All Together Now.

At the onset of the year, I (un)officially deemed 2016 my "year of the trousers". I've been wanting to sew pants for a long time. I've collected a large pile of pants patterns in anticipation. I've stashed a wide range of bottom weight fabrics. Everything was ready and waiting for me. 

I procrastinated pants sewing as long as I possibly could. I finally reached a breaking point. I completely backed myself into a corner. You see, for the same amount of time that I've been collecting pants patterns and fabrics, I also completely stopped buying RTW pants. I get a lot of mileage from my clothing, typically, but my dress pants were loved to death.  I had a choice to make. Cave-in and buy pants or stop being such a wimp and sew some stinking pants, already! 

TA DAH! My first pair of Manhattan trousers! Like most projects that I procrastinate on, these were far less daunting than I'd imagined them to be! Actually, this pattern goes together VERY quickly and VERY easily. The instructions are simply written and clear. The pants look exactly as expected by the line drawing.  The pattern fit was on point with the way the provided measurements suggested these would fit. Also, this pattern is designed with petite body types in mind, so I didn't need to do any tweaking to the rise, which was a nice little pattern prepping treat!  

As I mentioned, my pants situation is fairly desperate at the moment, so I've decided to start my mission with some solid basic items. These were sewn using a medium weight wool suiting fabric. The fit is fairly decent right out of the envelope. This fabric is very stable and doesn't have any stretch component to it. So, on future versions with similar types of fabric, I think I will give myself a little more room in the upper thigh. I don't notice any tightness in them until I sit, then the thigh is a little snug.  I'm eager to make more of these pants. As soon as I can get a few pairs of neutral, (boring)basic pairs in my closet, I'd like to have a pair or two of bright color or patterned pairs. 

Also, photographed in this post is my Lightweight Pullover. This pattern, by Hannah Fettig, has been in my favorites/queue for ages. Over the winter when I sorted through my stash and matched yarn to patterns, I made sure to include it in the mix. The yarn I used is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. I love this yarn. I purchased this particular yarn from an estate sale, but I would specifically seek out and buy it again for future projects. It has a really gorgeous feel and drape, and the microfiber component of the blend provides a nice element of stability/structure to the final garment. I feel like I used to be really resistant to any yarn blend that included the tiniest amount of synthetic fiber, but I'm coming around. 

There isn't anything complicated about this pattern. It was a really wonderful social knitting project. I do recommend having a side-project on hand to offset the boredom of knitting a mile of stockinette. Whining aside, it knits fast, and I do think the resulting garment is worth it. This sweater is really easy to wear. It dresses-up just as easily as it dresses down. Just as its name suggests, this is a nice light sweater. It's been great for unpredictable bursts of chilly spring weather.... we're having a lot of those. I already have plans in place to knit this again in a different yarn variety. 

It feels pretty amazing to be filling some of the notable gaps in my closet! Sewing pants is going to give me a lot more options when it comes to separates and me-made outfit building!