A pair of trousers, Burdastyle September 2019

This is my second pair of trousers made from the BurdaStyle September 2019 issue. The first pair was made during the sewing week I enjoyed with my friends in October and as the fit was so good, I decided to make another pair.

A few notes on the pattern and the changes I did:

• the pattern is for tall people and while I'm not 1.76 (the lenght the tall patterns are drafted for) I'm closer to that than to the average length of 1.68 of their regular patterns. I chose the size by waist circumference, hoping the pleats would give the extra room at hip height. Without any other changes, it was a miraculously good fit.
• in the magazine 2 variations are shown, one with the pleats folded to the center front, one with the pleats folding to the sides.
  On my first pair, I hadn't noticed this, nor read the instructions and had folded the pleats to the side because that's more common. Sewing on auto-pilot. Though fine, I preferred the pleats to be a bit more away from the center, so I moved the pleats 1.5 cm to the side on my second pair. The photos are of the pair with this change.
• Earlier this year I made a pair of trousers from the March issue, which had a slightly curved pocket opening which didn't gape. So I used that slight curve here too.
  When sewing the pocket, I used a strip of silk organza to take out any stretch.
• I made the legs a normal length and didn't add cuffs.
• Almost forgot: changed the straight waistband to a curved one. Straight waistbands don’t suit me. It’s not difficult to draft a new one, but I made my life easy when I was amongst my sewing friends. One of the ladies had just traced a pattern with a curved waistband. I made a copy, adjusted a bit on the length for my pattern and that was it. The happiness of sewing friends!

In my opinion a little basting helps to get a better result.

I know there are still pleats in the back, it's different with every move. I think I can't get it much better than this.

Jacket and a pair of pants

Accounting for two other garments from Burda magazine: a pair of pants and a jacket.
The jacket is from the June 2018 issue, number 104.

Tracing and marking a pair of pants from December Burda

Hmm, could the title be longer? This post is exactly about what the title says. I started making a pair of pants from the Burda december issue and in this post will show you how I use a pattern from the magazine.
A short aside: a comment was made yesterday on my post on the missing cutting layouts that Burda will bring them back in the March issue (see here (text in German), thanks Beate for sharing this information and Burda for listening to their readers!).

This is the pair of pants I'm making, omitting the flap in the waist. It's pattern number 102 from the December 2018 issue and available as pdf from the Burda site: Link to the pattern.

A very easy pattern, 4 pattern pieces and made in a stretch fabric. It's more close fitting/slim fit than I would normally make. I intend to wear it with a longer cardigan,

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.

Christia pants

Last week I showed you how I did the cuff on the pair of pants I was making and today I can show the finished result. It’s made in a linen with some stretch. It may not be the best style on me but I don’t think it’s that bad either. I like it for summer.

 

  

   

It even has pockets that work well. Often this style of pockets stands away from my body because of the curve in my figure but these are more narrow, a straighter angle if you know what I mean.

This is how I did the pocket edge. This is a pattern piece that is not mentioned in the overview of included pattern  pieces but it’s there and if I understand StyleArc correctly it has to be cut from fusible interfacing and applied to the pocket edge (the instructions talk about pocket edge, pocket bearer and pocket bag. Not intuitive to me and I’m glad I know how to construct a pocket without instructions). As I prefer the pocket lining of a thin fabric (lining or cotton) I cut the pocket edge of the garment fabric and from a piece of silk organza. The edge of the pocket was on the straight of grain of the organza. This way I make sure there is no stretch in the pocket opening. I placed it on top of the pocket lining and treated it as one layer during construction. This way there is no lining fabric visible if the pocket is open a bit.

I did not make the side zipper all the way up to the waistband. I could not find a long enough zipper in the right colour and decided to make buttons in the waistband. Improvising a little here as the waistband had already been cut and I could not re-cut. A little hole is visible above the zipper but it’s not bothering me too much.Will probably wear it with a top over the waistband anyhow.

To conclude: a nice pattern that I only had to tweak a little. I had to heighten 2 cm and take in a bit at center back plus I made a contour/shaped waistband to get a good fitting waistband.

Knip mode top and Vogue pants

Black is always a very hard color to photograph. Seeing the pictures from yesterday on my blog in daylight, they even are more black than I saw them in artificial light.

Today a photo from me wearing the top, which always gives a better indication about fit and style than a dress-form photo. It helps I have a tripod and remote control now. Still need a bit of practice using that.

 

The colors are very much lightened so you can see the pleats of the neckline. This top has so many layers that I advice a very thin knit for it, otherwise you will have problems sewing the shoulder seams. This consists of 5 layers of fabric (double layer collar with gathers!, front, front facing and back shoulder). Knip mode is a magazine like BurdaStyle with sheets where you trace the pattern from. In this case very difficult as there are many lines for all the sizes included and two pattern pieces were in the same area as well. I think the pdf pattern would be useful in this case, instead of tracing it. Knip mode has extra instructions (in Dutch) on their website. Reading them the first time it seemed clear as mud, but when actually doing it with the pattern pieces it worked fine. For the (Dutch) readers: an asterix * is missing on the pattern that is referred to in the instructions, but if you got that far you’ll probably see how it’s done.

The trousers are Vogue 1417, for which I wrote a blog post on the great draft and instructions for the pockets. This pattern had some great design lines. Not so sure about the style on me, too narrow at ankle height.

 

Linen pants

Despite the wrinkles, I love linen pants (trousers) for summer. Absolutely love them, whether their fashionable or not. In the past years I had pairs of white and a beige colored linen as wardrobe staples for summer. Usually after two years I have to replace them, as they are then showing the intensive wearing and washing. Last year I did without white linen ones, as I was so obsessed with fit that I was never satisfied. I’ve been making muslins and drafts but never got to the point that I was really happy with the result. So I made no pants any more….

Fast forward to last week. 6 weeks ago I bought navy blue linen at the fabric market with the intention of making pants and have bought white as well. But, no pattern that I was happy with. All of my magazines and most patterns are in storage. Bought the Burda pattern that was a petite size. Then a “what do I care” moment and I bought a Burda pdf pattern, thinking it will be better than rtw (which I tried in a shop and they were, as usual, not fitting at all).  

This is a not a difficult pattern, I even consider it easy but that might be my experience with sewing. During construction it looked promising, though the final fit is only to be judged with the waistband attached. When it was finished I was happily surprised. Yes, a bit of space in the back leg, but nothing to worry about. The pockets are not so good, as they gape a bit, should have known better than to use this type on my figure. I used all of the tricks to prevent it, without success. This is almost straight out of the (imaginary) envelope. The waist I traced one size smaller than the rest of the pattern. After the first fitting I added a little to the hip area, but otherwise no changes!. Pretty good in my book.

My next pair will be a white pair. I’ll change the shape of the pocket.This blue pair I will wear  a lot after I closed (part) of the pocket.

As you may have noticed I’m an infrequent blogger again. There are a few projects I’ve written about but not completed the story. I’ll try to come back to those too.

Wallis pants

I’ve started the new year finishing a ponte knit Wallis pants from StyleArc. I had basted this together with a large stitch a few weeks ago and was not so happy when I tried them on. The fit was quite good, but the seam on the front to me looked like I had my legs twisted. The line drawing from StyleArc suggests that the whole side seam is moved to the front, creating a more or less straight line in the front. This is certainly not the case. The seam is curved from the side to the front, quite a different look.

Yesterday I finally had some time and sewing mojo. I didn’t want to start with adding a ufo so tried it on again. It wasn’t as bad as I remembered and the positive comments from my daughter made me finish it, which didn’t take very long. The fit was quite good again, StyleArc really is true to size. It’s won’t be my default pants pattern, for me it’s only suitable with long tops, and even then it’s critical. The color is a beautiful dark turquoise shade, the photo doesn’t show this very well. I won’t show you the photos without the top over it, they are not suitable for the internet ;)

One of my intentions done (not specifically new years resolutions): no more than 2 or 3 garments in progress and finish before starting something new.
The review is here.

Pants Vogue 2896

I managed to find some time to sew. So I sewed last of the three I cut two weeks ago.
It's the pants of Vogue 2896, a Anne Klein pattern. Last summer I bought this pattern, my first Vogue in years.
The pants are very simple, no pockets or other details. I won't do a full PR-review, as I don't exactly remember what I changed last year, when I first made these. I do remember starting with size 16 and making it smaller afterwards.





Knowing what pattern change I need since my experiments of last week, I should have changed this pattern a bit too, but it was already cut. But luckily it is a wider pants, it is not too bad in the back. I even lean a bit to the left, hence the extra wrinkle there.

From the line drawing, it looks these pants have a straight waistband. This is not so, the waistband is actually very much shaped. So much that I couldn't get into the pants when I used this waistband (also already found out last year). I straightened the waistband, but did not make it completely straight.

The fabric is a very beautiful quality wool, with great drape. I lined it with a good quality (Venezia) fabric too, and these pants feel great.

Two pictures of the inside: I always sew the upper part of the center back seam last, I find that this gives a better fit. I learned this from RTW pants that I could easily take in because of this seam, but saw now that it is also recommended in the Burda sewing book to do it like this.
It made it a bit more trouble with the lining, which I hand-sewed in center back. Next time I will try the lining method as described in Sandra Betzina's book Power Sewing.

I did not sew a hongkong finish to the whole of the waistband (if you want to do that, a good tutorial was written by Tany in this post). But I did make such a finish at the sides of the waistband in the back. And yes, the stripes do not match in the back of the waistband. Grrr.

Pants fitting, part 1

First, I'd like to thank all who commented on the fitting issues for my pants. I did look at Debbie's site and somehow thought it would not be the "one" answer to my problem, as I've become convinced that there is no one-step solution for me. But I think I have found part of the solution there. Tonight I spent adapting my pattern and making a muslin.






My starting point, after reading all the information was the Threads issue of January 2006, an article by Joyce Murphy Adjusting pants from waist to seat. In this article she describes "body space" as an important point in fitting pants. And it does make sense to me, as women have very different shapes. One needs more space in the front, and others (like me) more in the back.
The picture above shows the body space in my pattern, which is 15 cm. I tried to measure my own bodyspace by taking two rulers, and it is 19 cm, which means that 2 cm more is needed (half of the extra width in the pattern). The article describes how this must be done after pin-fitting the muslin, but as I have no one to help me with that, I tried to do it in this more theoretical way, by measuring.


In this picture I tried to show how I measured this (alone in the house, so no one to take a better picture). Standing with by back to a wall, one ruler to the wall, and the other over my front, meeting in a 90 degree angle. My ruler has white space to start with, so the actual size is 19 cm.

The adjustment that follows from the article can also be seen in the first picture. The 2 cm is taken from center back, and added to the side seams.



After this adaption I made my muslin, and this was the first result.


Not too bad, the diagonal wrinkles are gone. The white is waistband interfacing, that I added to get a good impression of the fit with waistband.
















This is the result of stitching the crotch a bit deeper. Not a great improvement.























And this is the result after pinning extra width away. (Did you ever try to pin pants you are wearing on the back? Not a great experiment!)

This is where I stopped tonight. This looks much better, and I think I now need the fish-eye adaption on Debbie's site. But that is for Friday.

Patrones pants

Today I was able to get some pictures for the Patrones pants on me, which I finished yesterday.
The PR review is here.
In general I'm quite pleased with these pants: the front is good, the pockets went in smoothly and the fabric feels very soft on my skin.



I'm not so pleased with the back. This is an issue I presumably always had with pants, but that I only became aware of because of taking pictures for my blog. I will stop making pictures from the back ;-).








Look at this picture of the back. Wrinkles, and though I have read a lot about fitting pants, I'm not sure what to do about them. Is it just taking pictures and am I being too critical or is this a problem that can be solved? If you know what could help, please let me know. I would like to make a pair of pants without these wrinkles.

Patrones pants

As said in a previous post, I really need some new pants and I managed to get three cut. And instead of sewing the most easy one first, which I originally wanted to do, I started sewing on the most complicated one. That's the Patrones pattern. As in BWOF the pictures just don't show the details clearly. I would think you want to see the single welt and the detail in the back, but a large belt hides these details in the magazine pictures.

For me this is the most complicated because it has
a. Single welt pockets
b. I've never made a Patrones pattern before.

The single welt pockets are not so difficult, but just a little more work than any other pocket.
Though the pattern seems quite in line with BWOF pants, (laid the pattern pieces on top of a TNT Burda pants) I cut with large seam allowances and traced the seamlines like I always do with tracing paper.

Other changes

• The back yoke (?) I made smaller at the waist by folding the pattern piece together. I took the BWOF pants and took out the space that I had in darts there.
• Made the side seams a bit straighter than the pattern, just personal preference.

Then I put together the pants yesterday evening with the largest straight stitch possible on my sewing machine.

The result is encouraging. Great fit (not bad it's a stretch fabric) and the only thing that needs alteration is making the waist a bit smaller in the front and attach the waistband a bit higher. The last is only for my own comfort, I just don't like low waistlines on me. Don't know if you can see it in the picture, but the waistline is also machine basted in a lighter color. The uneven part on my right side is the pocket facing, that still extends above the waist. I hadn't even finished the pocket insides when this picture was taken. The wrinkles are from sitting behind my desk in a too much time consuming effort to re-establish the internet connection for DH, who liked my pants very much.

Pocket for BWOF 09-2007-115

As promised in my post on Saturday, I have made pictures from the second pocket for these pants, that are now almost finished. Hemming to be done tomorrow, and the belt loops still to be made.
Not my favorite pants pattern, (though I love BWOF pants fit). I will not make it again. Apart from the pocket/side panel construction I think it is easiest when you don't need to make size alterations in the waist/hip area (for me there is 2 sizes difference).

This is what I did in the end (and I'm not saying it's the correct way, just found this way by ripping all seams first time, there might be a better way, if you know, please tell). Some pictures have a different color/contrast, this because of trying to show the details.

1. Sew the side seams first

2 Inforce all corners on the front and back pattern, they will be clipped. I did this with fusible interfacing.


3. With right sides together, stitch the pocket from the side seam to the marking on the front (be accurate)


4. Pin the other pocket part, right sides together to the side panel, marking on the pocket matches marking seam on side panel. Stitch between the sideseam and marking.


5. With right sides of pocket together, pin the sidepanel to the back and stitch from pocket to the corner of the back.


6. At the front, clip the seam at the marking



7. Turn pocket to inside, topstitch and make buttonhole


8. Pin front and side panel together at sides, stitch to marking.


9. Stitch pocket seam, together with the front pleat (this is one of the points I don't like so much on the pattern, part of the pocket is hanging quite loose on the inside)


10 Inside view, you can see the pocket and pleat attached together.



11. And finally, the finished pocket.