Friday, December 12, 2008

Fancy Pants

Here are some pants I made for Louie today. I'm going to applique a patch of the fishy fabric on a $2.50 t-shirt when it comes out of the dryer. Lou is a big Nemo fan, especially after our trip to the Baltimore Aquarium a few weeks ago. He actually enjoys getting new clothes, so I know these will be a hit.


I used my old standby Easy Fit Pants pattern, but made some modifications to make them REVERSIBLE! The technique involves taking a bit off the top, lengthening the bottom, and finishing off the cuffs in a most impeccable way. I'd be happy to publish a "tute" if anyone is interested :) . Anyways, I just love this style for rapidly growing kids. Louie always outgrows pants in length rather than girth. Since the cuffs are adjustable, I can get so much more life out of pants made this way. For example...

Here is my "sweet pea" - barely two and enjoying a cold, wet mud puddle in Cleveland.

Fast forward to age 3. He was a big hit at the 2007 Celebration of CT Farms. Now he is 4 and the pea pants are still in his drawer. They fit more like board shorts now, but I just can't bear to part with them!

Using the same technique, I also made a pair of grown-up pants for a dear friend of ours. Her name is Julie Jordan, and she is an incredible vegetarian chef and cookbook author. I just adore her - she is so intelligent, funny, caring...I could just go on and on. Her food is unbelievable, too (ask anyone from Ithaca, NY about her "Wings of Life" salads).

I actually bought these fabrics about two years ago with her in mind. I wanted to make her a pair of snazzy chef pants that she could flip over and wear out on the town. I used the same one piece pattern (meaning no side seams) that I use to make Del's pajamas. I just added a few extra inches to account for the cuff and the fact that she is several inches taller than he is :) . That is another nice feature of reversible, cuffed pants - you don't need to have exact measurements to get a perfect fit!

4 comments:

Leslie said...

Hi Carla!! Please, Please!! I would love to see a tute on the reversible easy fit pants!! They turned out o cute!!

Leslie

Kris said...

Wow, Carla! What a great idea! It was fun to see this post tonight because we are going to breakfast with Santa in the morning! I'm making Rachel some PJ pants from some red snowflake flannel and your pattern tonight! I absolutely LOVE this pattern because for a last-minute gal as I am, I know those are going to whip up fast! ;)

Kristina said...

Yes, please post a tutorial. These are awesome!!!

Jeanne said...

One more vote for the tute! Easy fit pants are my FAV!