Simplicity 8391 Wide-Leg Pants in Cotton Velveteen

Do you ever look in your closet and realize you are missing a certain type of clothing? I suppose that happens to everyone from time to time. Before Christmas, I realized that I had no dress pants except for one pair that was a bit snug. Like many others, my body has changed during COVID, and the dress pants I had previously have been cleared out of my closet since they no longer fit. I often make do with what I have for holidays, but I wanted something nice for our Christmas Eve church service. I don’t like sewing to a deadline, but I had probably a month to go before Christmas, which seemed reasonable, even with all the other pre-holiday demands on my time.

I looked through my fabric collection and found some beautiful cotton velveteen that I had bought a few years ago from Fabric Mart. It was originally slated to become part of a party outfit, but that plan took a turn, leaving this lovely fabric behind.

In order to speed me on my way and avoid fitting questions, I looked at what I had in my closet that already fit. One of the patterns I have made a few times, that still fits and that I love is Simplicity 8391.

I have made the shorts (View D) in pink denim and the cropped pants (View C) in green canvas. Later, I lengthened the pants to full length and made them in a more traditional blue denim. I love and wear these pants a lot, and with their wide legs, they are great in winter if you need to wear long underwear underneath on cold days. The only thing I wanted to adjust from my long blue denim pair was to add one more inch for a deeper hem.

I laid out my velveteen on the fold to see if I could fit my pattern. It was just barely wide enough, and just barely long enough. I had to keep in mind the nap of the fabric and cut the pants so the nap was running all the same way, but I could manage it with what I had. I cut everything out, and added an inch to the length of the pant legs right at the bottom so that I could finish them with a deeper, 2.5″ hem.

Adding and inch to my pants during cutting (close-up)

I know that the proper way to add length to pants is in the middle of the legs, and this is what I did when I initially lengthened them, as you can see two pictures up, but because this wasn’t the only project on my plate and there was a deadline, I tried to make things quicker wherever possible.

Making things speedy included using my serger to finish seams. While serging is not my favorite finish as far as looks go, I definitely like it better than the zigzag edge finish I often used inside pants before getting a serger.

Nicely finished, and I even got that deeper hem that I wanted.

Unlike my last pair of these pants where I used a jean zipper and lapped zipper application, I went back to what the instructions suggested and used an invisible zipper. I couldn’t find an exact color match, but since it’s invisible, only the pull shows, so it doesn’t matter that much. While the zipper technically stops below the pocket, it sticks a bit there because of the bulk of the fabric, so I just unzip it down to the pocket when I need to get in and out.

I also left the buttons off the front of the pants this time. They are such a cute sailor-inspired detail, but I wanted these pants to be dress pants, and a little more plain. It’s hard for me to keep things plain and not add extra colors or details, but it helps that I love this purple and its soft and velvety texture.

Because these are 100% cotton, they do relax with wear. I find this really comfortable, although it does change where the pants sit on your waist as they relax. This can sometimes result in a rather low crotch, so keep this in mind. I sewed the size that my measurements put me in, a 22, but you may want to size up or down according to what you like. I have worn these a time or two before taking pictures, so this is a more relaxed fabric day.

I was very happy to have these finished with time to spare, especially because I signed up for some ‘panic sewing’ for one of my kids! I wasn’t the only one who wanted something nice for Christmas Eve!

Trying out some different poses; my neighbors were very confused about what we were doing in the yard, and who can blame them? Haha!

So, my mission accomplished, I had something nice to pair with a sweater for Christmas Eve church as well as a pair of dress pants I really like in my wardrobe. And I even got my other sewing projects done on time! More on those later, hopefully. 🙂

Advertisement

Sailor-Inspired Pants! Simplicity 8391 in Denim

I’ve met some serious secret pajama goals with this pair of pants. In making these wide-legged, comfortable, sailor-inspired jeans, I’m revisiting a pattern I tried for the first time last summer: Simplicity 8391, view C.

Simplicity 8391

Only this time I added seven inches to the length of the cropped pants in the pattern to make full-length pants/trousers, and I made them in denim because after several years of skinny jeans, I’m ready to let my legs out of prison, at least some of the time. Plus, these feel about as great as a nice pair of pajama pants.

Family help with pictures means things get silly.

I made these from a lighter midweight denim from Fabric Place Basement in Natick, MA. Fabric Place Basement is turning out to be a good source of denim for me. This denim was nicely drapey rather than stiff, perfect for wide leg pants.

I cut a 22. Really, I just altered the pattern I used this summer by adding length. My hem is 1.25 inches, but next time, I think I would make it an inch deeper, so I’d add one more inch to the length, allowing me 2.25 inches for my hem.

Pants, inside front

Pants, inside back

I changed the invisible zipper the pattern calls for to a lapped zipper with the help of Gertie’s New Book for Better Sewing by Gretchen Hirsch (the machine-sewn lapped zipper directions). I wanted to use a larger, more heavy duty jeans zipper.

That went pretty well, but I didn’t think about the best way to attach everything, so I sewed the zip to the pants and waistband, and then had some trouble figuring out how to secure the waistband facing without it interfering with the zipper. I got it in the end, but there’s probably a better way to do it. I also had some trouble closing the rest of the seam below the zip, so I used a combination of hand and machine sewing.

I covered the bottom edge of the waistband facing with a cute, striped vintage bias tape. I should have used double fold bias tape rather than single, or just done a Hong Kong seam finish rather than binding the edge, but I really wanted those stripes.

Normally, with jeans, I use a zigzag stitch to finish the seams, but now that I have a serger, I serged all my seam allowances, which looks a lot neater. I’m really happy with that.

I love the large pockets and the comfortable straight leg in this pattern. The denim I used also seems to have a good amount of mechanical stretch, which adds to the comfort, and the jeans zipper feels much more secure than the invisible zipper in my last pair.

I really love looser pants in the winter so I can fit a pair of long underwear underneath whenever necessary, but I think these will actually work year-round.

While I’m starting to think that, overall, I like a straight leg pant better than a wide leg style, as a straight leg is slightly narrower, this pattern is so cute and comfy that I would definitely make it again.

It’s also really nice to have more than one style of jean in your closet, you know? So, I’ll keep a pair or two of skinny jeans around while adding all the other fun cuts and styles I feel like making, too. 🙂

Simplicity 8391 Sailor-Inspired Shorts and Pants

Summer sewing is in full (albeit slow) swing, and these pants are one of the most recent projects I finished.  I really like the look of sailor pants.  I actually have a pair of wool 13-button sailor pants that I love from an Army Navy store, but sadly they don’t fit right now.  I have noticed that I’m drawn to that style, though, so I decided to make some of my own.  First, I tried the Persephone Shorts by Anna Allen.  The pattern and instructions are excellent, but I really, really didn’t like the look of the shorts on me, even though I think they look great on other people.  Rather than fiddling with the fit to try to get something I might like, I moved on to Simplicity 8391.  The Persephone Pants are actually based on sailor pants from the 1920’s-1940’s, whereas Simplicity 8391 is more of a cute take on the idea of sailor pants.  I have to say, though, that I really, really like these.

l

First I made the shorts version (View D) to get an idea of the fit.  I made them up quickly without worrying much about interior perfection or getting things just right.  These were my wearable muslin.

l

Cute, right?

My measurements put me in between two sizes, so I traced that out and sewed them up in some leftover Tinted Denim by Cloud9 Fabrics that I got long ago at Pintuck & Purl.

I am finding that in most, if not all, Big 4 pants, I need to do a full seat adjustment and possibly even lengthen the back crotch point.  I didn’t do any of that for the shorts, and while they came out cute, they aren’t super comfortable on me, and I have already given them away.

l

Aside from giving me wedgies, sitting was really uncomfortable and I wanted a lot more ease, so I decided to try again and just sort of guess at the amount of adjustment to make and hope for the best.

For version two, I made the pants (View C) from Delaware Grass Green 10 oz. cotton canvas from Big Duck Canvas that I had originally bought to make into Persephone Pants.  This was my first time ordering from Big Duck Canvas.  The price was good and so was the quality of the fabric.  Interestingly, when I washed these, they faded a fair amount.  They also softened a lot as I’m sure they had some sizing on them while on the bolt.  They remind me of one of my favorite pairs of pants from years ago, so I loved how the fabric came out of the wash, but keep the fading in mind if you give this fabric a try at some point.  I have also noticed this sort of fading when I bought duck canvas from Joann’s, so maybe it’s just something that happens with this fabric?

As far as adjustments, I really wanted some comfy pants, so I decided to go big or go home with the fitting.  I retraced the pattern half a size larger, and then did a 1.5″ full seat adjustment, as well as adding 1.5″ of length to the back crotch point.  I used The Perfect Fit from the Singer Sewing Reference Library series to figure out how to do this.  I’m always a little confused about which adjustments to do and how in the world to know what I need in each case.  It helps that I sew a lot of Big 4 patterns and can use a lot of similar adjustments on those, but what about when I sew a pattern from another company?  Isn’t there some way to measure the flat pattern and know if I will need to adjust things?  I still need to finish reading Pants Fitting:  The Crotch and Pants Fitting:  The Crotch Part 2 from the Winmichele blog and do the exercises she mentions because I think that will answer those questions for me.  I understand how to measure the back of a shirt pattern to see if I need a broad back adjustment, but I still don’t fully have pants figured out, even after making a number of different types.

Back to these pants.  When hemming, I took 2″ off the length of the pants.  I think if I had left the size the same as the shorts, the pants would have fit closer and been higher on my waist, and then maybe that 2″ would have been too much, but with the adjustments I made, they sit just below my navel and taking 2″ off looked better to me than just hemming them at the normal hem allowance (for reference, I’m 5′ 8.5″ tall and I don’t usually make length adjustments).  I had to stretch the fabric as I hemmed so that everything was nice and flat.

l

I got to use a few vintage buttons on both the pants and the shorts.

l

I used whatever invisible zippers I had around.  The zipper on these is on the left side.

One other thing I changed was on the inside of the waistband.  I covered the inside edge of the waistband with bias tape, which made catching the waistband SO MUCH EASIER when stitching in the ditch from the outside.  I do have to be careful when zipping and unzipping because the bias-covered edge likes to get in the way a little bit, but it’s not too bad.

The adjustments I made to this pattern made the finished product feel WONDERFUL.

l

I’m really thinking hard to analyze how I want to feel in my clothes during each season, and so far what I have come up with for summer is loose and breezy, which means no tight clothes (except things like bathing suits), lots of breathable cotton and linen wovens, and plenty of elastic waists.  Even without an elastic waist, I love these pants for summer.  They’re nice and loose, and I would definitely consider trying to lengthen them to full length and make them in linen or some other great fabric.  I think I have worn them almost every day this week (don’t worry–they’re going in the wash after today).

I know that’s the picture you were all waiting for.  😉 Have a great weekend.