Anima pants and Scout tee

I’ve been wanting a pair of easy pants for daily wear when these knit pants were popping out everywhere. Turned out that Papercut patterns is having a competition for one of their pattern, the Anima pants, and that’s why there are lots of people making these pants.

Everyone’s version look so good that I had to order the PDF pattern and made myself a pair. You can also buy the paper version of this pattern, I love the instant-ness of PDF patterns. From the pattern description in the website: “A must-have staple item for those times when you need the perfect balance of casual and cool. Slim leg pant with elasticated waist, drawstring, faux fly front and side pockets. Can be made full, knee length with or without cuffs or as shorts.”

The fabric is medium weight cotton jersey in the color navy. I made size XXS with no alteration except for shortening the legs, as I’m not tall. You might want to check the length of the pants before attaching the cuffs. I like mine to fall just below the ankle.

Sewing the pants was just as easy as it looked. I did have difficulty when sewing the waistband though. The instruction suggested to stitch the top edges of both waistband and elastic together, then fold it over to the inside and topstitch from the outside, stretching as you sew.

Somehow I wasn’t able to do the topstitching as neatly as I want. I suspected that it is because I don’t have foot pedal, my sewing machine has to be turned on and off with a button (gasp!). So everytime I stretch and sew, I have to release the stretching to turn off the machine and it skewed the fabric. Well, after all these years of sewing I suppose should have bought a foot pedal….

Aside from the waistband (which is conveniently covered by the the top), the pants are exactly what I had in mind! I’ve been having lots of success with Papercut patterns, so I’m very happy.

The top is Scout woven tee made with beautiful linen by naniIRO. The pattern of the fabric is called ‘Water window’. Such a perfect name, isn’t it? They remind me of watercolor painting exercise. The fabric needed a simple pattern that can showcase the beautiful color and I think the Scout pattern is perfect for this purpose.

After I finished the top, I wore it rightaway and loved it so much that I wanted another in knit fabric. The only difference from the woven version is the neckline finishes. The woven Scout was finished with bias binding while the knit Scout was finished with folded strip of fabric. Here’s the tutorial by Jen for sewing the knit version of Scout tee.

When I bought the naniIRO fabric for my top, I came across this interesting poly jersey fabric with raised texture. I think it will look beautiful for a winter cardigan but I wanted to make something with it for summer, like another Anima pants! I was only able to get 50 cm of the fabric so it became a pair of shorts. A pair of pants with this fabric for summer would be too hot anyway.

For the second version, I attached the waistband in different way. I folded the waistband over the wide elastic and serge the folded edge to the top edge of the pants. My serger has foot pedal so everything went quicker and -more importantly- neater.

When Shake saw me setting up the tripod and camera, she immediately posted herself in front of the camera. For some reason, she thought that I held some treats in my hand (it was just the camera remote) so here she is in every picture. Of course she got some treats after all because who can’t resist that face?! Also, a brief apperance by Sidra but he didn’t want to show his face 😀