Tag: Buttonholer

Dark Pants

More dark pants, now without a front flap.

After the dark dungarees, there was enough fabric left for pants. Since pants are still my favourite thing to wear, more pants seemed like a great idea. Never mind that I now have two stacks of pants/jumpsuits in my cupboard. I used the same pattern for these as for the dungarees, with some small changes. I tried to slim the legs a smidge by eliminating the original pleat/crease, removed the insane hem allowance and added welt pockets to the back.

After I started sewing, it turned out that not all of my cutting changes worked out. The plan was to have double darts in the back for shaping, ending before the pocket. Somehow that led to a very pointy butt, so to solve the width issue in the back, I had to add some buttonhole elastic to the waistband to make it fit. This also meant that I got to bust out my buttonholer again to make the buttonholes in the inside waistband. This time I chose a longish rounded buttonhole and added two buttons.

I had hoped to eliminate most of the pleat at the front and replace it with a dart, but it still needed a bit more dart than I anticipated. It turned out well enough though, so I’m not sure I care too much. These pants close with a zip in the left side. It’s not in these pictures, but I did add a hook an eye on the inside just for some extra security.

The hem is less deep but still works well. I really like wearing these pants and their dungaree sibling. Extremely comfortable, great belt loops, nice pockets, good stretch, goes with everything.. Fantastic project if I do say so myself.

Dark Dungarees

Cosy dungarees, just finished in time for winter to end.

I bought some corduroy on a market a year or so ago and was like: pants for me! But then I brought it home and washed it and discovered that I hadn’t bought enough because corduroy has a nap and it looked silly to put things on sideways *insert sad trumpet noises*. Some time later, I went back to the fabric market and found a different dark corduroy (it’s not black, but it’s not .. not?). I didn’t take any chances and bought more than enough for dungarees so I could make those, and more!

The dungarees are based mostly on the Burda Style 12/2022 model 1 pants pattern (from these plaid pants) and on this shorts dungaree flap. I made some changes to the pattern that I don’t particularly recall, although I remember changing it to a side opening. I included jeans style back pockets and the same pocket shape on the front of the bib-flap. This corduroy is very stretchy so I was afraid to use a woven fabric for the lining pieces and grabbed a knit in the end. The bib, pockets, waistband and straps are lined with this stripy knit fabric.

There were two problems with getting this thing done: making choices & executing them and getting the buttonholer to work . I hemmed and hawed over the bib shape, the pocket shape and placement, how to put it on the fabric, everything. This makes a project take so much longer than expected, also when it takes you a week or so between the major steps to actually finish it. Throw it in the corner when you haven’t exactly figured out how to get that pesky waistband attached, how to hem it, stuff like that.

The other major thing was that I wanted to add the straps using buttons and I wanted my imported Greist buttonholer to do the work for me. Those templates would make it so easy to make a pretty (keyhole) buttonhole, I thought. It took trying it out on three machines, a lot of cursing and finally taking it apart and cleaning the sticky grease out to get it to function. I’m so very proud that I managed though (this was my third try). It’s now stored next to the one machine that could make it work, a 1901 Singer 28, hand-crank vibrating shuttle sewing machine. Check out how it makes buttonholes!

All in all, I really like these pants. The corduroy is comfortable, the straps are nice, dungarees are generally great. The only downside is what to wear underneath, so I’m now knitting a ‘shorter’ sweater that can go under the dungarees. Got to keep busy after all!