The Pursuit Of Perfection

After the relative success of my last pair of Sewaholic Thurlows, it was time for a new and improved pair.  I had always intended to do some radical surgery on this pattern in the pursuit of the perfect trousers but time like always, is in short supply.  I had however spent an exhaustive amount of time researching pattern fixes on the internet.  I decided that the wrinkles under the seat could be fixed with a fish eye dart.  Some of the information on the internet did not appear to work in my eyes, so I settled on this tutorial by Ann Rowley of The Great British Sewing Bee.  After seeing the beautiful work she did on the show, I had confidence in her methods so armed with my pen and paper, tape and scissors, I set to work.  I had already pinched out some fabric on the finished pair and ended up taking out less in my fish eye, but did not want to over do it.

Interestingly enough, after narrowing my front leg to match my Colette Clover pattern, my new Sewaholic Thurlow pattern was nearly identical in shape but a little wider than my Jalie Jean pattern which had remained unaltered......hhmmm!

The fabric I chose for my pants was a lovely black stretch suiting.  I could make the pants out of a mere metre of fabric, so I lined the waist band in some cotton sateen from the remnant bin and the pocket bags with some lining so as not to add bulk.  I left the back pockets off completely with this pair because after all of the alterations to the pattern, there was the risk that this pair could be a complete disaster.

After making my pants up, I realised that there was still the odd wrinkle, and I read that scooping the crotch would help. Right, this was my next step.  Once again, I was a little conservative in my approach, only taking a mere 5mm off.  It certainly made a difference though.

After the final fitting I was actually quite chuffed with my accomplishments and set about hemming late at night in front of the television.  BIG MISTAKE!  Instead of chopping off each leg to a 7/8th length like I intended, I cut the same leg twice!  OH NO!  You could imagine my disappointment.  My husband scuttled his way to the other end of the house to avoid my now foul mood.  I couldn't just go to bed and leave the disaster until the next day, because I feared my mood would just get worse in the hours of darkness.  I had to try and fix this problem and quickly!  

I chopped off the second leg by the required length twice as well and then proceeded to stitch it back on again, and made the second side match.  After a bit of top stitching, it now looks like a design feature.  My hem is still a bit shorter than I would have liked though!  Anyho, crisis fixed!  I now have new favourite pants, despite the unintended design feature!