Sewer-Sewist

from josh the sewer

My first attempt at making pants is Simplicity 3891. As you can see, I decided that all of the accouterments were kind of goofy, plus I already own a pair of Costco cargo pants and I really need pants with fewer pockets. I went with a blue canvas from Bolt and blue thread; if I had the skills it woulda been orange thread….

Anyway the fit is great, except I hemmed them a little higher than I like, which is completely my fault. I really need to accept the fact that I like ground draggers when it comes to these sorts of things. I also ripped off the back pocket flaps, which I deemed stupid after putting them on. With the thick canvas and interfacing I think it would have felt like sitting on two coasters. It’s sort of too bad because the top stitching looked good—top stitching around corners is a huge pain. Next time I plan to make some sweet top-stitching with the twin needle to add some flair.

The directions were fairly basic; the better (sewing) half walked me through it, until we got to the bit about putting one leg through the other to do the crotch—still baffled how we pulled that one off, to be honest.

Below you can see where I really screwed up. I trimmed the seams too damn close, which meant after a week of wearing, sunlight was getting through. This is an ongoing problem of mine (trimming seams too close, not holes in the backside of my pants), which necessitated re-sewing a knit shirt twice recently. I have never been great with scissors anyway and somehow I have become obsessive with making sure everything is tidy, even if it means trimming the seams closer and closer until they’re completely even. I am not a tidy person, which means I find a way to make tidy messy (follow the logic… I am losing myself).

Next pair I am hoping to construct in tan rip-stop and orange top-stitching, and I think I am going to take the legs in a little under the knee, so they’re more straight, less of an A-line. This pair runs a little too close to Estonian Navy for my taste (of course I wear them all of the time, who cares—they are comfortable as hell). The girl thinks the look great though. I think she is just happy they don’t have so many unusable pockets. She’s also happy that they fit appropriately rather than being two sizes too large, like most of my other pants. I should also mention that I carry very little with me at all times, which makes cargo pants even stupider for me.

By the way, I never go barefoot. It’s weird I’m not wearing shoes in these photos.

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