June Capsule, Marlene pants (again)

I am participating in the June Capsule Competition at Stitchers Guild, where the challenge is to make a 4 piece wardrobe, and an accessory, which co-ordinate with a wardrobe orphan.
My orphan is a lace wrap top from Witchery that I bought to wear to a party. This was several years ago, and the garments with which I originally wore the top belonged mostly to my sister. I did wear the top later over some beige linen pants, but was not really thrilled with this as an outfit, and the pants have since been retired.
Today I finished a pair of BWOF 08-2008 105 Marlene pants. Only Beebee has more pairs of these pants than I !

I was quite happy with the sewing of these pants. As the tropical wool fabric is quite thin, I lined these pants with batiste. After 4 pairs the construction is becoming straightforward, although still rather slow. This may be due to my delaying tactics when faced with a welt pocket (my sewing cupboard is remarkably tidy at the moment)


Unfortunately, I do not like these pants at all worn with the orphan top. I think these are now work pants, and the top is not suitable for work.

Additionally, despite desperate attempts to develop a TNT selection, I do not think I am a good candidate for this form of sewing.
1. My weight, size and fitness fluctuate. These pants (and all the other pairs) are now much too big.




2. I find sewing the same pattern rather boring if it occurs too soon after a previous attempt. I made one pair of these pants with different pockets, but it did not improve the boredom factor. I have sewn them from cotton gabardine, linen and now wool, and different fabrics did not improve the boredom.
3. I have some perfectionist tendencies. If I have one garment made from a particular pattern it seems possible for me to excuse the faults. With 4 pairs of these pants, I am unable to excuse the faults common to all pairs, and every time I wear any of these pants, the faults annoy me a lot.
4. I am unbearably tempted by new patterns and have a BWOF subscription.

I guess I need to become very, very quick at alterations!

Marlene pants completed

I have finished the first wearable version of the Marlene pants from BWOF August 2008 - pants 105b. My review of this pattern is here

 

 

 

I think the remaining fitting issues are 1. Too much front thigh width addition. 2. Need for a further "sway back" adjustment below the waistband and 3. Possibly make slightly skinnier legs, although this may just be because I am not used to such wide pants. I think the wrinkling you can see at the front here is mostly the fabric. If I stand perfectly straight, the front is perfectly flat, and seems to fit very well.
I am sure these would look better with high heels, but these are destined to be work pants, so flats it is, and I have just changed the orphan status of this work blouse (blue grid on cream). This is a victory for my wardrobing project, although once again it shows me that I need more accesories, this time shoes and a belt.

 

Marlene pants #3

I was quite pleased with the toile for the BWOF August 2008 pants #105. The photographs are of the toile after I added a dart to the central back waistband, both sides of the front waistband, and took in the side seams around 1cm all the way down. There is pulling at the front pleats, but I plan to deal with this by not stitching them down quite as far in the fashion fabric. There is a lot of fabric at the back thigh, but I think I need this for crouching down, and sitting on my heels. My work does not really allow for sartorial elegance or tight trousers. I am also inclined to think that I did not need both the sewing diva front thigh adjustment and the increased crotch depth at the front, as there seems to be excess fabric at the inner front thigh. I think I can live with this, especially as removing the front thigh sewing diva adjustment will require sewing another toile, and I just cannot be bothered at this stage. My next pants can be a wearable muslin. The fabric seems to be quite good quality, but is navy blue cotton twill from a Michael's Fabric bundle, and I do not really fancy navy blue. Fortunately I have several work blouses that will co-ordinate, but I am happy for the next attempt to be functional rather than gorgeous.

 

 

Here is a photograph comparing the size 40 original waistband pattern pieces (no seam allowances) to my new improved version (includes 1.5cm seam allowances). Tape measures do not tell the whole story!

 

I had hoped to sew up the pants today, but due to visitors, was only able to cut out the main fabric. (Fortunately, they were welcome visitors, or I would be feeling a bit cross about this :). My new goal is to have this pair made tomorrow, provided that I do not need to go to work.

Marlene pants continued

I worked more on the Marlene pants from the August BWOF today. My mission today was to look at the crotch curve, as this seemed to be a problem with the Jalie jeans.
First I measured the front and back curves on me with a flexible ruler - my new toy from Spotlight.
Unfortunately, I found the measuring rather tricky, particularly the back curve, so took the average of 3 attempts.
I also measured the curves in sitting and standing, but as the sitting measurement was overall less than the standing, decided to stick with the standing measurement for the moment. I was unable to find out how much ease I should allow, despite having a lovely hour or two looking through my Stitches and Threads magazines (I kept being distracted, so I have just guessed.
Here is my front curve, compared to the pattern. I am decidedly odd in shape, and when I straightened out the ruler to approximate the pattern, it was exactly the same length as the standing (greater) measurement.

 

I added 2.5 cm to the pattern for ease. I chose to add this to the inner leg seam in order to give myself extra insurance for the front thighs.

 

The back curve was different to my measured shape also.

 

However, this time, the measurement was already 3.75 cm greater than the sitting (larger) back curve measurement, so I left the pattern as is.

 

BWOF 8-2008 Pants 105

A few weeks ago,Elizabeth at Stitchers' Guild started a sew along for these "Marlene" trousers from the August BWOF
Naturally, I did not have my August BWOF when the discussion started, but as I really need more trousers, and can use all the help I can get in making them, I thought I would join in late, once I received my magazine. These trousers have been a slow process so far. I have traced out the pattern, and tried tissue fitting per "Pants for real People". Unfortunately, not only do I always manage to tear the paper, but I really have no idea whether paper pinned together actually fits or not, other than the obvious - does it go around me? I decided that yes, the paper goes around me, but that the pattern is a bit tight across the backside and in the front thighs (no suprises here), and that following all the excellent advice from my Jalie jeans attempt, it would be worth trying out the new adjustment methods on these hopefully more forgiving pants.

First I reversed Ann Rowley's flat seat adjustment for my opposite problem.

Once I had done this, I thought the single dart was too big, so changed it to 2 darts. I hope this does not mess up the welt pocket marking, as I have not attempted a welt pocket before and would hate to make it crooked.

Next I added width to the front thigh. I did consider just making the pleat deeper and the whole leg wider all the way down, but decided that this was cheating and that I should try the sewing diva method.

I found the tissue changes rather difficult to manage in my follow up fitting, as the tape is not very effective (Note to self, buy a new glue stick). Next I will make up a pair in calico and see if these changes give me a wearable pair of pants.