I still can’t bring myself to call trousers pants, but I’m sure it’s just a matter of time until I’m saying pants with the best of the Seattleites. Anyway, this pattern represents the first pair of adult trousers I’ve made and I was looking for something simple and casual. I’m in the middle of losing-baby-weight, so I definitely didn’t want anything too fitted.

When I saw the Moji trousers from Seamwork Magazine by Colette Patterns I figured these could be them. I wasn’t totally convinced the style was going to do much for me, but I gave them a go.

Firstly, I actually made a toile/muslin! It’s the first time I have and I wanted to do it for the experience of having made one as much as anything. Having said that, my muslin material was way lighter than my actual trouser fabric. I know that’s not the idea, but I had nothing even close. What do you do in that case? Buy some really cheap non-muslin fabric that’s about the right thickness? Not sure. The fabric was a black cotton mix jacquard from Joann and was 60% off in the sale. I wasn’t entirely sure which was the right side of the fabric actually, so I picked the side I liked and went with it. Now I’m thinking the other side might have been better as they slightly resemble pyjamas like this. Never mind, eh? Also, it’s so hard to photograph – the fabric is much more black and less shiny in real life, but there you are.

Pyjamas or trousers? You decide…

So, as with most of Seamwork’s patterns, the idea is that they only take 1-3 hours sewing time (3 hours for the Moji trousers) and actually this did run into about 3-4 hours sewing for me, so quite close. I was definitely glad I made a toile for two reasons: 1) I have quite a long waist to crotch measurement and often find RTW trousers exposing my backside, so I realised I needed to add a bit of height on here. I added an inch and hoped that wouldn’t affect the waist too much, but figured they were drawstring trousers anyway. Secondly, I did a terrible job of sewing the waistband on, but figured out what I did wrong (sewing from the wrong side, mostly) and it went much, much more smoothly in the final piece. I guess what wasn’t so good about the toile was that I cut a 16, they seemed a pretty nice loose fit, but because of the fabric thickness disparity (I guess) they turned out even bigger and looser in the final fabric. They’re definitely not unwearable, but they might be in a few weeks/months. Not to worry. All in all, I’m glad I made the toile and will try to match material better next time!

Meanwhile, at Tacoma Zoo, the diamond-backed long-crotched female questioned why it looked so grey and shiny in photos

The only other adjustment I made to the pattern was to take the hem up an extra inch. I was swithering between hem length and of course one length looked good with flats, another with heels, but, realistically, with a 10-month old, what am I likely to wear more? So I made them a little shorter for flats, but left enough that they still look decent with heels. I guess the model in the Seamwork magazine was 6ft tall looking at the length of those. I’m 5’7″, so not teeny tiny.

What else? Oh, I made two pockets where the material was at right angles to each other. That did make me laugh. So I took a picture before making a third pocket.

I confess I’m not 100% sold on the drawstring. I wonder if elastic waistbands are better for someone without any ab muscles to speak of. Having said that, I wore them all day today, and the drawstring held up (literally) much better than I thought it would.

So, overall, I sort of wish I’d made them inside-out, but… for construction and practice at trouser-making, it was a great experience and the instructions were very good, I thought. I would definitely whip these up again in a few months. Onwards and upwards! Bye!