Joy to the World, the Pants are Done!

Friends, I certainly hope viewing this pic isn't putting anyone's job in jeopardy.  But I just finished my cherry leopard stretch denim pants and I am ready to rap, or whatever one does, shirtless, in leopard pants.  Actually, I'm listening to my lovely Concert, Theater & Parlor Songs of John Philip Sousa CD.  Weird, right?

I love these pants: they're funky, yet cut like ordinary straight-leg jeans.  Here's the more conservative look, relatively speaking.  Hope this doesn't give you a pattern-induced headache.



Here's the rear, for those who wonder about such things.  I'm not sure leopard is doing me any favors back there, frankly.



These pants turned out much better than I'd expected, though I did have a few challenges.  I put a hook and eye in the waistband, which went in without a problem.



But I also added a 1" waistband extension on which I'd hoped to put a buttohole, only my vintage Singer buttonholer doesn't want to do it -- I guess the fabric, which has heavy waistband interfacing inside, is just too thick.



I'll either stitch on the flimsier type of hook and eye or make a buttonhole by hand, which I've never done before but would be open to trying.  Either way, the whole area is under a belt and therefore not visible, plus the original tailor-type hook and eye securely closes the pants.

Since the fabric stretches width-wise, I serged twill tape onto the top of the pockets before turning them under.



Normally the top of the pocket would be turned under twice, but the fabric is too thick and stretchy for that.  Finished this way, I could turn them under only once.  I then topstiched along the top, and the twill tape cut down on the horizontal stretching.



The back pockets went on without a problem.  I used my Singer 201 for all the topstitching (using heavy topstitching thread from Sil Thread) and my Featherweight for most other seams.





I used commercial waistbanding inside the waistband as interfacing, since I really wanted the waistband to be sturdy and I had some lying around.  It worked well, though it may be the reason I can't make a buttonhole through the waistband extension.



BTW, all my flat-felled seams are faux.  Spongy, stretchy fabric and true flat-felled seams do not mix.  I just serged my seam allowances and topstitched from the outside twice.  You'd never know that difference.

Even though they're basically jeans, I hemmed by hand because I didn't want the width-wise stretch to create ripples or waves in the hem -- do you know what I mean?  Before I hemmed, I stitched twill tape to the hem edge.



And that's it!  I am happy to be done and excited about working these pants into my wardrobe, though my burgundy and black saddle shoes won't be here till next week, sadly.

In closing, indulgent readers, are you ready to take the leopard plunge?  Predator preppy is so going to happen in 2012, I just know it.

Have a great day, everybody!

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Leopard Pants Progress!

Readers, the pants are coming along.  For you jumpsuit fans -- what can I say?  Maybe next time.  I really don't wear jumpsuits, to be honest.  I don't jump much.

A few strange things about this fabric -- other than the wacky print -- worth mentioning.  The stretch is on the warp (i.e., parallel to the selvage) rather than the weft, so I cut the pants legs perpendicular to the selvage, rather than parallel.  Otherwise the pants would have stretched in length but not in width, which would have been funky, don't you think?  The only visible grain is the weft as well.

So far, it seems  to be working; we'll see what the result is like.

I made the pockets out of a vintage striped cotton I picked up at the flea market recently (along with the print fabric that became Michael's short-sleeve shirt).





Now, I must say that cut, this cherry leopard print looks much less overwhelming, and I'm starting to really like it, even if it was probably intended for a thirteen-year-old girl. 



Plus -- how's this for spooky coincidences? -- it just happens to go with my recently purchased (used on eBay) Allen Edmonds shoes!



I call the look Predator Preppy!  (Or does that sound too much like Anthony Perkins in Psycho?)

And speaking of preppy, would you spend $75 on this book?

I saw Hollywood and the Ivy Look in the window of a neighborhood bookstore and was intrigued, but I think I will be limiting myself to the book's blog.  I'm over expensive coffee table books.  I don't even have a coffee table. 

Friends, it is time for me to make my back pockets.  With luck, I will be able to finish these today. 



Honestly, do you think these pants are more predator preppy.... 

...or Cheetah Girls?

Happy sewing, everybody!

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Suit Pants Day 6 - Done! + Laura Mae Obsession

Friends, first the good news: the pants are done.  I hemmed them yesterday, pressed them a bit, got 80% of the dog hair off, and actually wore them out of the house. 





But you know when people say that something is more than the sum of its parts?  Well, for me, these pants are less.  I'm proud of the details -- the faux watch pocket flap (that still needs a button), the back welt pocket, the waistband -- but the pants themselves are a bit meh.





For one thing, they're a little too full in the leg for my taste.  I could probably still narrow these some if I wanted to, but is it worth it at this point?  (I'd have to let down the hems, for one thing.)  Maybe I'm just not used to the look of men's dress pants -- I mean, they do look like the pattern envelope, but please note the body proportions of those men -- they are built like Ken dolls (body length = 10 heads);  I'm built more like a Chrissy doll (body length = 5 heads).

I think a slimmer leg would be more flattering for a shorter-than-average guy like me.  The question is, how much more flattering?  I mean, they're worsted wool dress pants, to be worn with a suit jacket.  They're supposed to flow a bit, right?  Plus, these don't have a sharp front crease yet; maybe that will make a difference.   They could also use another pressing and de-linting. 



Anyway, I'm ready to move on.  Or not.

I think for my next pair of dress pants, I'm going to skip commercial patterns and draft the whole thing myself, using Jane Rhinehart's OOP, How to Make Men's Clothes or the Cabrera/Meyers Classic Tailoring Techniques: A Construction Guide for Men's Wear, or Knowles' The Practical Guide to Patternmaking for Fashion Designers: Menswear, all of which I already own, and what's the point of owning them if I'm not going to use them?

I've noticed that of the five or so men out there making our own pants and talking about it, nobody's using commercial patterns except me.  Maybe they know something I don't.

Not to sound snobby or anything, but the McCall's instructions really don't cut it, not for dress pants.  I mean, they instruct you to make the waistband in one piece and add elastic for additional snugness.  No joining two waistband halves at the back center seam, no waistband facings, no crotch reinforcement -- nothing.  Right now, however, I need to decide whether to leave these finished pants alone or fiddle with them some more.  I think I need a pants-free day or two to decide, don't you?  Maybe I'll feel differently.

I know it sounds hackneyed, but making these pants has been a valuable learning experience and, hey, in the worst case I lost, what, a week of my life?  I could have wasted that watching Battle of the Network Stars.  (Wait: I think I lost that week already, sometime back in the mid-Seventies.)  Anyway, you get my point.  This will only make me a better sewer, if a slightly more frustrated one today.

But enough about me.  How are you, and are you reading vintage sewer extraordinaire Laura Mae's blog, Lilacs & Lace, my new obsession?  Laura Mae's blog is new enough that I was able to read every single post, which I did last night.

I don't know Laura Mae personally, of course, though she did recently leave a comment on my Snoods -- Yea or Nay post (she was a Yea).  I'm going to violate the terms of her blog and post a photo without her permission, only to prove that LM is a dead ringer for the late Jennifer Jones (with whom she shares a strikingly similar wardrobe), a young Shirley Jones, AND an adult Shirley Temple.  If Laura Mae's last name is Jones and she goes to temple, I wouldn't be a bit surprised. 

Jennifer Jones

Shirley Jones

Laura Mae

Shirley Temple

Laura Mae also knits, dyes, and finishes all her seams with Hug Snug rayon seam binding.  And she owns a chihuahua!  What's not to love?

Like my cousin Cathy, Laura Mae isn't afraid to wear true tea length and she carries it off with aplomb.  WARNING: Laura Mae's posts are often peppered with phrases like For an evening at the symphony earlier this year, I made up this Vogue Couturier pattern...  This is not a woman sitting home nights watching re-runs of Jersey Shore.  

And now I must get on with my day and perhaps obsess over my pants some more.  I wonder what Laura Mae's up to...

Have a great day everybody!

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Suit Pants Day 5 - I blame Claudine!

Readers, I am this close to having my suit pants completed -- in fact, I totally expected to finish them yesterday.  I had my new charcoal gray commercial waistbanding from Steinlauf & Stoller (a steal at just $1.80 per yard) and a new can-do attitude.





But fate intervened in the form of an email from master sewer and blogger Claudine of Adventures in Couture.  I've been lurking on Claudine's blog for nearly two years now, observing her stunning couture-inspired creations -- not to mention the square footage of her house -- with not a little envy.  I had met Claudine once before, on MPB Day last August, so naturally I count her among my closest friends.  I even know her last name.

Claudine relaxes at home.

Therefore, when Claudine invited me to join her for a little upscale fabric shopping and a visit to the latest FIT exhibit, The Great Designers, Part One, I dropped everything, threw on a relatively clean shirt, and hightailed it to B&J Fabrics, where we met in the late morning.  Highly organized and productive Claudine had already been to see the Christmas windows at Bergdorf's and done a little holiday shopping at Saks (where she picked up a lovely gift for herself -- I'll let Claudine tell you about that -- although, alas, nothing for me).  At B&J, Claudine was in search of English woolens, no doubt to make another impeccably tailored jacket like the beautiful original she was wearing yesterday, a tweed boucle that you can read more about here.

I think Claudine was a little taken aback by my New York brashness, but nevertheless complied with my request that she remove her jacket so I could examine the handstitched silk lining; I discovered that Claudine's natural state of sang froid isn't easily disturbed.  I'm not sure she'll be wanting to fabric shop with me again, though, as I revealed my tendency to loudly exclaim Eighty-five dollars a yard for THIS!? every three minutes.  I'm a bargain basement shopper, friends.  Not so Claudine.  

We grabbed lunch at Pret A Manger on Broadway, which despite offering considerable seating, was completely full.  Pas de problème: imperturbable Claudine suggested we sit outside in the pedestrian mall.  Friends, it had to be forty degrees out and it was windy yesterday, albeit sunny.  My instinct would have been to stand uncomfortably close to a table of tourists and loudly sigh and roll my eyes, thus making them so uncomfortable that they packed up their sandwich ends and headed out the door -- I'm confrontational.  (Just ask demure Debi, who on a big blogger meetup a few months ago, when I was criticized by some impatient loon on the Dean & Deluca line for excessive chatting at the food counter, witnessed me release such a series of expletives in return that she shrank to palm-size.)  But that's how we roll here in NYC.  Anyway, Claudine and I did eat outside, me with blue lips and chattering teeth, and elegant Claudine sitting hatless, a few stray wisps of hair blowing in the wind, relaxed and happy.  Maybe I need to eat more protein.

Next we hit the Fashion Institute of Technology, whose museum exhibits are free to the public and always breathtaking.  The Daphne Guinness exhibit is still on display, of course; this new exhibit is in their somewhat smaller street-level gallery space, but it's marvelous.  Designers are presented in alphabetical order and all the biggies are represented, from Armani to Zoran.  What a privilege to tour this exhibit with someone like Claudine, who can look at, say, a Prada dress, and say (I paraphrase) Ah yes, the 2008 collection -- the one that turned me on to guipure lace, without sounding the least bit pretentious.  This woman knows her designer fashion, and after an hour with her, you start to feel like a true fashionista, although most of my comments were still of the Isn't that pretty! variety.

You can read the NY Times review of The Great Designers, Part One here.  Even if you can't see this exhibit with a couture maven like Claudine, please go see this wonderful show.  It's open now through May 8, 2012.

Meanwhile, back in Pants-landia, newly inspired by Claudine's masterful attention to detail, I started attaching my waistband yesterday evening.  Of course nothing went as planned and I had to rip out the same seam twice, but I have much higher hopes for today, readers.  I am committed to finishing these today, in fact, even if it means adding an elastic waistband, which is so very un-Claudine-like.

I'm deciding between a double hook-and-eye (or tailor's belt fastener) on the waistband extension, or a hook-and-eye with button, the disadvantage of the latter being that I'd have to make a buttonhole in my all-but-finished pants, with all the concomitant risks.   Hey, there's always velcro.





Friends, I hope you're having a fruitful week.  Please don't let the Claudines of the world sabotage your productivity, as I did.  They wouldn't let us do that to them, you can be sure!

I leave you with an additional wig-shot, as they proved so popular on yesterday's post.  (Who knew there were so many Bea Arthur fans out there? )  Who's the actress and in which movie did she sport this shaggy hairdo?

Happy Friday, everybody!

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Suit Pants Day 4 - Whoops!

Friends, I've done it, you've done it.  OK, at least I've done it.

I refer, of course, to the old sewing the pants fly shut when you topstitch along the front.  To be honest, I've never done this before, so why I did it this time is anybody's guess.  I had the legs all sewn up and the back center seam basted (on these dress pants, the back center seam will be the last one sewn, along with the right and left sides of the waistband) and I was ready to try them on.  I reached to unzip my zipper and -- gadzooks: I'd sewn the fly shut!

But that's not all.  Not only had I topstitched over the fly (what I'm calling the fly is the protruding piece you add just behind the right front side of the zipper and extends to the left), I had actually overcast together the matching edges of the fly and fly facing (the side that's turned under to the left).  I couldn't just rip the seam at this point; I had to trim the overcast stitches off, leaving both fly and fly facing roughly 1/4" narrower than before.

But what is it they say about necessity being the mother of invention?  (Actually, that is what they say.)  I dug out some vintage cotton bias tape I'd picked up recently at the flea market, and added it to the edges of both fly and fly facing.  This wasn't truly necessary, of course, but it does look pretty.  This is the kind of 100% cotton tape you never see anymore in the stores -- plaid! -- and yes, I pre-shrank it.  Cute, no?

So that was the mistake of the day and I'm averaging at least a few daily.

The good new is that I now have a real pair of pants, albeit without waistband.  Here I am trying on the left leg (before I realized I'd topstitched my fly closed).

I got my side pockets on without any of the problems I mentioned yesterday.  I double-stitched and overcast my inside pockets.  I'm not serging on this project -- for some reason the serger feels too rough.  Overcasting looks fine to me.

I've been pressing my seams over a seam roll and pressing with my wooden clapper.  The benefit of a seam roll is not only that it fits through the pants leg, but also that the slight roll prevents the overcast (or serged) seam edges from imprinting themselves on the fabric.  I've been pressing carefully on the "wool" setting of my iron with a muslin press cloth.  So far, no problems with that. 

I already have two kinds of commercial waistbanding, but I may try to find something in black.  The narrow one seems too narrow (and without the little "skirt" commercial waistbanding usually has), while the wide one seems too wide.  I'll figure something out. 

I also tested buttonholes using thick buttonhole twist thread and the 5/8" keyhole template in my vintage Singer buttonholer.  It worked.

I'd love to finish these today, readers.  We'll see how it goes...

Have a great day, everybody!

PS - Have you ever sewn a fly shut -- or something equally embarrassing?

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