Sewing (my first) summer trousers with my patterned fabric.
When I first starting listing my fabric designs on Woven Monkey’s site, I had a few metres printed of three designs to make some clothes for myself.
As the end of the winter season drew to a close this year I decided it was about time I made some summer trousers with one of them!
Here’s my sewing story…
My mum had a dressmaking business when I was little so I rummaged through her patterns and found a trouser pattern I liked.
When you purchase a pattern you’ll find a chart on the back with body measurements so you can work out how much fabric you’ll need and which size pattern to cut.
From my measurements I decided to use the size 14 pattern as I wanted them to be loose summer trousers, more similar to a pair of Roxy ones I have and the ones in the pattern picture are quite fitted. This turned out to be a little tricky as once I opened the pattern I discovered my mum had cut it to a size 12 already.
At this point you should know this was the first time I’d ever made a pair of trousers…
After some figuring out of what all the different markings and dotted lines on the pattern meant, I worked out that adding an extra 2.5 centimetres in the right places would make the cut pattern into a size 14. (Thanks to my mum and ‘How to Start Sewing’ by Assembil Books for all the help in deciphering the pattern.)
Next I ironed both the pattern itself and the fabric, and redesigned the entire living room so I could lay the fabric out flat. Then it was time to play a game of tetris to work out where to cut each pattern piece so that the pattern was the right way round. The pattern does come with a diagram of where to lay the pattern pieces and cut them out but this applies to a non directional pattern. I didn’t want to end up with some upside down fish!
Cutting the pieces out took a surprisingly long time. Maybe it was just me, but do keep this in mind. The little notches marked on the pattern will help you line everything up correctly when you come to pinning, so don’t skip cutting those little 2-3mm notches. They’ll be well within the seam allowance so don’t worry about them making holes in your finished garment.
Now the next step according to ‘the rules’ is to pin and baste your pieces together before sewing them. I skipped the basting and went straight from pinning to sewing but I wouldn’t recommend it.
At this point I steadily worked through the pattern instructions, sewing the crotch together and then the zip. I was really happy with the zip and how well that turned out!
Once I had sewn the side seams together I came to a realisation that had been steadily dawning on me… These trousers were ENORMOUS. 😂
Now if I’d basted the pieces then maybe I would have realised sooner and been able to undo everything, recut the pattern and start again. Equally I could have just undone everything, recut it and started again, but I didn’t. I really was happy with the zip and at the end of the day the trousers were supposed to be loose fitting so taking in what I had already sewn was good enough for me.
I think I had sewn the seams with a smaller seam allowance than given in the pattern (2cms) so this would have contributed to the bigger size too.
Taking them in was a fairly simple process, EXCEPT, I had to undo and resew the pockets TWICE to get the trousers the right width. Moral of this story… follow the pattern. At least I’m pretty good at sewing pockets now! 😂
So began the process of taking the trousers in by several centimetres. I cut off sooo much fabric from the seams! 😂
Once I’d taken them in, the next step was to attach the waistband. I simply could NOT get my head around the pattern instructions. Probably because I had taken the trousers in so much that by this point I had absolutely no idea what size they were and what size the waistband should be. So I made it up.
I folded the piece of fabric I had over so that the waistband had a clean folded edge and sewed it together from the inside. I then folded the waistband again so that the top of the trousers was tucked in completely and sewed it in place with topstitching. In the end I had to add a few extra tucks so that they fitted around the waist the way that I wanted.
The very last part of the pattern required sewing a button hole and button. At this point I was running out of time to complete the trousers before my trip, so without wanting to tackle learning something new as well as packing, I sewed on some velcro instead. Yes that makes me an old lady! 😂
These trousers were made to be summer holiday trousers, and being one of those people that gets bitten if there’s a single mosquito or sand fly within a 10km radius, I wanted them to be elasticated at the bottom. So I created a loop of elastic and stitched it within the hem to prevent the midges getting in and having to wear less bug spray. Win win.
Here are my finished trousers! I’m pretty happy with them, particularly the aforementioned zip, the pockets and the fit around my bum. Plus I’ve received lots of compliments wearing them. If you haven’t made any items of clothing for yourself before, trust me when I say it feels extra special when someone compliments your clothes and you made them!
If after reading this you’d still like to make your own pair of trousers, my fabrics are available on Woven Monkey.
And if after reading this you’ve been put off, why not enlist a friend or commission a dressmaker? 😉
