Pants, Sewing patterns

First project finished – basic pants

Sewing princess with basic pants

My new pants are finally ready. I am so excited!

I drafted the pattern using Cal Patch’s Design-It-Yourself Clothes: Patternmaking Simplified

The overall drafting took me a few hours, but it was well worth it… So, if you are debating whether to try your own patternmaking, I would say… Do give it a try.

If you own this book or simply look at the picture you can see it’s more a capri style and the leg is rather slim. Although it’s summer and this pattern would have been perfect for the season, I prefer long pants.
When it comes to the leg style, flared pants suit me better (or at least I see myself better in them). I am not too tall (160 cm or 5.3″) and my legs are not too long either… that’s why.

So, here are the changes I made to the original pattern instructions

  • Widened the leg starting from the knee to the ankle
  • Raised the back by 1cm to avoid the pants sitting too low on my back
    Pocket detail

    Basic Pant
    Basic Pant
  • Blind stitched the hem by hand (given the woolen fabric I thought this would make the pants dressier)

As with any project, here is what I learn… or rather what I should improve next time:

  • Learn how to blind hem by machine (do you have any tricks?)
  • Check the buttonhole placement before sewing… I didn’t try the pants on and one of them is a bit off.

Did anyone else try to make these pants? What are your tips?

11 thoughts on “First project finished – basic pants”

  1. [I think my original comment was lost so apologies if this appears twice]

    Ah! These are fabulous! Beautiful fabric and perfect fit. They seem so versatile, too, easy to dress up or down. And thanks for the tips–I’ll certainly use them once I give this project a try. Curious: Did you find drafting your own pattern made the fit better than store bought? That’s my fantasy at least 🙂

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  2. I have made the draft and nearly perfected it (I think!) but I haven’t done a pair in “real fabric” yet. I keep getting seduced by other projects!! haha. Your pants look great! Now I want to pull mine out and have another go.

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  3. These pants look amazing! I have to say, that I am intimidated by the idea of drafting and sewing pants — they are my least favorite thing to make, but they are the most difficult thing for me to find in the store as far as fit and shape go. I may have to pick up this book and give it a whirl!

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  4. Wow! these look fabulous. I just copied a pair of pants I like, now I would like to try this button closure. For the blind hem, two things have helped me: 1) ironing the two folds so the fabric doesn’t slip around, and a blind hem foot attachment. If you have a standard low shank machine it should be easy to find one that works well .

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  8. Hello,

    your trousers are amazing, they look phantastic!!! You really did a great job!

    I found your post via your flickr image. I was searching for anyone who had made these trousers because I definitely want to make some for the summer. The funny thing is that I want to do it almost for the same reasons as you did: I am rather small (in fact even a little smaller than you) and my trouser buying problem is that the waist is too wide and the hips rather tight not to mention the length of the legs – sounds familiar?

    So seeing your pictures really encouraged me to give it a try. If they end up only half as perfect as yours I’d be more than happy.

    I think these trousers pattern is actually great all year round, linen in summer or wool in winter…

    I’ll have to bookmark your blog to hopefully see more of this great stuff.

    Claudia x

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  9. I found your blog on flickr when I was searching for others who have drafted their own pants using Design-It-Yourself Cloths. I’m attempting to sew my own wardrobe for fall and since I like to wear pants I’m going to have to learn to sew them! Reading your posts have given me more confidence and I think I’ll try and draft up a pair this week. Thanks!

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