Jalie's pull-on pants revisited

A while ago I made, and blogged about, Stylearc's Tessa pant and Jalie's Pull-on pant. 

I have pretty much figured that normal life has a real place for wider leg linen pants and that they function both as something comfortable to wear in hot weather, and something handy to have in trans seasons.

I also figured that elastic waisted pull-ons made sense in a pant that was already sort of pyjamas in disguise and I went looking for a pattern to make something like that.

Stylearc's Tessa promised to be that pant with a waist that was not too bunchy (that one thing you really don't want to have happen in a woven elastic waist) but it sort of was that kind of waist when I made them up. I can do enough billowing over the belly without actually sewing it in too if you get my drift. Also the leg shape was just wider than I was ready for yet after all these narrow legged pant years.

So I then tried Jalie's pull-on pant that has a nicer more manageable leg and less ease around the waist:

I made up a grey linen pair a few posts back and really liked them. However after the wear-all-day test I realized that not having much bulk around the waist meant not much comfort around the middle when I was sitting down, and linen Spanx are not for me.

So I went back and made another pair, this time cutting them in the size for my natural waist and tapering back to my hip size. First time out I optimistically thought that my larger than the pattern waist would be accommodated by the elastic stretch.

This new version did of course add in more gathers than version one, which I guess is a fashion minus, but it moved them definitely into the category of pants I want to wear. A plus.

I really feel that sewers underestimate the importance of just plain old on the body comfort in making real favourite clothes. I often do.

So here are the pictures, made in purple linen because I tried to dye some shocking pink linen navy which anyone knows means you end up with purple pants.

If you are wondering about my styling notes this is what I wore to Home Depot with the spouse this morning with a Vera Bradley bag my daughter got for $7.00 at a thrift store, and a necklace that has the initials of all my children and grandchildren on it.

I have included two shots with my T shirt tucked in so you can see just how gathered they are, but of course I would never wear them like this. These pictures are purely for educational purposes only.

Basically all these pictures look more or less the same but I have included them all because I couldn't decide which one showed the legs best.

Also as a sewer's only bonus I made the patch pocket facing and the waist casing (these can be sewn showing out or on the inside) out of some green linen I had because I have always thought green and purple go nicely together:

The details, with my grandmother's hands holding them

Finally I really like the patch pockets on these pants, they function like slanted inseam pockets but of course are so much faster to sew:

I love this pattern and now it is just about to turn to fall, I have a summer pant TNT. Naturally.

On the podcast front I have cleaned up the sidebar labels and cleverly realized it would be helpful if they were in alphabetical order. You can find Podcasts under P. There is only one now but I am planning a back to school version for later in the week.

I have also added a proper rss feed to the site, which as it stands will take you to a feed for all posts and podcasts.

I spent several hours trying to set up a podcast only feed in iTunes but the error messages were getting annoying and I was worried this was going to cut too far into my sewing time. Maybe later. In the meantime there are two ways through this site to access the podcasts and unless anyone has any other brilliant ideas that might be the way this stands for now.

Now back to the cutting table.