Hot Patterns Fast and Fabulous Pull-on Palazzo Pants

I've been lamenting my lack of trousers for a while now.

I have a pants block, but am still not entirely sure how to use it to make pants. Ridiculous, eh?
While I was chastising myself for this, Hot Patterns very helpfully came out with a new trouser pattern, that looked like the fit I was trying to achieve.

It was downloaded and printed, toot sweet!

As it was billed as relaxed fit, I waffled on which size to go with, but ultimately went with the sizing that matched my measurements.
It is super quick to cut out and sew with only 2 main pieces in your main fabric, and the waistband in a knit. Pockets are optional - I belatedly decided to add the front ones to practice my pockets.

I initially made them up as per the pattern, and the only fit change I needed to make was to lower the front waist by 3". Fortunately, I suspected this might be the case, so had only basted the waistband on. A quick snip and re-attach the waistband and I have a very wearable pair of pants.

The fabric is a wool suiting I found at the op shop for $3 a metre. This I don't think is as drapey as the pattern suggestions, but it is comfy, and at this time of year - WARM!!

I am still deciding if I should narrow the leg a little, but I will definitely be making these again.

More Parsley Pants

My go-to pattern for pants for my boys is the Made By Rae Parsley pants. You can see my previous review here.

I won't repeat that all again, except to say it is a quick and easy pattern that yields nice results.

First up, some of the fleece versions, or as they are called at our house, fluffy pants! No pockets, straight up tracky daks. I have also made track pants from the more usual sweatshirting.

Avengers, flouro zigzag, and camo.

Next up we have 'jeans'.

2 types of denim, and navy cotton drill.

These I did put pockets on, lined with quilting cotton to reduce bulk.
I also did a faux flat felled outseam by doing a large pintuck and then topstitching it down.

There are at least another 3 pair of these pants that are either being worn or in the wash currently.

Kid Shorts

As I have mentioned previously, having a child who is quite slim means I can't just rock off to the shops and buy him new shorts and trousers.

This Summer, I have been trying out the Kid Shorts pattern from MADE.  This comes in sizes 12months to 10years.

This is a super easy pattern to put together, and the website has loads of excellent tutorials for changing them  - add pockets, flat fronts, piping, bias bound racer style, knee length boardie or shorter 'girl' style.

I have made these in various sizes, with and without pockets. I have also successfully turned it into a one piece pattern, so as not to break up a large scale print.

Mr School boy wanted skulls and orange shorts.

Mr Size 3 likes the Octopus fabric- More Octopus's Aunty Wendy!!!!

Mr 4 wanted tiger shorts.

Cake Patterns Espresso Leggings

Pattern Description: Create custom-fit leggings in a flash! The innovative Espresso template from Cake RiFFs makes it simple - just measure, mark, and connect the dots for a pattern that fits just right and sews up quickly. Elastic waistband slips smoothly beneath other layers.


Pattern Sizing: 25 - 55" waist.

Did it look like the drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, they are a fair representation.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, the instructions both for drafting the pattern to your measurements, and the construction were excellent.

Fabric Used: a slinky type knit 

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: none, these are as drafted. Next time, I will lower the waistline a little as I think I erred in my self-measuring.

Would you sew it again? Yes, I will definitely make these again. I love to wear leggings rather than tights under my winter boots, and I can have some fun with some knits.
I think these would also be excellent for custom drafted thermal leggings too.

Conclusion: A quick easy pattern, with awesome results.

Made By Rae Parsley Pants

As I've mentioned previously, my older son is small in both height and girth, which makes RTW pants an impossibility.
The current solution to this, is that I make his pants for him.

When Made by Rae released their new pants pattern, I showed it to my son who immediately latched on to the tartan pairs!!

I took myself off to Spotlight to look for some suitable fabric to try the pattern, and found some forest green and oatmeal check on the clearance table - sold!

I sewed them up, and handed them over for a try on and opinion. He liked them, but asked if I could make them warmer. After a bit of thinking, and a dive into my stash, I decided to underline the next pair with flannelette.

This time I took him with me to Spotties to pick his own fabric, and we came awaywith some 'interestinng' choices.

Lazer Beam pants!!

Cartoon pants

He is really pleased with his 'warm' pants, and they are in regular rotation, at least once a week or more often if they go through the wash.

'scuse the wrinkles - I had to spirit these out of the washing basket while he wasn't looking!!

He has a couple more pieces of fabric chosen for more, when I get to it too .....

Christmas Sewing Round-up

A quick round-up of the Christmas presents that were sewn up by me. Mostly, these are all patterns I have sewn previously, so not much to add.

Another Perfectly Preppy skort, from the pattern by the Scientific Seamstress. This was a popular choice again featuring favourite colour, purple. The spots fabric is a cotton, and the lining a poly/cotton poplin.

The free downloadable popover sundress pattern from Oliver and S. I chose not to use a contrasting fabric for the yoke and straps, as suggested in the pattern. This is made from a very light weight cotton.

These shorts in a size 18-24 months are made using the Oliver and S Sketchbook shorts pattern. These are made from a remnant of cotton drill used previously. These looked and sewed up very similarly to the previous pairs made with the Burda 9793 pattern. I would choose to sew the Burda pattern in preference to this one, while the boys are in the size range for it.

These mens boxer briefs were made using Kwik Sew 3298. Unfortunately, the yellow contrast fabric was a bit more contrasting than anticipated! They sewed up quickly and easily, would sew these again with a more considered choice of fabric. The main fabric is a cotton jersey, the contrast a cotton/lycra jersey.

Burda 9793 - Boys Shorts

I recently made up view C of Burda 9793 - boys shorts. Twice, just for good measure.

The first ones were in a grey/blue/green skate fabric, a cotton drill which had been hiding in the bottom of my fabric bin for a while. I opted to make the pocket bags from some matching poplin to reduce bulk, which in the end was not necessary.

I

My only issue with this pattern was the instructions for the faux fly. For some reason, I just couldn't figure out what they were trying to explain, so ended up just stitching it down.


The second pair was made out of a cotton drill also, green with white stars. The exciting part of these was that I made them completely on my Singer 201, straight stitch machine!

The second pair are french seamed throughout, and then topstitched  for mock felled seams.

Perhaps a lot of work for a pair of boys rough and tumble shorts, but they look nice and they served the aim of me getting to grips with my new old sewing machine.

I will definitely be making these again (and again...) as they are quick and easy and look great, and plan to make the longer pants too when the weather starts cooling off again next autumn.

Style Arc Linda pants

After seeing the success that other people were having with the Style Arc Linda pants, I decided to see for myself what all the gushing was about. 

Style Arc is an independent pattern company from Australia, that designs RTW styles, with RTW fit. They also very helpfully include a sample of their recommended fabric with their patterns, so that you have an idea of the weight and stretch of the fabric they suggest if you want to substitute, or if their recommendation is a bit 'lost in translation'.

The Linda pant is a pull-on style most often seen here (and in Australia) made in bengaline, and that is the fabric recommended here.

To keep in the spirit of what was intended, and because frankly, I find them very comfortable, I made mine up in RPL* bengaline which I found on the clearance table at Spotlight for a slightly unbelievable $3 a metre.

The only alteration I made was to add 1cm to the front waist, as that is where my extra waist 'fluff' resides, and shortened them by 3 1/2 cm. For reference I started with a size 16.

Yes, I am standing on the side of my bath!

While I am reasonably happy with the fit, there is still something slightly hinky going on with my crotch seam, which I suspect has more to do with my fluffy tummy than the pattern.

As it is, I can't complain. These essentially fit straight out of the packet, and they are acceptable enough to wear out of the house, though if anyone has an idea on how I might improve the fit, I'm open to ideas.