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Monday, May 13, 2019

Samara Pants

I've been very much on the fence about palazzo pants and culottes.  While the rest of the sewing blogger universe has been rocking them for ages, I've been very hesitant if I'd like them for myself.  At first the answer was "Nope.  Not for me."  But then Kennis did what Kennis does and came out with the latest Itch to Stitch* design, the Samara Pants.



Pants make me nervous.  Let's be real here for just a moment.  There are a lot more potential fit problems with pants than I care to think about most days.  I know I can make pants.  I've made jeans for goodness sakes and my Lander Shorts of last summer turned out pretty well.  Still... the thought of pants.  Eeeek!  Plus I've been so busy lately, I was worried whether or not I'd have time for sewing pants. But with the disclaimer that you could shorten the Samaras to any length you chose, the suggestion that they were easier to fit thanks to the flowy style of them, not to mention the promise that they were a quick sew, I was starting to be tempted to give it a go.  I was still wavering up there on my pants making fence, but then I started thinking about a cropped pair... a floral cropped pair at that and there you have it.  I was in hook line and sinker.

For my first pair, that I hoped would be a wearable muslin, I used a drapey rayon poplin.  What my overtaxed and overtired brain didn't alert me to at the time was that my poplin had stretch to it and not just an insignificant amount of stretch at that.  I sewed them up minus the zip and waistband and tried them on.  They fell off.  Oh the disappointment and the "see, I told you pants were too much work" self talk going on in my head.  Then I remembered that stretch would make a difference to fit and that with stretch I'd probably want to size down.  It's not like this is my first fabric rodeo.  How do I forget these things?

The good thing was, despite the loosey goosey nature of my stretch Samara's, I could definitely see what I needed to tweak - a swayback adjustment of 1/2", a touch longer hem and smooth out the side seam just a touch where I blended it between the size 18 waist and the size 16 hip.  That was it.  Nothing else was needed.  I was confident enough that I decided it was time to abandon the stretch pair for the time being with the intention of taking them apart and making my adjustments at a later time and move straight onto the good fabric.

But first I had to find the good fabric I had in mind.  I bought the floral rayon from Minerva Crafts two summers ago with intention of making a dress, but hadn't bought enough so it had gone into stash and my stash was relocated from the sewing room into bins in the crawl space a few months ago when we cleaned up the basement.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I love the clean, clear space to work in, without having to manouever around bins and haphazard piles of fabric spilling out all over the place, but getting in an out of the crawl space under the stairs is a pain in the butt.  Trying to dig around bins even more of a pain.  But I was smart.  Most of the bins got labeled when they got put under the stairs.  So I plunged headlong into the crawl space and straight for the bin that the rayon should be in.  Thankfully it was a bin close to the door and fairly easy to access.  The fabric was not there. So I shimmied and wriggled my way further in amongst the bins and checked another.  Nope.  And another.  No.  And another...  Finally I had to drag all the bins out into the sewing room and check.  Nope, nope and nope again.  Eventually after wasting more than an hour searching  I checked the first bin again for about the third time.

Spoiler alert: I found the fabric.  In the bin.  Right where it was supposed to be.




Some bad words were said as I repacked the bins into the crawl space and then finally I was able to start on the second pair.  Cutting them out and sewing them took a fraction of the time that hunting for the fabric took.  They really are that easy to go together.  A couple back darts, a few seams, a zip and a waistband and they're done.  I tried them on before closing up the waistband and hemming them and they were so comfy.  I was happy to see that my tweaks I did were all that were needed.  I'm going to love wearing these floaty Samara's in the heat of the summer!  I paired my floral pair with a Cartagena Cami, but I'm planning on making a black Isidro to make it a bit more work appropriate. My mind keeps wandering to making a matching cami or top of some sort that I could then wear with the pants as a sort of "faux jumpsuit" look.  (Who am I?  First palazzo pants.  Now jumpsuits?  What is happening???)

After finishing up the floral ones, I did go back and re-do the first pair.  I think they'll be in high demand this summer too.  I love wearing skirts and dresses, but they are just so impractical on windy days.  I think the Samara Pants will be the perfect solution! For the blue pair I paired it with my Plitvice which makes it easily work appropriate with the ditzy floral print, but am thinking I'll make either a Cartegena or Isidro in a bright bold print just to punch things up a bit.


If you'd like to get a copy of the Samara Pants, now is the time to take advantage of the pattern release sale!  It's currently 20% off over on the Itch to Stitch site and don't forget even with the discount you can still take advantage of the bundle pricing discounts if you've had your heart set on a few.

As for me I'm feeling bold after my Samara Pants success and I'm now eyeing up ALL the pants patterns!

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