Designing Home Pants Five Years Apart
Replacing an old favorite pair of pants with a newly imagine one.
Five years ago, I purchased a bandana daisy print fabric for $3 at a thrift store. I made a pair of pants and wore them weekly until they tore. I wore them during the day, to sleep, to eat, during yoga and meditation.
The fabric is a light quilting cotton. With bright blue bandanas and daisies, the print reminded me of Hey Dude, a tv show about a ranch that I watched as a child. Wearing the pants, I felt youthful, like a daydreaming cowgirl.
Over the years my waist got larger. The constant tugging of the elastic waistband led to fabric tearing. Finally, when a large hole formed and I could no longer wear the pants.
Today the daisies look as if they were painted with brushstrokes. However, the bandana is only visible upon closer inspection. It is not fun to wear daisies without bandanas.
There are thousands of prints and it’s rare to come across something that truly speaks to me. I’m lucky this came into my life but our time is over.
The pants were one of my earliest self drafted pants, but I have decided to create a new pair with a roomier waist and space for a full tummy. The new design also requires that I be able to do yoga and sleep in addition to wearing them during the day.
Considerations
I seem to have the same requirements for pants as I did five years ago.
Tapered because I tend to trip on bottom cuffs if there’s a little extra fabric.
The new pair are high waisted and tapered. Home pants have to be tapered because I tend to trip over pant legs if they are too wide at the ankle. I’ve done so several times on the stairs. The pants have to be high waisted because I often get cold easily. Pants I buy are often too low in the back but that is often because the crotch curve does not match the shape of my butt so the fabric gets pulled down. Sewing patterns for pants I’d wear at home are often wider legged with a lower waistline.
I made my pants with no pockets. People often complain how women‘s clothing lacks pockets. I don’t enjoy walking around with things weighing me down. On elastic pants, objects in pockets will pull the waistline to the floor making it impossible to walk.
For home clothing, I always choose a plant fiber that has not been chemically broken down. This time I chose cotton gauze. This was my first experience sewing with the fabric. The loose weave doesn’t allow me to fold over the seams crisply to pin them down—it is rather bulky when folded over.
It is a pleasure to hand sew something you know is going to get a lot of wear. Gauze is very enjoyable to sew by hand because the needle easily enters the loosely woven fabric. It was harder for me to make a flat felled seam with the machine using a 3/8” seam allowance and I’m glad I ended up felling the seams by hand. I need an eighth of an inch more in seam allowance than I would sewing with quilting cotton to flat fell a seam on a machine.
Didn’t realize how loosely woven gauze was before sewing.
While this pair is not as exciting as bandanas and daisies, I am quite satisfied with how they turned out. While they lack the youthful spirit of the first pair, they are more comfortable. I am hoping this pair will last at least five years but I have no prior experience with gauze. The fabric is not as tightly woven as quilting cottons so it may not be as durable.
The pants feel like I’ve got baby blankets wrapped around each leg—which is an experience I would look forward to each day.