Completed: Denim Thurlows

I really like this pattern.  A lot.  I feel like Sewaholic kind of specializes in basic, everyday wardrobe pieces (or "cake" if you will).  Which is really just fine with me because, no matter how much I may love fancy dresses, they just don't really fit my lifestyle.  I'm not planning on giving up on making dresses just yet (as a matter of fact I'm lurking on the Emery dress pretty hard right now), but I would like to have a handmade wardrobe that fits my lifestyle better than a closet full of dresses.

One of the tricky things about pants is that they can be rather expensive to muslin (or so I thought).  I ended up finding the black mystery fabric I used for my first pair of Thurlows dirt cheap at Goodwill, thereby allowing me to save this denim bought at Joann's for a second, less unpredictable pair.  

Before we can go any further I have to mention one thing.  I don't like buying fabric at Joann's.  I am just perpetually disappointed in the product I end up with.  I know it's cheap, but I always find myself at the end of a few washes saying "Oooh, so that's why it was so cheap."  In general I think it's a better investment to start off with fabric that you can have a little faith in surviving the wash.

See?  See the sagging?  It's a dark denim which means it's kind of hard to get pictures, but take my word for it: every part of these pants stretch and sag something awful.  

Now for the other thing I must mention.  I fucked up.  So bad.  I've spent a lot of time sewing with unconventional fabrics; sheets, fabric from Goodwill in strange cuts without selvages.  So I never really learned which way the grain runs.  Whoops.  Guess what?  It runs the opposite direction.  On the bright side, I'm pretty sure this is one of those lessons that will stick with me.  Aaaand at least the denim was crazy cheap.  

I think for future iterations of the Thurlow pattern I will make a few changes to the legs.  I really like how the top part fits (and even if I didn't, awesomely clever last minute adjustment opportunity!).  I may need them to be a little bit more flared.  Maybe not on future work pants, but I'd like to try another (better) denim pair with wider legs.  I may or may not already have the denim, as a matter of fact...

This denim also unravels like... well, like cheap denim.  I'm not feeling terribly clever just at this moment, obviously.  I did line the waistband and pockets with this cute ivory and beige polka dot fabric.  The polka dots are actually embroidered on.  The fabric was reclaimed from a men's shirt turned maternity top and I just loved the fabric too much to throw it out but there wasn't really enough of it to do much with.  Also: bright green zipper!  =)

See that massive unravelling happening?  WTF.  I was so careful with my corners on those welt pockets, but apparently not careful enough!  They looked so nice up until they were worn/washed a few times, too = (

Le sigh.  Let's try and be positive, though, shall we?  I feel like these pants were a learning experience and they are more than comfy enough to kick around the house in.  And maybe I can restitch the corners on the welt pockets....  It's probably worth a shot!

Spoiler alert: Thurlows version 3 turned out much better than version 2!

Thurlows I (I MADE PANTS!!!)

I made pants!  Real pants!  They have a zip fly and pockets (fancy pockets at that) and they fit and THEY.ARE.PURE.AWESOME.

I'm kind of excited about it... can you tell?

That's right.. can't you see the excitement?  No?  How odd....

January and February have been unusually sunny this year, meaning I have no excuse for not getting pics of my recent makes other than shame at passers-by seeing me struggle with my digital camera settings on my lunch break (it may be sunny during the day, but it's still dark at 5:30).  For above reason I stick to snapping pics on the weekends when it's just me and the kids...  Which is why I'm not wearing makeup.... or a clean shirt.  Sorry.

Pardon the lint and cat hair, but look how pretty my welt pockets are.  They kind of gape open a little bit when I'm wearing them though :P  For subsequent versions I'll definitely baste the lips together and see if that helps.  (I won't pretend I came up with that on my own; that one came from Lladybird's incredibly helpful Thurlow Sew Along.  I'm telling you, if you're making these pants just check it out.  The welt pockets and fly were so well explained with lots of great pictures that I didn't even manage to sew anything backwards!  That's kind of a big deal.  In all seriousness, though, her sew along did make the construction of these pants seem relatively effortless (as opposed to trying to figure it out on my own with the rather sparse instructions that came with the pattern.  Not that it would've been impossible, but it certainly would've taken longer). 

Gaping sighting.  Oy.

I flatfelled the side seams and the inseams just cuz I think they look nice that way.  Plus I don't have a serger so it's either that or zigzagging them... or bias tape but FTN I hate finishing seams with bias tape it takes FOR.EV.ER!  If I take the shortcut I inevitably end up missing the fabric in one spot and then it totally defeats the purpose.  You probably don't eve know what I mean by that because who does that seriously???  I do.  All the time.  It kind of drives me crazy that both the sew along and pattern instructions pretty much assume you'll be serging everything.  What about the rest of us?  Ah, well, I'd rather have flatfelled seams than serged seams on my pants any day.

Pretty flatfelled seams... and less pretty belt loops :P

You may remember that I won this pattern in a giveaway from Handmade Jane (thanks again Jane!).  I made up a quick muslin over summer out of some lightweight cotton.  As it turns out, though, I misread the size chart and they were two sizes too big (epic fail!).  I still wore them around the house quite a bit last summer, but I'll probably be cutting those up for quilt pieces sometime soon (trust me on this one, it's just so.bad).

Honestly I was a little intimidated after that and, even though I traced the correct size off right away, I didn't touch the pattern again after that for months.  I've made a lot of quick, simple projects so far this year (skirts, baby clothes, things like that) and I was feeling the urge to tackle something bigger.  I originally intended to make a new dress, but it's cold as F*CK outside and has been for ages.  It seemed like a good time to tackle the Thurlows again.

I had bought this black bottomweight fabric at Goodwill ages ago with the intention of using it to muslin up some Thurlows.  Of course it turns out I'm super happy with them, so they've made it into my regular work rotation.  Hopefully the fabric holds up for awhile!  It's a very drapey bottomweight fabric with (to be totally honest) a weave that's a bit loose for pants IMO.  Surprisingly they hold up very well with little to no sagging/stretching between washes.  This leads me to suspect they may be something other than cotton (surprise, surprise) but they're comfy as hell so who cares?

By the way, I've always been an avid stripe-avoider but this shirt was so soft and so new at the by the pound Goodwill I decided to try it out.  Only looking at these pics do I see how pregnant it makes me look.  Suffice it to say, I am not.  But I will probably be taking the shirt in a bit.  Maaaaaybe that'll help.

Oh God how excited am I about the zipper.  The bright ass green zipper.  It's my faaaave.  It makes zipping up my pants strangely fun.  That was waaaay TMI wasn't it?  I also like how the striped fabric I used to line the waistband ended up making chevrons at the CB.  Not even planned.  Awesome!  I just used whatev was lying around for waistband/pocket lining, since these were supposed to be a muslin.  As it turns out, though, the inside of these pants are way more fun than the outside.  Not that plain black pants aren't fun... I know they are for me =D

You can see all my ugly zig-zagged seams :P  But look: party in my pants! ;-)  Haha!

Now that I've made pants I"m pretty excited about making more.  I've already made one more pair and my next fabric purchase (remember I'm trying to destash this year) will def be some nice pants quantity