Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Vogue 8637 - Marcy Tilton Pants


This is Marcy Tilton's latest pant and skirt pattern. I originally planned to make the skirt first, after a fellow sewing group friend made it and I tried it on and loved it (it looked amazing on her!), but I have been on a pant kick recently, so I decided to start with the pants.

The design of these pants is interesting, which you can see if you look at the line drawing. There are three pattern pieces — the front, the back, and the godet. It doesn't have a side seam, per se, but the front and back join for several inches at the hip, and the godet is inserted from the point where they intersect. It's very easy to construct, because you first attach the godet to the front, and then you attach that piece to the back, so there are no awkward corners to deal with. The godet is cut to be wide at the hem, but there are three darts to contain much of the fullness.

The finished hip of the size 8, the smallest size this pattern comes in, is 44". I decided that was perfect for my 40" hips. The waist of the size 8 is 33". This is a problem for me, since my waist is also 40". I couldn't do my usual trick of just drawing a line straight up from the hip without compromising the design of these pants. Widening the little seam at the hip would affect how the godet fits into the piece and I didn't want to increase the size of the godet. Instead, I slashed and spread the little extension that juts out at the side front, which you can see in the photo.

I also used the crotch curve from the Sewing Workshop Trio pants, since I like how those fit. I made the pants out of a very black ponte – the same fabric I have been using to test all of my pants. I bought 11 yards of it for $2.39 a yard, so I have been getting a lot of use out of it. :) I was pretty happy with the fit. The only alteration I made once the pants were made was to shorten them about 1.5", which is pretty typical for me.

I like these pants very much, though I wish they had a pocket. To add a pocket would compromise the interesting design, so I will have to think about this some more.

I lightened the pants in this photo so you could see them better. (Have I mentioned recently how much I love Photoshop Elements? I bought it for $30 on sale and it has been such a useful tool for editing photos!) I am wearing it with my Bells top that I reviewed last fall.

Here you can see the darts at the hem.

Do you think I need a new Welcome mat? :)