Landers great and small

Hi there!

So I’m back from my holidays and feeling very relieved to have got home to some more sensible temperatures, after nearly dying of heat exhaustion in Italy.  I jest of course, but genuinely, I am not designed for daily temperatures over 35 degrees combined with high humidity!

Anyway, I have some blog catching up to do (when do I not?) but for today, I’m going to show you two versions of the same pattern.

The pattern in question is the True Bias Lander pants (am I the only Brit who feels like I’m discussing my underwear when using “pants” instead of “trousers”?)  and it formed part of my 2018 Make Nine list, which is useful! It was also part of the Sew My Style 2018 challenge, which was an added bonus!

I have now made both the shorts and the trousers from this pattern and I wore the shorts on our recent holidays.  I did actually make the shorts and publish them to Instagram on time for the monthly Sew My Style challenge; the blog post is just a little delayed!

So, these definitely formed part of my ongoing trouser fitting journey and, all in all, I’m pretty pleased with them.

I made the trouser version first and you can read all the details about them in my Minerva blog post here.  I was looking for a casual trouser alternative to ALWAYS wearing my jeans for work and thought that this navy cotton drill was a good starting point.  Style wise, these have a strong 70’s feel to me; straight cut from the hips down with a button fly and patch pockets front and back.  They are high waisted, which I’m definitely preferring at the moment; I find them more comfortable and also easier to fit.

Ah yes, fit.  So, going from the measurements, I went for a straight size 12.  The side seams are drafted with a 1″ seam allowance, which gives you a lot of wriggle room for fitting so I felt reasonably confident.  I did however make an adjustment to the paper pattern before cutting out: I added 2cm to the back crotch length to allow for my bum!

When making these up, the side seams are the last step you take before attaching the waistband.  This allows you to make some fit adjustments at that point.  When I basted the side seams together, I decided to grade out slightly over the hips to give me a little more room and also to increase the back darts.  I took a further 1″ in total out of the back through the darts (1/4″ to each dart leg) but didn’t adjust the waistband because it was just a straight rectangle. I attached it working from the centre back and just ended up with some extra overhang at the front, which was easy to get rid of when finally attaching the waistband.

The trousers felt pretty good straight away; however, when they’ve been worn for an hour or two, the drill relaxes quite a bit and so they end up feeling too big quite quickly.  I also felt that the waistband gapes quite a bit at the back.

Consequently, when I cut the shorts, I made a few more adjustments;

• I used the full 1″ seam allowance down the side seams
• I converted the straight waistband into a curve by taking out the 1″ removed in the darts at the CB and then taking a further 3/4″ out of the top of the waistband, split between two separate points in the back

I also hemmed the shorts with 1″ less SA than drafted for, simply because I don’t like a very short short. Joys of sewing, am I right?

The shorts were made in a gaberchino from John Lewis. I can’t say I knew what a gaberchino was previously, but as soon as I’d touched it, I realised it’s the reasonably sturdy but very smooth and soft fabric my favourite RTW shorts are made from, so I was pretty pleased to find it a £10/m.  I bought 1.5m and had plenty to finish my shorts.

I was really pleased with both of these at how easily the button fly comes together.  I was quite nervous at this new technique, having had lots of fun with zip flys before, but it all came together easily and looks pretty good so I’m happy!

Having now worn the shorts for a couple of long days in super hot weather, I know that I need to curve some more out of the front crotch curve for comfort! However, I do really like the style and I can definitely see more of these in my future.

What’s your go to shorts pattern?

Becca

Fabric for the trousers was provided by Minerva Crafts free of charge as part of my monthly blog post; all opinions and other supplies are my own.

Details:

Pattern: True Bias Lander pants

My measurements: bust 36″: waist  31″: hip 42″

Size cut: 12

Adjustments made: 2cm added to back crotch depth; 1″ taken out in total in back darts; waistband of shorts curved.

Future adjustments? Take a little extra out of the front crotch curve for comfort.

Fabric: navy cotton drill from Minerva for the trousers

Gaberchino from John Lewis for the shorts

Make again: Definitely! I would like another pair for winter as an alternative to jeans.