My New Favorite Pants

Attention All Aussies: Send more stretch bengaline! NOW!! ;-)

OMG, I love this fabric! It makes me look slimmer, it even makes me feel slimmer, it glides over my legs because the inside feels slippery like it's lined (it's not), and it's easy-care, easy-sew. The only thing I don't like about it is that I ran out. Ahem. Aussies? That's where you come in. It's just not commonly available here in the States. I have no idea why not!

In case you joined us in the middle, these are the pants I planned to make from KS 3277 way back on November 12. They were to be the final. All the others (the UFOs referred to yesterday) are the wearable muslins leading up to these. I did actually finish them not long after November 12, but needed to wait to find new shoes in order to hem them. They are now complete! And very wearable! Yay! Can you see me dancing? And they match my favorite top so perfectly. I love it when a plan comes together. ;-)

OK, stop dancing, Debbie. The back isn't perfect. But I already knew that and have since decided that the crotch curve in KS 3277 isn't the best for me. But still, they aren't too bad and it's not like I go around looking at my own backside anyway.


Hemming them was an exercise in creative thinking, though. If I turned up a full hem, they were going to be a tad too short. Not highwaters, but not the best length for the new shoes, or the old legs. What to do, what to do?? If I had had any sizeable scraps available, I would've faced the hemline and turned up the facing. But I barely had even threads left over. Hmmm. On to Plan B.
Plan B turned out to be facing the hemline with Seams Great. If I had had black, I would've picked that instead of the glaring white on the brown bengaline. But I was on a mission to finish these and I wasn't going to interrupt my momentum with a trip to the store. White it was. (I think this is 1-1/4" wide, but the package is upstairs and I'm not.)



I used a 3/8" seam allowance and attached it the bottom of the pants in the round, overlapping at the join about 1/4". Then I pressed the SA's toward the Seams Great and then I pressed the Seams Great and SA's under to form the hem, rolling it toward the inside so the white wouldn't be right at the edge.

I first tried a basic straight stitch hem. That worked great technically but looked kind of cheap and icky on the outside of the pants. Too much stitching. So, I tried a machine blind hem (I avoid hand sewing at great lengths.) Looked great on the outside, but not so good on the inside. But really, who's going to see the inside of my hems in real life?? I kept it. The Seams Great is exceptionally thin and even though the edge "picot-ed" a bit with the blind hem stitch, it really adds no bulk at all. It doesn't look like it in the photo below, but trust me. Or look at the next photo.


This shows the finished hems. No stitching shows, no bulk, and only a glimpse of the white … if you're looking UP inside my leg. Problem solved, mission (and pants) complete.


And just for added reassurance, I took a pic of the hems with me wearing the pants. Still no white showing, even with my leg raised up. (It was fun trying to balance on one leg and take a photo at the same time!)