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.

Back in business and with Jalie

Those who read this from Nova Scotia won't need this explained.

Summer around here is visitors' time and that is what I have been doing. I won't go over the line-up but let's say I have enough time between guests to do one load of sheets in the washer and dryer. The slogan on the license plates is "Canada's Ocean Playground" and that is apparently true.

Being a conversationalist (that's a nice way of putting it) I love, love company and running my own version of visitor tours that are heavy on getting lost and ad libbing interesting stories about places I never thought we would be in.

However vacation season cuts into my blogging.

The next couple will be catch-up. My current visitor is one of my nieces and at 15 she is quite happy I think for a few moments of peace while I blog.

One thing I have been working on is some reliable version of linen type summer pants. Long loose pants are useful to have in the summer as a alternative to bug bites, that gummy wetsuit that is sunscreen and exposing one support stocking that you hope folks think is a wooden leg or something just as interesting.

A while ago I made Stylearc's Tessa pant which is the narrowest leg of their wide leg pants but I felt pretty swamped in them despite the promo that they were not too wide and not too slim.

As an experimenter I have then tried Jalie's Pull-on pants and shorts. I have to detour here a bit to say that I get all the Indie pattern emails, and although I find many nice patterns that way, I am getting a bit jaded with the elastic waist pants and plain T shirts billed as Iconic, Essential, and Ultimate, as I have said before.

I mean the wheel is already out there and has been for some time.

Nice to see a pull-on pair of pants called that, particularly if they have Jalie's superb drafting.

Back to topic.

These pants are wider in the leg but quite slim in the hips. The waist and angled side patch pockets are faced and of course you can have the facings on the inside or outside depending on how fancy you are feeling at that moment.

To give you a sense of how different these are from the Tessa's here is a Jalie pattern piece laid over the Tessa pants that I decided to recut:

Quite a difference isn't there?

I made this first pair as is, as I always do to see what alterations this particular pattern needs and was pretty pleased with them. Next version will have one inch added to the top waist because I am liking the feel of a secure waist these days and I am adding  1/2" to the facing so I can put a 1" elastic in the casing rather than the 5/8" I think the pattern calls for. The pants are certainly wearable as they are but having straight up and down hips I have a vague feeling when I wear them that suspenders would be a good idea.

I am also going to add a little sitting down room to accommodate what I sit down on. 

My current favourite method for doing that is this one which adds across the back side without increasing the fabric at the top of the back leg much or messing with the top of the crotch seam or side seam.

This Russian Pinterest graphic explains how it works:

Finally here are some on me shots in two photo shoots. The first ones were done in my backyard today by my husband, gives you a good idea of leg width and also how little bulk there is at the waist and hips. I will be reviewing the top soon too. Pardon the windy day hair, just look at the pants:

You can see through this thin T shirt where the waist line hits and why I am going to be adding a bit.

Yup there is a wrinkle but these are linen pants and I have already been running around in them

The wide leg shows in the back here at the top of my leg but given that they are wide linen pants I am OK with that,.
A little more fabric across my rear would improve the hang.

This is not the first photo shoot of these pants. Earlier in the week I spent the day with the kids at the place we swim and at the end of that day had my niece take some pictures while we ate ice cream.

My niece was careful and gave instructions, Front, Side Back and we didn't realize until I looked at the shots that the girls thought those orders applied to them too.

Not the best garment shots (particularly when I unflatteringly decided to show my stomach so you could see where the waist line sat) but good for a laugh and that, in my books, is everything: