Rose's Sewing Room: Pants Party

Well, the "party" for the past two weeks wasn't particularly exciting. I've been working on tax returns and the quest for finding reasonable health insurance. At least half of my time was spent waiting for the computer to locate tax info I needed and hanging on the phone to speak to someone about insurance (usually involves 20 or so options and talking to just about everyone in the particular company's office). I am atypically obsessive about both of these topics - gotta have the least, legal taxes possible and the lowest cost insurance with the most benefits for me. I have "almost finished" (two words you see a lot in this blog for various reasons) with the taxes - just waiting for info from one of my family darlings. I've made the decision about health insurance and just have one (I hope!) loose end to tie up on Monday. My sewing machine is next to my computer so while I was waiting on the computer or listening to telephone holding music, I sewed. Of course, the sewing had to be the kind that didn't require a lot of thought so I could stop and start. Sewing pants was my answer there.

The first pair was Vogue 1061 which are described as "fitted, pull-on pants, above the ankle have waistband and stitched hems". I would describe them more as Pajama Party Pants. I made them in a carmel RPL doubleknit. The fabric is the greatest thing about the pants: It is very comfortable. The fit was not very good. Of course, that could be corrected but, hey, I already have two TNT pull-on pants patterns that fit well. These were one-seam pants. I think I need two seams to adjust for fit. I dunno. I know a lot of people love one-seam pants. The above ankle length looked like my pants got caught in an over-heated dryer. The look was comical so I made them longer. Also, I couldn't quite wrap my head around putting a waistband on pull-on pants. I can pull them on all right, but elastic waists are more comfortable and less time-consuming to sew. The bottom line is I won't wear these p.j.-looking pants outside the house except, maybe, to go walking for excercise. Hey, the whole idea of this sewing gig is to have clothes that fit and look polished (that's the goal anyway). Here's a picture of the pants:

The other pants at my "party" are turning out much better. There's a lot to be said for TNT patterns. There is a brown twill pair from V1051 that is "almost finished" - just have to finish the waist band, sew on hooks & eyes, and hem it. I also worked on a couple of pull-on pants from Loes Hinse: a white pair and denim pair. I added back pockets to the denim pants and used a couple of decorative stitches from my machine. Here are the pockets before attaching: