This show-and-tell was a year in the making. I first cut into the polka dot fabric sometime after Thanksgiving last year. I was so sure that I knew what I was doing, that I didn’t even crack open the book for the directions. I just placed my pattern pieces on the fabric, cut out the parts on the fold (my first mistake), and set about sewing them together in the same way that I make bandana pants.
And they would have been perfect if I’d just followed directions. What I ended up with was a lopsided pair of pants with one crazy-wide leg and one too-narrow leg. And being the impatient sewist that I am, I threw my hands up in resignation and stashed the pants away for a year.
What I had neglected to take into account was the fact that bandana pants are exactly the same in the front and the back. The Amy Butler wide-leg lounge pants from In Stitches are not.
I have three other versions of these pants, and I am particularly fond of my floral pair and my leafy pair, but it bothers me that they’re so seasonal. I have a hard time bringing myself to wear pink flowers at Christmas, or orange leaves in the summer. Yeah, it’s a weird hangup of mine. But that’s why a polka dot pair was so appealing to me – I could wear them any time of year I wanted to.
This weekend, the desire to wear my polka dot pants finally overcame my desire to avoid the seam ripper, and I just sat down and did it. I took those suckers completely apart, and then I read the directions (gasp!) and put them back together the right way. I am so happy with them!
In fact, I kind of feel like making another pair now. I have some Santa fabric. Maybe another seasonal pair is in order? It’s not like I have anything else on my to-make list at this time of year… (ha!)
I am a sucker for polka dots, so I’m lovin’ those
Thanks! I’ve been wearing them almost constantly since I made them 🙂
Lovely pants.. They look ubberly cute.. Is it a free pattern? Can u pls share it? Thanks
THanks! I’m afraid it’s not a freebie. It’s from Amy Butler’s In Stitches book.
I LOVE them! I bought some super soft fleece last fall with the intention of making pajama/lounge pants out of them, but I procrastinated until it was too warm, then forgot about them. I think you might have inspired me to pull them out again. Of course I have a pathological fear of instructions, patterns and directions, so I’ll be winging it. Let’s hope both of the legs end up the same size. =)
If you have a pathological fear of instructions, let me suggest you not get the Amy Butler book these are from! I found it far too intimidating at first. It took me a year to finally sit down and decipher all of the sewing-speak. I really prefer plain English instructions, but they’re so hard to find!
Um, just looking at those pants gave me my second seizure. Thanks mom. JK, I think they’re cool, Mom.
…You’re going to punish me aren’t you…
____━━____┓━╭━━━━╮
____━━____┗┓|::::::^━━^
____━━____━┗|:::::|。◕‿‿◕。|
____━━____━━╰O-O—-O-O Nyan nyan nyan nyan…
Pfththth!
When I first looked at the last picture, I thought you had a crazy-long red toenail….but on second glance, it’s a candle (I think) on the hearth. Whew! What a relief!
Happy Holidays to you & yours!
Ew! Yes, that is creepy-looking, isn’t it? I didn’t notice before. It’s a candle, like you said. Could you imagine? I’d be stuck wearing flip-flops all winter! Happy Holidays to you, too! See you at the Clayathon, I hope!
Did you stitch an inseam edge to an outside-leg-seam edge? I do that every time I make pants and don’t read the instructions, even though I’ve used the same base pattern for like 15 years now for everything from pants to bloomers to shorts. D’oh!
No (although, I have done that, too). I stitched the two back pieces together and the two front pieces together, instead of putting a back with a front both times. It was wearable, but looked completely ridiculous.