Description: Straight-legged pants (semi-fitted through the hip) have contour yoke with front button closure, mock fly zipper, carriers, back welt pocket with button flap.

Other than the fact that I decided to use to back pockets instead of one and I omitted the cuffs, I think these pants look like the ones on the envelope when I was done sewing. The instructions were wonderful... there were no parts that I didn't understand or couldn't refer to one of my sewing books.

There was nothing that I didn't dislike about this pattern. What I liked most was that it was designed for a cuff, which provided extra inches for the inseam length. In my case, as I did not want a cuffed hem, this was perfect for me! I used a 1 1/2" hem.

I can't say I liked or disliked the waist ease. Claire Shaeffer's dartless construction method, as an alternative to darts is to use ease-basting before sewing on the waistband. Also, I would have preferred if the pants had an authentic fly instead of a mock one. What I loved best about these pants is the contour, wide waistband. This particular type of waistband is much more flattering on me than a narrower one. One funny thing is that I worked on these for what seemed like so long, that by the time I was done, I had actually lost a couple of inches and now they are a little big in the waist.

I recommend this pattern to anyone that is wanting to sew "outside of the box"... and to expand their knowledge.

Will I use this one again? Not his view, but I am planning a couple of more from view B with the darts.

Next up are the pockets. I first started with the pocket flaps. The pattern recommended hair canvas as the interfacing for the pocket flaps. I ran a test on the muslin and discovered that the hair canvas was too heavy and left the pocket flap too stiff. I decided to use Perfectfuse Light. As you see in the pic, the seam allowances are folded under and basted on both the fabric and the lining. The lining is seam allowance is folded under 1/8" more than the fabric. The seam allowance was secured with catchstitches. The fabric is topstitched and then the lining is handsewn to the fabric using fell stitches. Instead of the couture handsewn buttonholes, I decided to do machine ones. Hand buttonholes as you can imagine are quite daunting. I tried this out on my muslin and I was not pleased with the look. I'll practice more on this and try it out on a later project.

Next were the welts. Claire Shaeffer uses the strip method for her double-welt pockets. This is one of the easiest methods I've used and I highly recommend it. In (a) the strips are sewn to the right side of the garment. In (b), the slash is made and the welts are turned through the opening.

On couture pants, the zipper is done by hand. At first, I feared this would be quite daunting because aren't all couture techniques suppose to be difficult? I was happily surprised. This is the easiest zipper application I've ever done! Sew-in interfacing is hand basted on both sides of the fly extension. I used 1/4" wide twill tape to stay the foldlines.

I finished the edges with my serger instead of using hand overcasting. Once the front sections are machine stitched together below the fly extensions, I turned in the extensions on the foldlines, basted at the waist edge and pressed.
The difference between this method and the ever-so popular Sandra Betzina method is this: When using the couture method, you topstitch the fly BEFORE you put the zipper in. And when you think about it, it makes so much sense! I always flub on my topstitching when the needle has to go across the zipper.

The zipper is sewn in by first basting it in place. Now, the part that scared me to death was handstitching it in. I'll admit, I didn't trust my handstitching ability in securing this zipper! The method that is recommended is called stabstitching. Stabstitching is used to sew through thick layers by inserting the needle into the outside and pulling it out on the inside. Then insert it from the inside and pull it to the outside. This stitch is very secure. The stabstitching was only done on the underlap (the side that is not seen by the public). For the right side, the zipper is based into place and secured with running stitches. In my opinion, this method produces a neater looking zipper and it also gives you more control. I'll be using this method for all of my fly fronts from now on.

As if the "CHANEL" jacket was not torturous enough, I'm such a glutton for punishment that I decided to do a pair of couture pants. When doing couture sewing, there is thread tracing. Couture garments are generally marked with thread because it's a durable marking that is visible on both sides of the fabric. I marked my stitching lines on the garment with chalk. I thread traced the seamlines, crease line (lengthwise grain), crotch line, the fly opening, stitch line for the zipper and the welt placement.