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Close up of NL6644 pants on pattern envelope. I'm making a different waistband (Jalie Eleonore style) and leaving off the tie. Using View B but full length.
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Dark camo stretch twill from Mood Fabrics. It's really thick! I laundered twice to soften it a bit but it's still rather stiff. I think it will soften with repeated wearing and washing.
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Inspiration look but I'm using the cuff instead of elastic at the ankle. I have a black leather jacket but will wear boots. No heels for me with camo pants. Lol.
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Last winter I worked on making a slim fitting pants pattern that fit! Here is my pattern on top of the NL6644. This cargo pant has a looser fit though, so I'm starting with the basic alterations.
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The back crotch extension needs to be lengthened by 1 inch. After determining this I traced off the front and back New Look pattern onto white pattern paper. Apologies for white on white photos to come but I tried my best to get good pics.
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Even though I want these cargo pants more of a relaxed fit, I still need to slim the legs. I took 5/8" off the side seams and 1/4" off the inseams of both front and back pieces. Here I'm tapering from hip to hem. My tracing has not been cut yet.
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Truing up the side seams at 5/8" seam allowance using painters tape on my ruler. Painters tape is awesome for so many things because there is no sticky residue!
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Instead of making rows of narrow elastic I'm going to use 2" elastic Jalie Eleonor style. I cut my waistband pattern 5 1/2" wide and used the length of the pattern. 2" elastic X 2 sides = 4" + 5/8" SA X 2 = 5 1/4" + 1/4" extra wiggle room = 5 1/2"
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I tried on my muslin without waistband and the legs were still too big. I trimmed a little at a time on side seam and inseam of both front and back until I was satisfied. I want a slightly loose fit, not baggy.
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After another try on I needed to shorten the front rise 3/4". Here I have it pinned out tapering to zero at the side seams. I went ahead and machine basted it like this without taking it apart to see if that was enough.
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Another try on of my muslin here. The front rise is now better, the legs are loose but not baggy, but my real fabric is thick so this should be okay. The waist is too loose but that's just a matter of shortening the elastic.
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Again, the waist elastic is too loose but easy fix. The line below that is the yoke. The back legs are kind of big but I can sit and walk comfortably. I tried taking some length from the back thigh but it didn't feel right so I left it.
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I'm 5/3". I folded my cuffs twice at 1 1/2" and measured to my desired length at mid-heel on my shoes. I added 1" at the shorten/lengthen line on both front and back. If you have a grid you can line up your pieces and not even have to mark them.
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Since I narrowed the legs beginning at lower hip, my pocket piece is a little off. Instead of tracing it I'll just fold it under for cutting. I don't like cutting into original patterns anymore.
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I started with the back piece cutting single layer. After the first one I moved the second one down a couple of inches to stagger the print. Camo shouldn't be matchy matchy, it doesn't look authentic. Also don't want a big dark spot in certain places.
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Next I cut the fronts single layer and staggered the print as I did on the backs. To keep the grainline from shifting I used painters tape.
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I love my laser and use it all the time! For all the pocket facings I used some black linen in my stash. However after sewing the first pocket flaps I didn't like it. Ended up cutting the facings over in the fashion fabric.
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I used my black tricot interfacing for the pocket flaps and top part of the back pockets. Instructions don't mention the top of the back pockets but I always do this for stability.
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To mark the decorative stitching lines with a chalk pencil, I found the closest curve on a French ruler and marked with tape.
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Next I lined up the top of my pockets with the fold line of the pattern and marked both lines on each side of the pocket.
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I used one number in from each tape piece so that it centered on my pocket and drew the lines. (Sorry, I must have shifted the ruler a bit after I drew the lines. Should be 18 and 13 on the edges.)
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I unfolded my edges so the backstitching, beginning and end, will be neatly hidden underneath the pocket. Warning: I used a Fons & Porter chalk pencil and some of it didn't wash out. Beware!
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The dot on the pattern for where the button goes happened to be right on my stitch line. Since I'm using stud type buttons I didn't want to make a hole on the stitches so moved it up slightly. Grommet tool for the hole.
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Sooo....I tried to hammer the stud into the metal button but it was so wiggly I knew I'd smash my fingers. Hubby to the rescue! Ha!
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This looks worse than it is. The fabric actually hugs the stud side really well, but to be on the safe side I globbed on a bunch of Fray Check. It's on the inside of the pocket.
