March Burda o' the month: #126 3/2012

If you google "trouser fitting problems" you will literally get 61.9 million results.  Thankfully amongst the posts for muffin tops, whale tails and camel toes there are many thoughtful and detailed posts by patient and thorough sewists (both amateur and professional) who have detailed their fitting issues and solutions.  These people have made many, many muslins in their journey to Perfectly Fitting Pants and have shared their knowledge with the rest of us so we too can achieve Perfectly Fitting Pants.

Alas, this post is not one of those.  I ended my pants making journey after two muslins and arrived at Good Enough Fitting Pants which I'm more than happy with because I lack the patience to persevere any more when there are so many pretty dresses out there waiting to be made, and I also have a few more kilos of post baby weight to lose so hopefully these won't fit me in a few months anyway!

To recap, as part of my challenge to sew at least one thing from each new issue of Burda Style I decided to make pants #126 from issue 3/2012.  Don't know why I did this to myself - there were a few patterns from this issue I liked, plus Melissa did warn me in the comments to the last post that these pants are weirdly fitting, but hey I'm two months post partum so what better time to sew some weirdly fitting pants right?!  And funnily enough Melissa it's because I liked the way your pants looked on you that I decided to make myself a pair!

What I liked about this pattern is that the front is lower than the back, which is my preferred way of wearing pants, it has interesting details without bulky pockets, and it has no side seams, which I thought might give me a smoother finish over my saddlebag thighs.

Happily the finished product doesn't look too bad and certainly not any worse than every pair of RTW pants I've ever owned.

Well gosh look at that - I've embraced colour and made some bright red cotton drill pants!

For my first muslin I made it straight off the pattern, making the largest size (42 I think?) based on my hip measurement.  And as flagged by Melissa the fit was strange.  For me the pants fit well from just above my knee down to my ankles, but above that they were way too large, like low rise baggy jodhpurs with a gaping waistline.

For the second muslin I took in a few centimetres at each seam line, slashed and spread the pieces to add some extra height and took out a wedge shaped piece at the centre back to remove the gaping I always get at the waistline. I also deepened the crotch line a bit to cater for my *ahem* ample derriere.  I also decided not to do the diagonal seam lines at the mid thigh because they are just purely decorative and unnecessary.  As I said above, these changes were enough to make the pants fit ok and so I sewed it up in my final fabric, a thick red cotton drill I had bought from the Remnant Warehouse last year sometime.

You can see from the side view, these pants are very form fitting (but not skin tight), and I've managed to get rid of the gaping at the waistline which is always a problem for a pear shape.  What I liked about this pattern is that it has a two piece waistband, with a centre back seam which makes it easier to adjust:

And I can't believe I'm sharing this, but here is the back view, which fits but isn't overly flattering.  Thankfully I don't have eyes in the back of my head so I don't have to see this too often!

So overall I'm pretty happy with these - they aren't too tight around my hips and thighs, but they fit at the waistline.  And a pair of red pants are far more versatile than I ever thought.  I'm in the middle of a closet clean out, so while I had all my clothes out I played a bit of dress ups to see what I already owned that would work.  Quite a bit it turns out!

Classical pairing with a navy striped tee - very nautical:

A preppy pairing with a blue button up shirt and white cable knit jumper:

Over the top colour (I doubt I'd wear this combination):

More subdued colour (unfortunately this top isn't a flattering cut and may become refashioned into something for Anna):

A casual look with a beige and cream stripe knit:

Finally a nursing friendly combo of a striped button up shirt worn over a nursing singlet:

That's quite a few different looks without even resorting to the easy option of wearing red with grey.  And when I was watching The Nanny today (don't laugh, repeats just happen to be on when I'm nursing Toby), Nanny Fine was rocking a pair of red capris with a tight leopard print top so that's always a left field option too!

And now on to my next Burda make, a skirt this time which won't require a muslin.  Whilst I can appreciate the value of making a muslin, it's still annoying to have made three pairs of pants of which only one is wearable.