Purple Trousers!

I finally finished off my trousers!  I was gifted a pattern and some fabric for my birthday and started sewing at the beginning of the summer!  A couple of months later and other projects seem to have taken over so they were still sitting there.  But now they are done I'm pretty pleased.

I used a vogue pattern and the trousers are quite fitted which was a first for me.  Usually I go for baggy clothes to sew that have plenty of gathers of pleats which makes fitting easier.  All was reasonably simple until I got to the crotch and the zip.  That stage required a few unpicking sessions to break through it but I made it out the other end.

I did make it a bit more difficult for myself by using a strong and clear striped fabric.  My pattern matching is far from perfect and I found myself thinking of May and Patrick on the Sewing Bee when I spotted my errors.  If there was a camera in my sewing room it would have been zooming in on my mis-matching but luckily for me there isn't and overall the mistakes don't look to glaringly obvious.

A bit of under stitching

I learnt to do under-stitching which was a great for me and I was so happy with how easily the pockets lay flat against the trousers afterwards.

I really enjoyed following a pattern again although it did take me a little while to get into it.  I have become so used to making things up myself that I had to remind myself to slow down and do things step by step.

I really like the fit and I am glad I added the extra fabric for the flare - it just gives them a little something extra and especially with the purple!

 So what do you think?

I love the shape and love the fact I can add or take away from the flare.  I also haven't had a pair of trousers that fits me so well in a long time. Do share your trouser makes below!

First pair of trousers!!!

Finally I found some lovely light fabric that  I could use to create a pair of trousers.  Now I have to be honest trousers are kinda scary for me.  Skirts are so easily adjustable - tops can be fitted or loose and flowing but trousers have all sorts of funny complexities that have scared me off for a long time.

I decided to follow a pattern because although I love the idea of folding a pair of trousers I love in half and going from there I just wasn't convinced that my understanding of trouser construction was solid enough to go with that method.  I used the March Prima pattern which was for a loose pair of culotte style trousers.  I used to own a pair of denim ones and lived in them so happily set to cutting and pinning.

I found that once I had cut all of the pieces out everything made a lot more sense - when I look at the paper pattern it is hard for me to envisage how it will fit together - once in fabric I can see it much more clearly.  I was actually surprised by how simply I found the whole pattern.  Don't get me wrong my finished product is not perfect but in terms of understanding what I was doing the majority of making trousers is about matching seams and sewing neatly.