So I consciously slimmed these down to the extent that I was becoming worried that I'd gone too far in the other direction. Particularly if the fabric blend tended to shrink when washed. I think these have come through ok,. So now i'm just hoping that they will wear ok since the fabric wasn't designed for clothing use.
I really like the finished garment. It was inspired by seeing photos of bands from the turn of the 70s in what look to be somewhat similar strides. The photos I've seen lack the floral pattern though.
This fabric is sold for making curtains and upholstery but I find it works really well for these. I've tried looking for other varieties of similar blends of cotton and linen on ebay etc and not really found anything as attractive. Very little in the combination in fact so I will be looking at whatever fabric emporiums I come across to see if there is anything comparable. That is before having really worn them much since i only finished them over the last week.
Trying to think about things i noticed in the construction of these.
1) the width of the material is a factor i hadn't really taken into account. I think all previous material I've done jeans from has been 59 or 60 inches where this was 54.
This meant that trying to get the legs to be cut symmetrically didn't work perfectly. In fact I think this was 54 inches wide with a pattern repeat of 25 inches. Subsequently I don't think it is possible to have the symmetry leg to leg that I would have really liked. But then again this wasn't designed for clothing use and furthermore not to be cut for this pattern.
I still think it has come out ok, looks good even if I don't have things lined up like pattern on pocket to pattern below it or pattern on leg to pattern on yoke. Not sure how much that shows. Would have like d to have that maze line run up from bottom of leg to top below waistband in a way that looked more continuous than it does. Would also have liked the dark and light patches to be more alternating.
But I guess that's why you need to know pattern repeat & things like that will be factored into future purchases.
2) not really noticed in the construction of these, but factored into the last few pairs. The way that the pocket backing has to be lined up on the pocket to make sure that the back yoke is in the right place for the leg to attach front to back right.
Actually I think I had some problem of noticing that the way that I'd made that attachment left the front about .5cm below the back so I took it apart and reattached it. But found that it happened again. There is a 1.5cm seam allowance so if I line up the corner of the front to the corner of the back there is some space for it to fall out of sync by the time you can see where the 2 pieces join. I think this has worked ok and been hidden by the waistband anyway.though.
3) I was worried that when I was cutting the fly part of the front section after trying to lay the backs next to the front when I was cutting, I had made where the zip goes too vertical. It doesn't seem to have mattered in the long run. I thought the slope of that angle was shallower but I have only ever cut trousers from the one model so far. Something that I think I'm going to need to change before long so that it doesn't simply become my rote way of cutting.
I'm now wondering if that verticality might have wound up with the single fly zip covering being twisted when I sewed it, it seems to not be quite flat so leave the top hanging slightly open. I'm not sure if this is important and at the moment i'm reluctant to take the waistband apart to be able to straighten it out.
It does leave me thinking that I probably do need to add a topstitching step when I attach that fly, at the moment it is getting sewn right side to right side to attach it then only being held in place by the stitching attaching the zip. Might be better to do that topstitching and have the fly kept flat, may sound fernickety but may wind up looking a lot better.
4) I've added an extra footwidth of stitching to the seams around the waist to prevent the waistband from sliding down over my hips and trousers falling down. I don't know if I've misread a 2cm seam allowance on Wrangler jeans as 1.5cm or if I lost weight. But I think maybe if I do these again from this source I need to be thinking more in terms of 2cm seam allowance at that point. Possibly 1.5 elsewhere since that seems to be what's on most things.
5) if the fabric had been any wider then I think the trouser bottoms would have been cut intentionally a little wider, more bootcut than flare. I think it's a look I need to explore since I do prefer something slightly wider, certainly to something narrower. been stuck with an extreme drain on the pair of leathers I've worn over the last few winters and they've been a pain to take off.
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