One Good Apple

“Surely the apple is the noblest of fruit.”~Henry David Thoreau

I was still wanting to take a little break from quilt making, so I thought, why not make some pants? If you follow along with my blog, you will know that I have never made pants! I did make overalls once, here’s the post in case you missed it! It was a fun sew and a fun photo shoot!

We Can Do It!

Mia, always the thrifty gal, bought this apple themed fabric from the Goodwill bins. It’s not traditional 100% cotton fabric. It’s more of a light weight upholstery fabric. She wasn’t sure what to do with it, but the price was right. I told her I thought the apple fabric would make great pants!

Mia picked out this pattern from 1971. It is one of Hila’s patterns.

Hila is my Grandpa Bert’s cousin. She gave me her old sewing patterns and I love every one of them! For the story of Hila’s patterns, and Hila’s family connection to me, check out the first Hila pattern I ever made. It was for a very special Ken doll! HA! (Ken is special because I found him in a canal! You can read below for that exciting story too!)

I’m Just Ken

SO, let me remind everyone that I am self taught when it comes to sewing. Yes, I grew up watching my Grandmas, Mom, and Aunt sew, which gave me a base knowledge. However, some technical things I have to seek out to learn, or wing it. I’m a “wing it” type of gal, so let me be completely honest about how “winging it” with this went wrong!

Pattern sizes can be confusing. You have measurements, and try to match them with the recommended measurements on the pattern to know which pattern will work best for you. BUT old patterns tend to run smaller than modern day patterns. So I took Mia’s measurements and read the back of the pattern envelope, and tried to adjust for the difference.

So there I was, adding onto the pattern. Now I know that my technique isn’t the proper way, but it has worked for me in the past.

Then I discovered that the pattern piece for the pockets was missing. No worries though! I used the guide on the front pants pattern to trace out, and make my own.

I cut out two pockets for the front of the pants.

I pinned the fly facing to the pants opening. These pants call for a button front. I was happy about that because it seemed easier than putting a zipper in pants on my first pants sew.

I sewed the pockets into place but thought the stitching looked a little puny. I got some embroidery thread that matched the apples, and hand stitched along where I had sewn to make it stand out more.

It was then time to sew on the waist band. With this pattern you do that before sewing together the legs. I knew that it would be best to have Mia try the pants on so I could make any adjustments before doing finishing stitches. So I drove 2 1/2 hours to Mia.

Now there are no pictures because in frustrating moments I don’t remember to take pictures, but the pants DID NOT fit. They were waaaayyyy too big! It looked like all of the add on I did needed to be taken off!

I took the apple pants and went home feeling defeated.

Since they were too big I decided to take them apart, I cut the side seams instead of seam ripping them. There was plenty of room to cut off. I laid the pattern out on the pants front and back again. I decided to only cut the pattern 1/2 of an inch bigger. Once they were cut down to almost the original pattern size, I sewed them all together again.

Inside the waist band I hand stitched it. I didn’t want any stitches showing on the right side of the pants.

Mia picked out these vintage buttons from my stash. They match the pants and also have a wooden look that she liked.

In between all of this I decided to take a break and make Alice some fabric bows for her hair. She picked out the fabrics she liked when she was at my house during Christmas, so bows were long overdue!

Then I finished the apple pants and Mia was very excited to wear them!

They’re perfect for any occasion, even dancing in the laundry room!

Making clothes that are unique and a little quirky is always fun for me. Mia doesn’t regret at all her quick decision purchase of this fabric! For a couple of bucks she has the cutest pants, and saved this fabric from it’s date with a landfill.

I feel accomplished now that I’ve tackled making pants. I’m sure this wont be the last pants sew, I’ve just begun!

As for me, onto the next!