Nowadays I get most of my inspirations and news in the sewing world from Instagram. Like these pants for instance, the news about the pattern launch popped out a few days ago in my feed and I was instantly attracted to the shape.
The Persephone pants by Anna Allen is a pattern for high-waisted pants and shorts, inspired by US Navy sailor pants. I find it very interesting that the pants don’t have side-seams, the front and back are cut from one piece. This must be some magical drafting! Other interesting details are the concealed button fly and front waist in-seam pockets.
I made my pants in size 4 with medium weight denim. For reference I am 4’11” (150 cm) with 26″ waist and 37″ hip. Naturally there was a lot of shortening alterations that I always do in every pattern. For this pattern, I shortened the legs about 12 cm (5 inches), and shortened the rise about 0.5 cm (1/4″).
The instructions are absolutely brilliant! I always have trouble with pants fly, but the instructions for the button fly is very clear and easy to follow. I’ve never made front waist in-seam pockets before, and it is great to learn something new with this pattern. With no side seams, the pants are relatively quick to make.
The pattern has 12 mm (1/2″) seam allowances. My sewing machine uses metric and it doesn’t have marking for imperial measurements. So I shaved 0.2 mm from all the 12 mm seam allowances. I could have put tape on my sewing machine to mark the seam allowance but I prefer to have 1 cm (3/8″) or 1.5 cm(5/8″) on all my sewing patterns.
Here’s the button fly! The buttons are metal button and they came with special strong thread to sew them. You can also see the clever front waist in-seam pockets. All topstitchings are done with #20 rust-coloured denim thread.
The fit is great with no alterations. There is quite a wedgie on the back part though, but I think they still look okay?
- Pattern for pants is Persephone pants by Anna Allen (PDF), size 4.
- Pattern for top is self-drafted.