Thank you for all the warm wishes on my 40th birthday! It is so wonderful to be able to share the day with so many people around the world. Isn’t internet an amazing thing? Once again, thank you so much!

So I finished sewing a pair of pants yesterday and took some pictures today. Sorry for the quality of the pictures, the sun is not very friendly today. It has been raining since morning.

The pattern is vintage seventies Simplicity 6108 that I got for USD 1 from this etsy seller. From the pattern envelope: Misses’proportioned straight leg and wide leg pants. The creased straight leg V. 1 with front zipper has waistband and turn back cuffs. The wide leg pants V. 2 have front zipper.

I made view 2 with some changes. The pattern was very simple with a lapped zipper and no pockets. I changed the zipper to fly front zipper and added a pair of side seam pockets.

My fabric was only 1 metre, not enough leftover for waist facings, so I used petersham ribbon as facings. I also lower the waist about 2.5 cm to be able to fit the pattern on the fabric. Because of these changes, I didn’t use the instruction sheet from the pattern envelope.

The pattern already has shortening/lengthening lines for proportioned height; short, medium, and tall. Naturally I used the ‘short’ lines. Instead of making muslin, I tissue-fitted the pattern. I learned this technique from the book Pants for Real People: Fit and Sew for Any Body, a birthday present from my husband ♥

In tissue-fitting, basically I reinforced the crotch area of the pattern using Scotch tape, pin the pattern together and try it on to adjust the fit. I needed swayback adjustment on the back pattern. The front pattern was a little too full, so I pinched it vertically about 1 cm in width.

I think this is an amazing way to fitting a pattern! I’m always too lazy to make a muslin. Besides, I don’t know what I’m going to do with all those muslin fabric. So I was very happy to learn tissue-fitting. Of course making a muslin is necessary for certain type of clothing, like this fitted bombshell dress that I haven’t continued working on since July….

Anyway, after marking the pattern with my alteration, I added the fly and pocket pattern pieces. I used the book Making Trousers for Men & Women as a reference to make the pattern pieces. I also got the idea of using petersham ribbon as waist facing from this book. This is another amazing book that covers various sewing techniques for pants. It also has a DVD with several video instructions and pocket templates.

Actually I planned to use leftover from my husband’s birthday pants but I cut them wrong and ended up with two left (or right?) legs. So it looks like Sidra is going to have  a new pair of pants soon. I turned to my stash and found this grey checked wool, I bought it sometime ago with the grey fabric for my jacket. When I said sometime ago it means more than a year ago! Talking about fabric hoarding.

The pants have very wide legs, something that I’ve never worn before. But after trying them on, I really like them! My husband said that they are very cute too. I think they look best paired with platform shoes. I’m glad to have another new style in my wardrobe!

Pattern is Simplicity 6108 (vintage seventies pattern) view 2, size 10 (waist 25″, hip 34.5″).