Jalie 2909 - Stretch pants

I love reading sewing blogs. There are some fabulous ones out there. One thing that I don't get, that I wish I could do, is sew something, then wait and get all done up and then take photos. Love it, but I don't have a lot of patience, and I want to show off what I have done to my sewing buddies at Crafty Mamas. See, I finished my Jalie shorts then raced out to snap pictures. No makeup, hair every which way, old top with singlet that is sticking out....I just don't wait. One day I will learn.

There is a lot of love for this pattern, so when CM (see link above") did a Jalie buy, this was the first one I knew I wanted. Simple pants, with rave reviews about a great cut. Now, being summer here is Australia, I knew I did not need pants, but shortened, they would be fab.

I went with a green rayon blend Bengaline from the stash. I knew this fabric was stretchy, but I did not realise that the stretch runs lengthwise (rather than crosswise). I had already cut out and sewn the fly before I realised. Luckily, I had bought enough fabric to cut out another pair. For Jalie bottoms, U seems to be the right size for me.

When I tried them on before sewing on the waistband, I realised that I was going to have to make some adjustments. I had a lightbulb moment when I researched the frowns that were appearing at the front that I might need to reduce the length of the front crotch seam. For some reason, I just was accepting this little extra bit, but having tried on several pants and pinching the front, I could see that the front instantly looked better with a smidge less length there.

The other thing that was bugging me was the extra folds under my butt. With lots of research, I ended up scooping out the crotch (which lengthens) and then taking out at the top of the seam. This works for the moment, since I have made up the pants already and could not recut, but the actual alteration is a little wedge removed from somewhere along the back crotch seam (not right at the top). I have since gone on to make these adjustments on some other pants patterns, so hopefully it is the right one. It is an improvement, and that is what matters to me at the moment.