Birthday pants

Stefs birthday was coming up and since he rarely buys himself new clothes and I like to see him wear something else sometimes, I made him pants. On his actual birthday, because two years ago he made me promise to always give the present on his birthday, not after. Not an unreasonable request considering I waited more than a year to make his birthday shirt. I wanted to learn how to draft a men's pants sloper, so I drafted these pants on his measurements.

They're based on my McHammer pants. I made those for myself but gave them to Stef because he was wearing them more often than I was. At the first fitting session the waistband turned out to be at least two inches too big. I had drafted the sloper for his waist and then lowered the waistband without measuring the circumference at the place the actual waistband would hit. When I do this on my own patterns it always works, but men ofcourse don't have hips like we do so it's possible that they actually have smaller hips than waists.

I really tried to give it the best finish I could. The waistband is interfaced, all the seams are flat felled or topstitched and I added an extra closure next to the button to make it all as durable as possible. Stef's theory is that clothes should accomodate him instead of the other way around, so he'll never consider moving in a different way because a seam might rip or there might be a stain. Something I (we?) do quite often. I got to try the buttonholes on my new machine and I have to say they're very neat. I love love my new machine, it's steady rythem, the lack of noise overall, all the handy features I never had before. Oh, this is also the first fly front I made! It was surprisingly easy, but then again this fabric is easy to work with. It's a 50-50 cotton linen blend.



There's some improvements to be made: the back pockets are a bit too small, and the crotch is a bit too low. Which was intended but I think I'll heighten it next time anyway. Next time I'll also interface the fly front and both waistband pieces. And use a bit heavier fabric, also for durability. I think these might become the blueprint for shorts I'll be making for years to come! His next request (next to the unfinished Negroni) is "chill pants that are also stylish". Hmm, I'll have to ponder that one for a while...