It took most of the day, but I got the pants finished. Not hemmed yet, but otherwise completed. (I'll throw them in the wash later and let them shrink up a bit before I hem them.)
Overall, I'm satisfied and I learned a lot.
There are a few things I wish I'd done differently, things I probably won't think about again after a few wearings.
The front fly isn't perfectly vertical, but curves ever-so-slightly to the right. Can you see that?
Despite using commercial waistband interfacing, the kind that has a little "skirt" that covers the inside waistband seam, making everything look smooth and professional, the inside facing is knit. I should have used woven (like my RTW dress pants have, I realize in retrospect). It's fine, just not ideal. It doesn't stretch, but it's not as tight or as rigid as I'd like it.
And I attached the waistband the way I would a shirt cuff or a shirt collar band (or a denim jeans waistband), requiring me to topstitch along the outside bottom (on a shirt cuff, this would be the place where the outside cuff attaches to the shirt sleeve). This looks OK, but topstitching on corduroy never looks gorgeous: it tends to flatten the nap.
Ideally I would have attached the outside of the waistband first, right sides together, and then folded the waistband up and over. Then (I guess) I could have slipstitched the facing from the inside so no stitching would show on the outside. Does that make sense?
It's all under a belt so it's invisible anyway.
I also should have attached the belt loops differently but who's examining my belt loops?
I didn't follow the pattern instructions for the waistband or the belt loops because I was working with that commercial interfacing. As with all garments, a little judicious hand-stitching would have made things nicer.
Again, it's fine and after a few days I won't think about it again.
My self-drafted pants pattern could use some tweeking, ultimately; maybe a re-do. But that's for later on. The important thing is the pants are done. I have to move on.
It's pouring rain here at the moment: perfect weather to start sewing a corduroy suit jacket, don't you think?
More pics of the pants here. (I've been adding to the same file so you might have seen some of these already. It's quite the epic.)
Happy Monday, everybody!
Any corduroy projects in the pipeline?
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