Printed Pants

This is the season for pants to be made in anything but a solid color. Every designer has some style of pants, skinny to flowing, in everything from botanicals, paisleys, travertine and stone patterns to animal prints. I have to say, some of them look and feel like pajama bottoms, but it is a serious trend and it's fun.

Alex, my daughter, emailed me way back in February wanting me to make her some printed silky pants. She lives in Cleveland, so fitting pants long distance is not easy. While she was home for Christmas though, she made herself a pair of Ikina pants in a soft knit, which fit her great.

So I took that pattern, sized for knits, and simply used that pattern to add 1/4" to the side seam allowances, therefore adding a total of 1" to the circumference of the pattern.

I chose one of our new super drapey prints and delivered the finished pants to her at the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo in Indianapolis last week. I was thrilled to see that they fit perfectly. (Whew, we all know how much fun it is to rip and re-do silk-like fabrics!).

So here are the results - before delivery and modeling in Indy.

Hanging on the dressform in Topeka - pre-delivery - in 5-214-9 Polyamide from France.