Welp, the weather is cold and rainy, there's a deadly pandemic keeping us all inside, the dog is teething and chewing on everything in sight, including my ankles, but aside from that, hey, everything is great! How you doin'?
Well, at least my sewing mojo has been going great recently, which is nice. This week's project has been Style Arc's Thea Paper Bag Pant.
This reminds me of a pair of McCalls pants that I made a couple of years ago, but which went through the laundry cycle with a black pen. Sigh. So those pants got recycled. These are straight legged, with a high elasticized waist, deep pockets, and self belt. I used Italian Handkerchief Linen in Heathered Beige.
I decided to download the PDF pattern, to get it immediately, and I ran into my first snag. It has nothing to do with the pattern or the download. It has to do with me. I discovered what hell is going to be like when I get there, which I'm pretty sure I will. It's going to be a sysiphean PDF pattern of some really complex couture gown that I'll never be able to finish.
Yeah. I HATE taping PDF patterns. Really. With the passion of a thousand burning suns. And this was only (only!) 30 pages. Well, I taped it together and once that task was done, it went quickly.
This pattern goes together quite readily. The directions, typical of Style Arc, are not for rank beginners, but if you know anything about pants construction, these are beautifully drafted and sew up quickly. My advice is to ignore their method for the elastic casing (sew the elastic into a circle first, then sew the casing around it? I don't think so) and use the method that most pattern companies use: sew the casing top and bottom, leaving about an inch opening at the bottom; thread the elastic in through that opening, pull around and sew the ends of the elastic together. Much better.
I used my little Brother machine to sew the seams, and finished them with the Juki serger.
I also sewed a 1 inch hem on each leg.
As I say, this goes together easily, and I really like the pattern. Next up I think a knit dress is in order. I'm not sure which one yet. Debating between a wrap or mock wrap or a tee shirt throw-on dress. We'll see. I'll go through the pattern stash and decide. Because no effing way am I going to tape together a PDF pattern again any time soon.
Here are pictures on Shelley. If it ever warms up, I'll get some pictures on me.
Parting Mooshie Shot: first visit to the reservoir
Stay safe, and happy sewing!
