Peter and the Wolf

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Completed: Polka Dot Peter and The Wolf Pants

Remember when I was trying to hunt down the perfect polka dot fabric for these Peter & The Wolf pants? And then I couldn’t find it and I was sad but I made them anyway? Well! Look what I found!

My dream stretch polka dots pants fabric – a polyester wool suiting with flocked polka dots (right?! right?!)!

I got a fistful of swatches from Mood about a month ago, this swatch being one of them. I immediately zeroed in on those flocked polka dots and called the store to get a couple yards sent to me. I should also mention this was like day #2 post-surgery, and I was laying on the couch totally hopped up on painkillers and I’m fairly certain that the dude on the other end of the line thought I was a crazypants. Whatever! Joke’s on him, now I HAVE the crazypants!

Then I got my fabric and I rolled around in it for a couple of weeks because that is what you do when you are in love.

Again, I used the Peter & The Wolf pants from Papercut Patterns, with just a couple modifications from the last time I made them. I already had the pattern pieces modified to reflect the changes I made – sizing, crotch length, crotch curve, all that good stuff – but I went ahead and made a quickie muslin just to be SURE before cutting into this precious stuff. I added another 1/2″ of length to the legs and swapped out the waistband for a curved waistband – specifically, I used the waistband from my Clovers. I definitely prefer the way this fits over the straight band – and it’s a good height, too. It just barely covers my bellybutton, which I like.

I lined my pockets with a little scrap of Bemberg rayon lining and it’s kind of amazing. I feel so posh whenever I stick my hands in my pockets now, ha!

Also, I’m very happy to report that the grainlines are totally straight on these pants (since I didn’t have to do emergency pants-weightloss surgery while sewing them), and as a result the hem scallops are straight as well. Yay!

The only part about all this that I was NOT digging was when it came time to actually press my seams. Lord, that polyester refused to do anything that involved heat. I solved most of the issue by doing a lot of top stitching – front and back leg center seams, the yokes, the pockets, the waistband. Basically everything I could get my needle into.

I think it worked out quite well in the end, though! And yay, all my seams match up!

Next time I make these, I will stabilize the zipper opening. It’s just a little too wavy – which, I mean, I could fix, but I also got those seams matched up fucking PERFECT and I’ll be dammed if I’m ripping that shit out again. Nope.

To get the bottom scallops to have a nice sharp edge (remember, the polyester wanted nothing to do with that iron), I had to improvise and figure things out as I went along. I did include the facing, which I under stitched and then top stitched (I find under stitching is VERY helpful when you are sewing something that is difficult to press, as it forces facings to roll to the inside). To press the edges, I used my sleeve board and a silk organza press cloth and steamed the shit out of each section. After it got nice and hot, I used my clapper to hold down the fabric until it was completely cool. This is probably the closest I’ll get to a good press on this fabric, and hey – no shine! Woohoo!

God, I love these pants.

I also really love these labels. They speak the truth, at least as far as these pants are concerned.

Sorry ’bout the creeper hand.

I added arrowhead tacks to the bottom pocket opening, because why not? I used embroidery floss and followed this tutorial on the Coletterie (I also see that I commented about a western shirt I was going to make. Obviously that never happened, but it SHOULD. Ooh!)

Really thinking about making a wool version for the cold weather – maybe lengthen the legs to full-length, omit the pocket detailing and scallops? What do you think?

(psst! If you were wondering – my wrap top is handmade, and my shoes are from Clark’s ;))

Tags: completed, Mood Fabrics, Mood Sewing Network, pants, papercut patterns, Peter and the Wolf, stretch suiting

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Categories completed projects - new, Mood Sewing Network

Completed: Peter and the Wolf Pants

21 Jun

So I’ve been sitting on this pattern for a couple of months now – Katie sent these to me as a surprise spring gift. An awesome surprise, I might add. Who doesn’t love getting surprise patterns in the mail, amirite!

Anyway, my immediate first thought was to make these up in a light polka dotted denim. Doesn’t that sound like it would be amazingly cute?! Unfortunately, I couldn’t source the right fabric – this pattern calls for fabric with a little bit of stretch, and I couldn’t find any sort of stretch bottomweight that also included polka dots (I know there are lighter-weight fabrics out there, but in my experience, their thinness requires either 1. Commando or 2. Thongs, neither of which I’m comfortable with rocking. TMI? Whatever.). I remembered this polka dot DIY post from Portia and I figured, hey, I’ll just get light denim and make my own polka dots, yeah?

But, you know, I was seduced by all the pretty dark denim at Mood Fabrics. OH WELL. This stuff is from Theory and it is amazeballs. Nice and dark, robust without being super heavy, and just the right amount of stretch.

Btw, you’ve probably figured out that I did eventually end up with polka dot bottoms – in the form of shorts. Hey, it works!

Anyway, let’s talk about these pants!

This is the Peter & the Wolf pants from Papercut Patterns. The way these pants are cut is really unique – in addition to side and inseams, there are seams straight down the middle of the front and back legs, as well as some interesting pocket/yoke action and the cutest little scalloped hems. As you can see here, they definitely do emphasize the hips, but that’s what I like about them!

I cut a size XS, although in retrospect, I really should have gone down another size to the XXS. I had to do a LOT of alterations to get these to fit the way I like, and I made some easily-avoidable mistakes along the way. Pretty much EVERY SINGLE PROBLEM could have been eliminated if I had made a muslin first. Why didn’t I make a muslin first? I dunno, I guess I was feeling ~cocky with how good those Rite of Spring shorts fit me straight out of the package.

So, LESSON 1: Make a muslin. ALWAYS MAKE A MUSLIN.

Here is why this is so important, why I keep knocking this into your heads and why I should listen to my own damn advice:
– I tried these on right before I put in the zipper, and the sizing was MUCH too big through the waist and the legs. Normally, that’s not toooo bad of an issue because one can just take in the side seams (I do this all the time, u guise), but the way the pockets are placed means there isn’t a lot of side seam to take in before you start cutting into pocket territory. I couldn’t pull from the center seams because I’d already done all that topstitching and I’m ssssooooo laaaazzzzyyyy. I sat and thought about it for an evening, and ultimately decided to remove the majority of the excess from the BACK of the pants, rather than equally distributed between the front and the back. It worked, and my pockets are still there – yay! – and you can’t tell too much that the front is bigger than the back (unless you’re really studying where that side seam hits), except one glaring error…
– The front scallops now ride toward the inside of my ankles, instead of being centered in the middle of my leg 😦 Believe me, I tried really hard to fix this, but ultimately it’s just a matter of physics… the front is twisting, since it’s wider than the back. It’s not too terrible since they both pull about the same amount, so it looks intentional. But you and I, we know the real truth.
– The crotch curve was wrong for my shape and it looked like I was hiding packets of ketchup down the front of my pants at the crotch. WOOF. Please don’t take this to mean the crotch curve was bad across the board – I just mean it didn’t work for my specific shape (obviously it’s good for some people – look at the model on the envelope!). We all have different crotch curve shapes (how many more times can I say the word “crotch” here?) and mine is apparently a pretty pronounced J – something I learned when I was sewing the Colette Clovers. Fortunately, redrawing a curve is super easy – even on mostly-assembled pants, I mean, you’re basically just creating a new seamline – and that eliminated most of my issues in that one area. If this sounds confusing and slightly terrifying, it’s not! There is TONS of information on Google, as well as in various pants-fitting books.
– I also should have slightly shortened the crotch depth. Not even by much – just a little pinch of fabric (you can see where it’s puffing out a little. STOP STARING.). Unfortunately, I can’t fix this now as it’s something that needs to be adjusted to the flat pattern before cutting. #1 reason why you should make a muslin first. Womp womp.

I know this sounds like a lot of issues, but I just want to stress that all of them could have been EASILY solved if I’d just made a damn muslin first! ARGHGHHGHGH.

Well, at least I remembered to shorten the inseam before cutting my fabric; the original inseam is over 29″ and I needed something much shorter, plus I wanted them to be cropped. I love the length!

My yoke seams don’t perfectly match up due to all the side seam that I had to cut off, but at least I preserved the pockets!

I subbed out the invisible zipper for a lapped zipper. I really think an invisible zipper would look best, but I was concerned that I would have trouble with the bulk of the denim+invisible zipper. A lapped zipper doesn’t look terrible, although I wouldn’t necessarily say it looks great, either.

Look how good the butt fits, though! I should also point out here that I widened the waistband so it would cover my navel – this was easy, instead of cutting 1 waistband and folding it in half, I cut two and sewed them together at the top. Next time, I will opt for a curved waistband instead (this one is straight), as I find the straight doesn’t hug my curves as well. Just a personal preference!

Personal fitting woes aside, these are REALLY cute. I love all the topstitching, it really highlights the cool yoke and pocket detailing.

For sitting through this giant long post, here are some pictures of me swatting away the skeeters.

HAHAHAHAHA

In all seriousness, though! I know this post sounded like a big Debbie Downer review, but I do really love these pants! Slim-fit, stretch pants like these can require a bit of tweaking to get the fit right (remember the everyone’s personal saga with the Colette Clovers?), but it’s worth it in the end, as you can crank these out over and over once the fitting adjustments are done. Which is what I plan on doing – wool cigarette pants for winter, please! Hey, maybe I’ll even find some dotty fabric 😉