Completed!!! Sewaholic Thurlow Trousers!!!

Sunday, December 02, 2012

My Thurlows are done and I think a Craftsy pants fitting class is in order! These pants are awesome and I definitely want to make another pair once I get said class under my belt. If you all remember I had some really wrinkly issues. I got the wrinkles worked out well enough to suit me. I know some of you said you had the same problems and would be following along to see how I fixed mine so I will do my best to explain my methodical madness.

If you follow me on Instagram you would have seen I posted the first picture asking for advice. Jamie from Such a Strange Girl said an old fitting book she has states this is caused by thin legs and to fix you take an inch from the back inseams starting at the crotch and tapering out to the knee. I pretty much did just that. First I laid my pant leg out and pinched a fold of fabric measuring 1/2 inch (total inch) on the back leg only and pinned over to the existing seam.

Where's Vito?..spot that little paw?!

Instead of tapering out to the knee I took it all the way to the end because I had wrinkles forming below the knees as well. Notice in my picture how I had my seams already finished with a zig zag stitch. Yeah! I had to rip all that out. What a bitch! Once I got the leg wrinkles worked out to my liking I tackled the hungry butt issue. I let the back crotch out about 1/4 inch and I continued all the way up tapering out at the waist. This made a HUGE difference! In hindsight I should of altered my pattern by lengthening the back crotch to a size four and tapering back down to a zero. But as always I'm too in a hurry to be bothered with a muslin so I had to work with what I had. ugh! I also fixed a saggy front crotch by taking it in by 3/8 inch. Again my pattern alteration for the next go around will be to shorten the front crotch depth. So it was better, not perfect by no means but good as I was able to get it. I mean it took me all day to get here. I tried my hardest to get it perfect. My perfectionism = (pinning + trying on + getting stuck in the ass by pins + basting + ripping out) X 50!! Fit this equation somewhere between leg wrinkles and hungry butt.

One thing I really find unique about this pattern is how the back seam is the very last seam you sew. The waistband gets attached then you sew up the back seam. This is done so you can easily come back and let out your seam if needed. Like if you eat too many Totino's pizza's and your ass starts growing. (I seem to be living off those recently) I hope I never have to make that adjustment but if I do it'll be easy peasy.

These are super long, 34 inches to be exact. I cut off two inches and did a 1 inch seam. They are a tad long with my Chuck's but I wanted the option of being able to wear a small heel with them if I ever want to dress up and look like a girl instead of the small boy I look like in these pictures.

Flogging Molly is my jam!

Even though I prewashed the fabric (stretch denim, btw) I washed them again before wearing and only put them in the dryer until they were about 50% dry. They did shrink up a little around my butt, BUT once I stretched them out it was okay.

I'm pretty happy with these pants and I can see me revisiting this pattern again and again. The style is classic and they are super comfy! The welt pockets are pretty awesome too.

Vito's ready for a walk

Hard to believe it's December and I'm standing outside in a t-shirt in front of a heaping pile of wood my hubby's dying to burn up in his wood stove. Hey I'm not complaining though!

Peace out! I'm ready for The Walking Dead. Boo Hoo for a mid season finale! WTF!