Crazy Pants, Noah’s Ark Edition
Yesterday morning a student was bicycling down our street in a t-shirt and shorts and our concerned neighbor shouted after him, “Put some layers on! Aren’t you freezing?!” To which he yelled from his fast-moving bike, “Seriously? I’M FROM CONNECTICUT!”
Well I’m from Michigan and it’s still crazy cold here in Austin, so don’t let my coatless self fool you. The sun came out for the first time in a few days and like all sun-addicted Texans I just had to spend some time in it. The things I’ll do for a photo shoot!
Since I’m talking crazy, it’s time to break out my new skinny pants.
I don’t quite know what’s going on here, like a Noah’s boat sort of print, full of feather eyes, snake scales and cat stripes. I kept trying to figure out the animal references while sewing it together. I hoped I wasn’t getting too psychedelic but my man kept saying THAT IS THE COOLEST FABRIC. When I tried them on to fit, he kept following from behind. Methinks that must be the best view!
Sorry, I’m not pulling up my jacket, so you’ll have to trust me on that one.
This is a new pants draft that I worked on in the spring, specifically with crazy pants in mind. I was really craving a pair of skinny printed pants to add to my capsule wardrobe, and made another pair on a bizarre dotted print that didn’t fit as well as I liked so I went back to the drawing board. I’m addicted to trying different patternmaking methods as a learning experience, so I tried a different method than the one I used for my skinny jeans. At this point I have several great pants and jeans blocks and I’m so ecstatic about this that I innocently believe I’ll be sewing 10 pairs by the end of the winter.
Here’s the deal with stretch pants: every fabric behaves so differently. Sometimes you need a little more leg width or a little less in the crotch extension. What I like to do is start with zero ease (no negative ease) at the hips and then baste up the pants with a big stitch and slowly work my way down till the skinny is just right. And it’s really important to balance the adjustments between the inseam and the side seam. Taking in too much at the inseam throws off the balance that causes all sorts of diagonal underbum wrinkles and possibly leg twist. This is something you never see explained in patternmaking books (except the German ones): how the balance of the leg underneath the crotch affects fit.
Anyhoo, the pants. These are basically stretch skinny jeans but without traditional jeans details like a yoke and back pockets and rivets and all that. Okay, so they’re not jeans at all, but the shaping is basically the same. I also draped in a wide contour waistband, which really takes the fit up a notch! Next time I think I’ll try a tabbed fly…
Normally I wouldn’t be tucking in a top with these. I made these with a mid to high rise (9″ to be exact). I love this height for tops that will be untucked because it’s super comfortable, but if I wanted to tuck I’d go even higher or lower simply because I like those visual proportions better.
On a sentimental last note, I want to dedicate this post to my amazing mother-in-law. She has been through a serious health scare this week, and since she’s a believer that you gotta keep on shining no matter what, I hope my crazy brings some shining to her day!
Details:
Pattern: self drafted
Fabric: Emma One Sock
Zipper: Zipper Stop
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