My first pants

I turned in the pants for my apparel construction class on Wednesday. This was the first time I made a pair of pants. It was not an easy project. I usually make a few practice items before the one I turn in, but for this project I did not have time to do so. All I could fit in was one extra muslin, but even that little bit helped a lot.

My pants are not great, but for a first attempt I think I did a good job. The pants fit well, but I will probably never wear them. I did not make back pockets. The requirements for the project were front pockets, fly front with zipper, and waist band. I put a back pocket in one of my muslins, and was very bad. I found making pants difficult enough and I did want to risk mangling the pants with a poorly made back pocket.

Belt loops were not required, but I added them to my pants. Wearing a belt during my final fit gave me a little wiggle room in the waist size. I did not like my pattern for belt loops or their placement, so I designed my own loops and put them where I like. My pattern called for me to make belt loops by sewing a thin tube of fabric. Turning the tube was too difficult, so I wanted to find a different method. I examined a few pairs of pants and found that belt loops are commonly made by folding a piece of fabric and covering the raw edge with a coverstitch. I do not have access to a coverstitch machine, but I do have a double needle for my lockstitch. The double needle is not as good, but for belt loops it is good enough.

I used matching color thread for the pants. The contrasting thread was used here for contrast.

The fly front was the most difficult part of the project. It took me a lot of time to finish, and my seam ripper saw a lot of action. My finished fly is not great, but it works and there are no exposed unfinished edges. My instructor warned the class that the waist band would also be quite difficult, but I found it easy. The method I use to attach sleeve cuffs worked well for the waist band. The bottom hem, while easy, proved to be a time consuming process. The hem had to be hand stitched. Had I done it at home rather than in lab with all my classmates to distract me I would have needed less time, but working in lab is a lot more fun.

I used one of the computerized machines for my buttonhole. Last semester as I was working on shirts I wrote about how easy it was to use my home machine to make buttonholes. Compared to the school machines, my home machine seems overly complicated and difficult. The buttonhole feet at school have a special slot into which I insert a button, and this tells the machine how big to make the hole. At home I must measure the length of the hole myself and hope I get it right. On my home machine I must stop after each part of the hole and change the setting on my machine. At school I just hit the gas pedal and let the machine do all the work. The school machines even give me a choice of a few different types of holes. I made a keyhole buttonhole for my pants. It almost seems too easy. Sewing should require more effort.

Muslin Muslin Pants

Men wear clothing too

The pants and shirt I am sewing in my apparel construction class must fit me, and I need to supply the patterns. The women in class have had no trouble finding patterns, but for the men it is not so easy. Not only do we need to find pants and shirt patterns; the patterns must meet certain requirements. The pants need a fly front and real pockets – no patch pockets. The shirt must have a collar stand and sleeve cuffs.

The local Wal-Mart carries only Simplicity patterns. The only Simplicity men’s pants pattern has patch pockets. Simplicity has a few men’s shirt patterns that meet the requirements for my class, but the shirts do not look good. They lack yokes and sleeve plackets.

The nearest fabric store with a better selection of patterns is in Eau Claire, 28 miles away from home. I found McCall’s patterns on sale for $0.99, but there are no McCall’s pants patterns that meet the requirement for my class. McCall’s offers a shirt pattern with a collar stand, yoke, cuffs, and sleeve plackets, but I have used this pattern before and I do not like it. Parts of the shirt fit very poorly. Perhaps the fault was mine, but I did not want to risk it. I bought a Kwik Sew shirt pattern and a Burda pants pattern.

I had very few options as I searched for patterns. Men’s clothing makes up a very small portion of the pattern books. McCall’s offers more patterns for menswear in the costumes section than in the men’s section. I understand that most of the people who sew are women, but surely some of them have husbands, boyfriends, fathers, and sons who wear clothing. In a few years I will be able to design my own patterns, but for now I must rely on commercial ones. Perhaps if more menswear patterns were available more men would sew.