Not ultimate yet, but very close

Time for some sewing on the blog today. (I know right, how freakin’ long had it been??)

This isn’t the post I had in mind for today. I was actually going to show you one of my not-so-successful recent projects, but I felt so fizzy and cheerful when I got in from work today that I decided to photograph and share something fun instead. Fail Project can wait for another day!

See, happy face!

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and I really lucked out in the crafty department. A new jumper kit from Wool and the Gang, which I am storming through, and a lovely new pattern to play with. The Ultimate Trousers pattern from Sew Over It in fact, accompanied by a big pile of navy blue cotton drill. Now I have not worn skinny trousers for many years, although not for lack of wanting. A misspent youth full of athletic pursuits has left me with big old muscly size 14 legs attached to a size 10 waist. So naturally the high street loves me. Ha bloody ha.

But anyway. I really took my time over these trousers – I spent Friday evening cutting out, sewing the darts and overlocking (any excuse to use the new toy!!!), and Saturday morning sewing, fitting, sewing again, interfacing, swearing, unpicking, interfacing again, and finally (and triumphantly) wearing.

I was so thankful for the sewalong for this pattern that Lisa has been running on the Sew Over It blog, I would have been so stumped on the fitting otherwise! Even with all that help the fit is still slightly off. The legs fit beautifully, and I’m still slightly giddy at wearing skinny trousers for the first time in years. Up yours Zara, you skinny leg fascists!

But the waist is a bit too baggy. Basically I reduced the seam allowance to 1cm on the outside legs to accommodate my gymnast calves and thighs, but forgot to preserve the finished waist measurement. So the waist is too big, which causes the interfacing to ride up all over the place at the back. I can’t think of an easy way to fix this, so I’m going to remove the interfacing and take in the excess using the centre back seam and the rear darts. Does this sound sensible?

Mandatory inside shot. Because overlocking. Just looking at those lovely finished seams. Some of them are a little uneven, granted, but we won’t look too closely at them. Or at the place where I momentarily lost control of the machine and almost cut the crotch off one of the leg pieces. Ehem.

I’ve just ordered some black cotton drill for my next pair of these. Oh yes, black skinny trousers here I come! There is literally no stopping me.

From taking over the world.

Shh, who said that?