My Clover pants

A-ha, a finished garment, finally! Clover pants by Colette Patterns.

You know, this pattern required a lot of patience! A L-O-T! There is something going on with the crotch, and I have to stand in a very stiff pose to have no whiskers, wrinkles, pulls or whatever.

The original pattern suggests using medium weight fabrics with some stretch. I had a stretch wool tweed. The fabric has some shine, but by far not so much as on this image, I still need to work on my images (even though this was taken by Mr. Frabjous, ahem...)

The instructions are easy to follow, although I did a few things differently. Let me explain one by one.

You may remember from another post on Clover pants, that I serged side seams with  fine silk thread. However, I just could not do the same on the crotch and pockets. Well, the problem was I underlined the pants with stretch silk charmeuse, and used the same charmeuse to make pockets. Well, serging just went all over the place with the slippery stretchy silk, so at the end I just hand overcast it, and it looks quite decent without living an imprint on the outside. I must add, that at the end it took me less time to hand overcast than to go though all that trouble with serging. But that's me again :-)

Here are the pockets, I love them, but they are hardly functional. In fact, I always have to push pocket lining down when I put on the pants.

One piece of advice, though! Don't you ever put your hand in this pocket in public: it looks weird, especially, if the pocket is not visibly identifiable as such... you got my point, right? here, oh horror, when I saw it on this pic....

I am really ashamed! but, enough of this...  Another thing I did, was faced waistband, which I did following Claire Shaeffer instructions from her Couture Sewing Techniques, or, even more detailed, her article in Threads (Facing Finesse: A couture waistband thins even the thickest fabrics, August/September 1990, from Threads Archive DVD).

How did  I do with my couture learning ? I think, well. So, to summarize, here are some couture techniques I used:

• underlining (right decision, because tweed is very! scratchy)
• hand-overcast all but side seams
• faced waistband

I like the result a lot, but  before I use it again I will definitely have to work more on the crotch fit!

So, here is my additional New Year's resolution: create the basic pant block using personal measurements! It will take some time, but I am determined to get it right!

What is your experience with pants? Do you get the fit right? Any recommendations? 

Trouser seam finish: to hand overcast or not?

Hi, readers! Kids are delivered to respective educational institutions after demanding double attention yesterday, and I finally got some time to share with you! Yay!

This U.F.O. celebration worked so far, my cape is finished! Now, I could not make up my mind which project to tackle next - that's always my problem. I wish I had a wardrobe full of beautiful hand-made clothes, but, alas...

So, at the end, I settled with my Clovers. Remember, it was a bonus project for Colette Fall Palette Challenge. Hmmm... So far, I have been working on bonus projects only, not on the planned ones. But, on the other hand, I do need an extra pair or two of trousers, so here we go.

The muslin was done long ago, fabric cut, pants underlined. What slowed me down is the decision on how to finish the seams. You know me, I love to use couture techniques - so, my initial thought was to hand overcast the seams. Crazy, right?

I checked David Page Coffin's Making Trousers for Men & Women: A Multimedia Sewing Workshop - he has a great chapter at the beginning 'Learning from Custom and Ready-to-Wear Garments'. And, of course, what I found there? YSL couture pants from Claire Shaeffer's collection!!! Naturally, all seam allowances were hand overcast... But I just wasn't ready for hand overcasting some five yards of seams with winter approaching soon.... I thought, those YSL pants are vintage - do they really still hand overcast? The answer is, most likely, yes, readers... (I've seen it in documentaries - but I tried to suppress it) So, I was still looking for faster solution. I feel really, really guilty about it!

Let me explain, readers! Hand overcasting considerably reduces bulk and stiffness of the seam edge, which is, obviously, an advantage as it won't show through on lighter weight fabrics, or leave an impression after pressing. However, my trousers, are made of medium-weight stretch tweed, and are underlined, so bulk is a relative issue. Stiffness, maybe.

I went further and paid a mandatory visit to The Cutter & Tailor forum for some advice. I mean who would know better than a bunch of best custom tailors?! There was a discussion on seam finishes, and I finally found what I was looking for.

Is sewing too trivial for a suspense moment, readers?.. Ta-da-da-DAM!

...Anyway,.. I decided to go for serging {Did I say the s* word?} Sorry!.. well, yes, s*rging! However, I used fine silk thread instead of the bulkier polyester. It made soo much difference. It's not as pure (forgive me) as hand overcasting, but it is only tiny little bit bulky and only somewhat stiff.

Of course, it took me several samples to adjust the tension - the thread was breaking all the time. At the end, I got it. Here is the proof:

well, the face side is not that visible, but what's more important is that it's not bulky or stiff.

To conclude, I just wanted to say that I would have chosen hand overcasting the pants if I had more time. Purist or not, to me it seems to be a better finish!

Now, back to you, readers! How do you finish pant seams? What are the pros and cons of your method?