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True confession: I never made a pair of fly front pants until now; not really sure why that is.  So I rate myself intermediate for pants sewing.  I’m also not exactly cutting edge with pattern choice here since there are many terrific examples of HP Marrakesh Pants out there;  Gigi, Debbie, [...]]]>

Click!

Click!

True confession: I never made a pair of fly front pants until now; not really sure why that is.  So I rate myself intermediate for pants sewing.  I’m also not exactly cutting edge with pattern choice here since there are many terrific examples of HP Marrakesh Pants out there;  Gigi, Debbie, Sue, Michelle and  Barbara have made up this pattern and each example looks fantastic.

Given that my pants sewing skills are merely average, this first pair will be gardening pants .  But these are not a wearable muslin because I still did two regular muslins to get the fit right; one straight out of  the envelope and the second with a front thigh adjustment using Els’ method (which is definitive BTW.)   Trudy’s crotch curve does everything people say it does.  The front thigh adjustment was the only change I made to size 12.  For the zipper Sandra Betzina’s method seems to be the easiest one out there, although I find it a little peculiar that she doesn’t include a fly shield, but that’s easy to incorporate, basically you just add it towards the end.  When I do my next pair I’ll show some photos.

There are a few detail changes:

• The ties are twill with a line of floss topsititched down the middle.  I was in Fashion Mecca with my daughter (e.g. Forever 21) and saw a pair of similar pants with this detail on petersham ribbon.  It looked great and as soon as I get my hands on some petersham I’ll use it this way.
• Added two exterior patch pockets that I took from McCall’s 5590.  These are work pants so that detail is unique to just this pair because it’s not exactly flattering.  Regular inset pockets are not very useful for gardening and the loops are for tools like pruners.
• Like Gigi, I used a pants hook and eye instead of a button.
• Next pair may have a grommet opening for the ties insteads of buttonholes.
• Stabilized the crotch curve as Gigi recommends in her post above.

Goofy chcken button

The fabric is Solarweave from Rockywoods; a SPF 50+ nylon supplex.  The last time I used this fabric I made a shirt and that project had loops and no buttonholes.  This fabric hates buttonholes. Even when it’s interfaced.  I had to add a piece of machine embroidery stabilizer under the fabric.  Solarweave is lightweight but the yarns are very hard and so make sure you use a fresh needle.  It also frays and all seams need to be inside a lining or clean finished.  This is a noisy fabric too, it makes a swishing sound and I’ll never where these anywhere except my own backyard or for a quick trip to Lowes.  Next time I’ll make the waistband a little taller, maybe to 1 ½ inches tall.

This is now my go-to casual pant and I’ll be making up several for summer.

About a month ago my company cut my salary due to the economy, so now I work a four day week.  We’re not crazy about the drop in income, but the extra time is nice, so this is a 4 day weekend for me.  [...]]]>

Chicken coop on the left, DH on the right

About a month ago my company cut my salary due to the economy, so now I work a four day week.  We’re not crazy about the drop in income, but the extra time is nice, so this is a 4 day weekend for me.  The weather is glorious today so DH and I have been outside all day gardening; we planted tomatoes, eggplant, started watermelons and generally got our raised beds ready for the summer.   You can read about our gardening and chicken keeping adventures on our blog mediaOrganic (well it’s mostly his gardening blog at the moment.)  I also started Vogue 8509 after seeing the cute version Lindsay made; she’s right it’s a great summer dress that you can just pop on in the heat and off you go.  My version is blue and white Hawaiian rayon, I may also make it up in wool challis for the fall, it’s a great style for casual Friday.   Hopefully I’ll get it done this weekend.

Tonight the four of us head up to Ann’s for lobster.  I’m bringing deviled eggs made with eggs laid by our chickens, mint for Mojitos from our garden and a potted flat leaf parsley plant for Ann.  The plants we had last year self-seeded so we have lots of parsley.

Have a great holiday weekend!