Pattern Development

While keeping an ear and an eye on the news for the better part of the weekend, I have managed to immerse myself in getting a jean pattern fit for prime time. A major portion of last week was spent working on muslin's of different patterns. The Vogue pattern I had hopes for didn't really flatter.

Of course flatter is a broad term, let's just call it what it was, unflattering. My needs are very simple. Good fit, comfortable, fairly easy and just a little bit of style. I found all that on the second pattern muslin. Hot Patterns Slouchy Trouser Jeans.

They have a wide straight leg, a nice menswear lined waist band,

5 pocket jean style

and considering jeans are labor intensive, not terribly hard to put together.

I had absolute fits with the fly front zipper. The first two attempts were dismal, but thanks to a tutorial done by Trudy at Hot Patterns on the fly fronts, I was able to pull it off for my very first pair of wearable jeans. And the waistband tutorial didn't hurt either! The link will take you to all of her tutorials. I'm pretty darn happy with these and will make a few more. The denim used is quite light and drapey, no stretch. I wasn't fond of the shape of the back pockets so copied the size and shape from a pair of jeans that I liked.

Next pair I'll dress them up a little more with stitching and maybe some embroidery. I like the waistband style so much I may do this on other pairs of pants. It really is comfortable and the pattern offers extremely nice shaping and contours. Should I make this in a stretch fabric (cotton/Lycra) I will drop a size since the breathing room is built into the fabric.

I'm glad I stuck with this and you can be sure some more Hot Patterns will find their way into my pattern file!

I want to take some prime time blog space and thank you everyone for your best wishes to Dennett. He actually is doing pretty well. The light dose of pain meds for his old age stiffness has made a world of difference. His blood panel wasn't much changed from last October, so no systems are failing badly. We're hoping he'll whinny on with us comfortably for a good while yet.

In other news the Greensprings Fire and Rescue was called out at 4:00am Saturday morning to a house fire. A candle. The ladies cat woke her up and saved her, along with the aged Jack Russell Terrier. The house was saved, the living room needs extensive work as the fire got into the walls, but the fire department arrived about 4 minutes before the whole thing would have gone up at flash point. Gene was tired and happy when he got back home mid afternoon and the crew handled the emergency beautifully.

Parting shot: Dreaming of My Red Rubber Ball!