Travelling Pants: Sewaholic Thurlows
I remember reading in one of Trinny and Susannah’s books that as a skittle (bowling pin), trousers weren’t the most flattering choice for my shape. Whilst I understand the sentiment, I am un-prepared to lead a pants-less existence so enter these shorts. I plan on making the longer version but there were quite a lot of new techniques for me so I gave it a bash first on these shorts to take on my holiday home in a couple of weeks.
Size Alterations: I made a size 16 with a 1/2 inch added to each of the side and in-seams and 1 inch to the length. I left off the belt loops as I wouldn’t wear a belt with these anyway and lastly I made a mistake with the waistband (more on that later) so the pointed edge is outermost on these.
The Fabric: Mustard (the cooler khaki) Cotton Sateen from Walthamstow Market. Navy gingham for the lining.
Time to Make: Much quicker than I thought – I started cutting them out about 4pm and worked until 10pm then finished them in the morning so all up about 8 hours including cutting out.
Ch-ch-ch-changes: The seat still needs a little more room and I think I need to transfer a bit from the vertical part of the crotch curve to the horizontal at the front. I also, totally faffed-up the waistband/fly – NB: when the pattern piece says ‘cut 1 right side up’ it’s talking about the pattern paper not the fabric – doh! This meant that my left and right waistbands (each has it’s own pattern piece) are reversed. I made do and put the pointed piece on the outside but I had to improvise because the length wasn’t sufficient for finishing the top edge of the fly facing.
Repeatability: Definitely. I have some grey suiting ready to go for the full length version.
Sew Grateful: Tasia for making all the new techniques straightforward and un-intimidating. Lauren for her amazing sew-a-long posts and inspiration.
