My first Thurlows!

Why, yes, I’m feeling accomplished. I’ve only had this in the queue since the moment I got the announcement email from Sewaholic.

All things considered, I think they turned out pretty well! Even though the welt pockets are a little wonky. I couldn’t make heads or tails of the first one, ended up making it much shorter than it was supposed to be, and stupidly chopped off the excess before I figured it out on the second one. So it was either rip it all out and cut out new pieces and start over–with the welt hole already cut–or just chalk these up to test pants and call it a day. Obviously, I chose the latter.

The one thing I can’t figure out–it seems like the fly sticks out way more than it should, don’t you think? I feel like the line shouldn’t be that visible in a photo. I’m not sure if that is a fit issue or a fabric issue, since this is my mystery content fabric.

Looks pretty good from the back, though, I think. (And don’t mind my pose–this was self-timer on the tripod, and the dogs insisted on photobombing left and right! So I had to keep an eye on them to make sure they didn’t knock my tripod over. Or get into the trash. Again.)

I know there are still some wrinkles in the front. One lesson I’ve learned from attempting all of those pairs of jeans is that it’s really easy for me to over-fit there, since my upper thighs protrude quite a bit. So I have to leave a little breathing room just above them for sitting and things like that, or things get uncomfortable pretty quickly. I’m not too terribly worried about it, since I almost always leave shirts untucked anyway. But Malkin seems to approve, from the way he’s smiling when he looks at them.

I also didn’t bother with the belt loops, because I just wanted to get them done and move on to the next several pairs. Besides, I’m unsure how well this fabric will wear, since it was free and I’m not exactly sure what it is.

I did make one semi-conscious change to the design, by doing a visible button in the waistband instead of a hook and eye. I’ll admit that it was initially because I misread the supplies a bit and bought buttons to go with the pants. And I do have a thing for interesting buttons, so I didn’t want to relegate them all to the inside to be seen by only me. (I had a long-time friend tell me once that she could always tell when I’d made my clothes, because the buttons were more interesting than the average RTW stuff!) I did have a practical reason as well, though–I’ve found that my RTW pants with hook-and-eye waistbands tend to get distorted over time, and then lay funny under my shirts. It drives me nuts!

Overall, despite my welt pocket mental block, these pants were very much what I’d hoped they’d be–pants that look good and were relatively painless to fit! I did have to take in quite a bit on the back waistband, and change up the crotch curve and things like that. And I did have to let out the side seams just a bit at the top to accommodate my thighs. But I didn’t have to worry at all about adding hem length, which I’ve often had to do with pants, and I didn’t have to start over to add darts in weird places for a muslin fitting!

I think I’ve managed to make all of the changes to my paper pattern, minus one length adjustment I need to make to the waistband, so I’m almost good to go on cutting out my other 4 pairs and really make this a pantsapalooza! Though I’ve decided that I’m actually going to assembly-line these in groups of two instead of all four at once, mainly because that will minimize thread changes on my serger for seam finishing. (That, and it increases the chance I might be able to squeeze them in soon, in between working on stuff for the Doctor Who sewalong. Since that starts on Monday and all.)