Simplicity Pants |

After making my first pair of Simplicity 1696 trousers last April, I finally got around to making my second pair – or third if you count the pair I refashioned from my dad’s suit. I’ve worn these loads already, since making them back in May.

I made them in the same size as last time and made some of the same adjustments I made last time, namely to take in the legs on the outside seam. Last time I took them in on the inside leg seam too, but this time I didn’t. I’m happy to have a quite loose pair of trousers in this heat wave we’re having in the UK!

They do look a bit loose around the crotch area, but I’m not particularly bothered. I did actually completely finish these and then I unpicked the waistband and took them in a little more than I had before that. They were sitting too low on my hips, so the crotch was even lower and it bothered me too much. Usually once I’ve finished something, I can’t be bothered to fix things, but I did this time and I’m so pleased I did!

I left off the fake welt pockets on the back of this pair because they don’t serve any purpose and they don’t look great because I didn’t do them very well!

The fabric is some black twill I bought in Birmingham a year ago when I went for a meet-up with some Bristol-based sewing buddies. I initially bought it with a 60’s style dress in mind but I figured trousers would get more wear so I took the plunge and cut it up. And it’s not like black twill is difficult to find if I ever get around to making the dress!

This is my kind of outtake from this photoshoot – which is the result of me not quite getting into the shot after setting off my timer!

I don’t really have too much to say about these trousers except that I love them and have worn them multiple times per week since finishing them! I could do with another pair or two of good trousers to give myself more choice than just ‘navy or black’, though that’s pretty much always been the case for me!

Next time I share some trousers, I’m sure I’ll make them from a different pattern so I might have more to say!

These are my Simplicity 1696 trousers in navy twill, which I’ve been saying I would make since October!!!! I finally finished them! OMG! It turns out it’s almost as difficult to photograph navy blue as it is black!

I did have to make a few changes to the pattern to get it to this level of fit, which is still not perfect. Any tips on tweaks I can make will be gratefully received! I took about 4cm off each outside leg seam and 2cm from the inside leg seams. I also had to shave a little of fullness of the bum curve and angle in the waistband, but I didn’t note down by much, which is stupid because I’ll have to work it out again if I make these again!

I think the tweaking of the outside seams means that the pockets now stick out a little from the line of the trousers, but I’m not too bothered about it to be honest. The pockets are nice and deep, which I like! Also I wore these to work (exactly like this, with my melilot shirt) and no-one said anything, so clearly they weren’t thinking ‘wow, those trousers look weird.’

I think the fit is a little bit less good across the back. The pattern gives you room to tweak the fitting as you go, but I maybe will count these as a wearable toile and make some more adjustments if I make them again. There are some drag lines across the back of my thighs, so I’ll need to work out how to fix that!

This side view photo is possibly one of the least flattering photos I’ve taken of me wearing something I’ve made. My natural posture (if I’m not thinking about standing up straight) is with a pretty curved back and with my stomach sticking out (and with hunched shoulders too!), which is particularly unfortunately if I’m a bit bloated, as I was when I took these photos! I’m not pregnant, I promise!

I feel like these trousers may not be the most flattering shape on me – they do make my bottom half look quite heavy, but I don’t really mind as they are comfortable. I was conscious not to over-fit the waistband so they’d still be comfortable to sit down in.

Speaking of sitting down, here’s a close up of my arse! The fake welt pockets are definitely not my finest work, but hey ho. I’d almost rather have done real ones to be honest, or left them off as they were a kind of irritating fiddley step, but without the payoff of actual pockets!

And here’s a close-up of the front. I’m pretty happy with how the fly turned out as it did not look like this when I first sewed it, so there was some unpicking and some fiddling to get it looking okay. I also got a bit confused by the pockets, but luckily I had made the moss skirt for my sister, which has a similar pocket/fly arrangement, so I managed to figure it out. I think part of the problem is that it’s so long since I made a big 4 pattern, I was unfamiliar with their instructions – I’m too spoiled by the extra help and sewalongs that indie patterns give you. The button was just one from my stash.

I can’t think of much else to say about these trousers, except I MADE MOTHERF*CKING TROUSERS!!!! I’m pretty please with myself, if you can’t tell!

I’ll leave you with these outtakes from my photoshoot. The boyfriend suggested we take an action shot of me walking in the trousers and this is what happened……

This is me trying to think of other interesting ways to photography navy blue trousers, but it looks like I’m talking to our penguin (which doesn’t have a name, any suggestions?)