pocket window” construction that I tried would be better. Other then that this is a very straightforward pattern that is easy to sew.

This was an easy sew

Reading the comments to my previous post was making me feel better: I’m not the only one making such a mistake. Thank you for taking the time to tell your mistake. Some of you said that reading my post made them feel better too and I can fully understand. In the online world we usually tend to show the successes and less the failures that are an inevitable part of sewing too. It’s something I do as well and I was in doubt about posting about the mistake and glad I did in the end. I was able to save the pants and will finish them this weekend, when my daughter is home again she can try it on to determine the length of elastic in the waist.

In the meantime I needed something to cleanse the palate, so I made a bra from one of the sets of material I bought when I met up with Jane. I’ve used this lace before (in 2013, can’t believe it’s that long ago), but with black lycra. Now a full embroidered lace was available too and lace trim for the shoulderstraps. Makes it quite different. It’s a bit more transparant in real life, the photos were made with a black preformed cup underneath.

Really no surprises in sewing this time.It went smoothly.

The biggest mistake ever

This doesn’t look too bad. It’s my take on the pocket of the StyleArc Talia pants. The instructions are minimal, there are instructions on their website but I was not sure it would look good. So I decided to make a “window pane” construction. After I had done all the work I was wondering why the pocket bags didn’t meet the center front, they did in the paper pattern…..

Turned out I’ve sewn the pocket in the back pattern pieces. The BACK!!
In the many years that I sew I’ve made every mistake you can think of. But this one made me think I’ve gone mad. Bet you never did this!

How did this happen? A week ago I cut this pair of pants to quickly sew it up without the pocket to have my daughter try it on. So I did not cut the front with the ‘indent’ for the pocket but just cut a straight line. Both for ease of sewing and for the fact that I was not sure about the construction in the instructions. After my daughter had tried it on and I marked the few adjustment necessary,  I just opened part of the seams to construct the pocket, thinking I would serge the seams later on. I must have been too tired and didn’t notice I was working in the back pattern pieces.

After the initial disappointment (and being very angy with myself, also doubting my ability to sew) I’ve cut the pocket part off and changed the back to have a shaped yoke. The pocket will be a traditional inseam pocket probably. I promised my daughter to make her these pants, if it would have been for myself I’d probably tossed it in the bin yesterday evening.

Tell me about your worst mistake, let me know I’m not alone in doing something stupid!