Ottobre no. 14 Loose Fit Casual Pants paired with Kirsten Kimono Tee

Today I visited Table Rock State Park to photograph my second pair of Ottobre no. 14 Loose Fit Casual Pants from the Spring/Summer 2015 Ottobre women's pattern magazine.  These are an elastic-waist, narrow leg pair of pants with in-seam pockets.  In these photographs I am wearing it with one of my Kirsten Kimono Tees I made last summer... a free download from Maria Denmark you can access here.

You can see my first pair of Ottobre pants no. 14 here.

This pattern is perfect for me, as I enjoy wearing elastic-waist pants, and with this pair I made a few modifications for a better fit.  I'd like this to be my T-N-T pant pattern as the slim silhouette is flattering and they don't scream 'elastic-waist pants'.

Fabric was purchased off the clearance rack at WalMart for $3.00 per yard.  WalMart doesn't always label their clearance fabric well, so thinking I'd bought a twill, it was a surprise to see 'Protected with COVGARD stamped in the selvedge.  What in the world had I bought?!  Shortly after posting a picture and asking for help on Instagram, Barbara explained that this is a 'stain resistant treatment used by Covington Fabrics meant probably for upholstery or pillows.'  (Covington Fabrics was stamped on the opposite selvedge.  She is good!)  She added that it doesn't mean it can't be used for garments and asked if it softened when it was pre-washed.   It softened well with the pre-wash and dry so onward with my plan.  Oh.... I do like the fact this fabric was stamped 'up' with an arrow showing 'up'..... as unbeknownst to me at the time of purchase.... there is an 'up' (or top) to the design so this helped tremendously when laying out my pattern for cutting, and luckily I'd bought enough to accommodate the extra yardage needed.

This fabric is like a heavy twill, and since my first pair fit sort of snug, I was very conscious of reducing bulk on this one.... and what better way than with the pocket pieces.  I found a cute polka dot soft cotton in the stash to make the in-seam pockets out of.  The arrow is pointing to the understitching that Ottobre has you add to the edges of the pocket opening to pocket pieces after attaching respective front/back pocket pieces to the front/back pant pieces.   I'm going to try and remember this to add it to all my pockets.  It helped everything lay all nice and flat and neatly tucked in.

The outer seams were faux-flat felled.  The way I did this was to snip in the seam allowance just under the pocket before serging from the top of pocket to bottom of pant.  After serging, it needed a little more snipping to bring the serged pant seam to the back while the pocket lay flat to the front.  I then top-stitched close to the seam allowance on the right side, very carefully, from the top of the pocket to the bottom, thus giving the pant seam a flat-felled look.More importantly, this seam will now lay flat and make the pant easier to iron.

The back view.  The biggest change in this pair was to add a full-butt adjustment.  My first attempt at this technique and feel I was successful.  Again, on Instagram, Erin asked how I liked the fit of my first pair.  When I mentioned they were snug and the back felt a little 'low' but I was gonna' use this as motivation to up the exercise routine,  (insert smile here)  she laughed along with me, at the same time encouraging me to think about a full butt adjustment.  Sarah Liz also chimed in about how she likes to raise the back rise on her pants too.  So that got me thinking and off to research how to do a full butt adjustment

Threads Magazine's Sandra Betzina's well written 'Everyone Can Have Jeans that Fit' was perfect.  Easy to understand, simple to do.  I redrew the back pattern piece, came up from the crotch to where I thought was where I needed 'more', cut and slashed one line and opened up 1/2".  She shows two different lines on the drawing below..... I only needed the one lower line.  I also cut a little loosely around the hip areas on both the front and back pieces when I was cutting out the fabric to add just a little extra.  Nothing exact and scientific.... just a smidgeon extra.  All this seemed to have worked as these pants fit me pretty good.  The back rise feels much better.  I may go back and add 1/4" at some point.  Everything else was the same as the first.... 1 1/2" elastic.... 1 1/4" hem..... easy.

Threads Magazine - Sandra Betzina

Thought I'd show you how fantastic my tripod carrier is working out.  I made this out of a self-drafted pattern to make it easier to carry my tripod on these types of photo opportunities.  Today I thought to loop the handles 'round the tripod and voila'! Perfect!  Kept it from getting dirty and more importantly, the pocket gave my glasses a place to hook over while I went back and forth from behind the camera to in front of the camera.  This was a sample for myself and I've since purchased fabric to make the 'real' one. 

Hiked a little ways up the Carrick Creek Trail to take this photo of the lovely waterfall.  This is a local swimming hole for the brave souls who can bear the c-c-c-c-old mountain water.  

And a view from one of the summits.  Table Rock Mountain is the center rock mountain with the smaller tree covered Stool Mountain to the right. 

The rest of the story.......
So I was very excited the full butt adjustment worked, as I tried on these pants for the first time.... and of course had to share my thrill of success with someone.... and who better but one's husband.  "Tom, look..... the full-butt adjustment worked!"   He replies..... "The whaaaaat?!!!"  "Full-butt adjustment!" so full of excitement not realizing this was foreign vocabulary to my sweet husband.  "You did a whaaaat?!!"  He again replied.  And with that he burst out laughing.  I burst out laughing.  And I cannot say it again with a straight face.
I am so thankful for my sewing friends.
We share the same vocabulary.

Happy Sewing Everyone! :)