I am SO impressed with all those people who have babies (let alone multiple children) and still manage to make stuff and keep a blog updated. Well done you guys!
I’m still involved in the extremely slow process of creating for myself the perfect pair of trousers. You saw some bad photos of my first muslin here. Then KCW took over and I made four (count them! four!) baby garments in just one week. For me this is serious speed-sewing.
And now I’m back to the trousers. I had one attempt at revising my pattern based on the muslin, which by the way is actually a pretty wearable pair of trousers. The only problem with them is that for some reason I cannot fathom the waistband seems to be coming detached. It’s still attached enough for me to wear them at the moment but I think I’d better hurry up with the next pair!
You can sort of see my trousers in this picture of Asher. Perfect length – good fit at the waist – rather baggy around the hips. (The trousers, not the baby).
Anyway… my first attempt at revision was really not very good. The resultant shorts (didn’t want to waste a trousers-length piece of fabric) were too tight and I abandoned them before I even got to sewing the zip in. (I hope to use the fabric for some baby stuff later). It’s not very surprising that they didn’t go that well as the pattern I was using had originally been drafted as a pyjama pattern with an elastic waistband casing – so a very different shape from fly-front trousers. It was also among the first items I sewed for myself – I reckon item two or three – so I didn’t really know what I was doing when I made the pattern up (with the help of Cal Patch’s great book). The pattern had several annoying features – like not actually being long enough, and the back and front side seams not matching up – you know, small things 
The Original Pyjamas
So I decided the best thing would be to start again, make new measurements (after all, I have had a baby since then – and quite apart from the tribulations of pregnancy, everyone knows that in the year after having a baby you have to eat a LOT of cake in order to survive). It took me ages to draft – mainly because drafting or cutting a Kate-sized pattern involves the use of the full extent of the dining room table in its clean, clutter-free glory. This is not a sight often seen in these parts and took several evenings of hard labour to achieve.
Next I cut out the pieces. Using exactly the same fabric as last time – boring, I know, but I didn’t want to waste my nice fabric on a test garment, and I did want to be able to wear them if they worked out, so I couldn’t just use a bedsheet. That is, I could have made pyjamas, but I couldn’t work out how to make comfortable pyjamas with a fly-front. And anyway I already have two pairs of home made pyjamas.
The test pair (Muslin II I guess) is not yet finished. I’ve attached all the pockets – which I could have skipped, but see above about wanting to actually wear the trousers if they work out – and sewn up the side seams. And made a stupid mistake (I inserted a little ribbon tag thing in the side seam cos I’m cool like that, but accidentally inserted it backwards with the cut ends on the outside of the trousers – fail). So I’ve stopped for the night. But I wanted to update my two blog readers on the state of affairs.
Expect to see a finished pair of trousers around here sometime soon!
