Eureka! McCalls 6610.

I'm so thrilled with my new pants! I think I've discovered my new TNT pants/jeans pattern. McCalls 6610.

I know "skinnys" are all that and a bag of chips these days but I still like my boot cuts to wear with, go figure- boots. Not the 4" stilettos featured on the pattern envelope. I think they turned out great and they fit me beautifully. They were not however, without their challenges.

I made them up in a really nice weighty 2% stretch twill that's been in my stash forever. This pattern can also be made in woven. As per my usual sewing habits I should have made a muslin first but I'm far to impatient for that. I started with a size 10- the closest to my measurements and then adjusted the pattern a little bigger then the petite, as I'm some where between petite and regular. I added a 1/4 inch to the hips, so that's 1/2 an inch per side. I knew the waist height was going to be just below my boobs but I thought I would deal with that later.

I liked this pattern because the pocket bag travels from the hip to the zip and creates a nice tummy holder inner. I will use this style on all my form fitting pants from now on. The fly front zipper was originally in two parts and those always give me grief so I just attached it on my tissue and cut it as one. I have a Kwik Sew zip method I like to follow-so I used that. It worked out but I did have to fiddle with the pocket lining as it was not accounted for in my method. This will require more study to perfect.

One of my "Eureka" moments came when I realized I did not have to use the official bar tack stitch on my machine.Duh! It does a beautiful bar tack, the problem lies with operator error!!! I break needles and screw up the placement all the time and those little suckers are a pain to unpick! I watched a short Angela Wolf You Tube video and she just used a narrow, closely spaced zig zag. So that's what I did!!!! Worked a charm. I have to remember there really are no "Sewing Police"(from now on refered to as the SP) I really need to take her Craftsy Jeans class.

As the maker of my own garments I can bend the rules to suit myself as they work for me. I'm happy as long as I have a high level of professional quality and fit at the end of the day. I want to hear "nice pants" and not "Did you make those?" With that suspect tone in their voice- you know the one!

So at the end of my day these pants did not look so professional on the inside. LOL- I used some x-mas cotton for the lining- yucky. And I did not use my serger, because I kept thinking they were not going to work out so why bother. I did zig zag them at least. Oh- and a really ugly rust coloured zipper that apparently, previously resided in another garment???? Waste not, want not!

All of my difficult fitting issues hinged around this area in the back. I know it looks like a hot mess- but- now I know how to work this out on the muslin I plan to make. Yes, you heard right. I plan to make a MUSLIN. For this pair I just added some small darts to take in the gape.

For the waist band I made it in two parts with a CB seam. I've done this before and knew I could make an adjustment there if need be. I did need to and did so in the way of a fish eye dart through the CB. Such a hack job, I know!!!! However this lead me to my next Eureka moment- I will Learn how to draft my own fitted waist band. There are lots of tutorials online for doing this and it looks very easy. I keep telling myself- Muslin, no SP.

Attaching the waist band then gave me 70's style high waisters- not a good look on me. So just kept stitching until I got it to a height I liked. This also reduced the width of the waist band. This was a good thing as it was way too wide for me anyways. Muslin! No SP!

I have made the Jalie Jeans and had the exact same issue. In fact, almost every pair of pants I've made comes down to this problem so it really is time to address this once and for all.

On the outside it doesn't look THAT bad. I rationalize this with the fact that never tuck my shirts in any ways so no one will see it.

I didn't get all fancy with my back pockets. I used regular thread for topstitching- NO SP. For topstitching, I really like to take advantage of my presser feet. These are the ones I use.

But really, the thing I like the best about these is the beautiful snap closure! That took me all of 45 second to do with my PRYM snap setter which I blogged about here. If you want to make your life easy you must have one! Magic. On my next pair I'm undecided whether use rivets and my PRYM tool. Or the zig zag faux bar tacks. It's nice to have options.

I'm too lazy to to take a picture of me wearing them. I made them and blogged them in two days. That's enough for me. On my next pair when all the kinks are worked out I will model them.

It's 4:00 as I write this. I'm still in my house coat. The fire place is on. I'm cozy on the couch, Lola is near me. Lasagna for dinner . It's raining sideways in Vancouver as witnessed out my kitchen window. It's Good Friday. And it really is good.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

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