Hi everyone! How are you? I’m doing well– very excited that it seems like our Fall weather is back after a strange late September heatwave. I love October because it means another field trip to the pumpkin farm with the pre-school class (by the time my youngest child gets to kindergarten I will have gone on the same field trip to the same pumpkin farm 7 times!), trying to figure out Halloween costumes, apple cider donuts, and homemade chili.
I decided in August that I wanted to make some cropped, wide-leg, transitional pants. I feel like once it gets to September I am sort of mentally done with shorts but a lot of times it’s still warm enough to wear them. I have been wearing my Burnside Bibs a lot and that is what motivated me to think about making some non-bibbed wide-leg pants. I knew they would be just as cool and comfortable as shorts, and they’d be great for the transition from Summer to Fall (and then again from Winter into Spring.)
Since I wore my Tencel Emerson shorts a bunch I decided to make a new pair of Emerson pants. My first pair of Emerson pants was my tester version and they really didn’t fit me very well. I applied the fit changes I made to my shorts to the pant pattern and cut into this lovely, lightweight linen. (More about my fit changes here, but the brief summary is going up a size, lengthening by 2.5″, adding 3/8″ to the front and back crotch length, and 5/8″ full seat adjustment.)
These pants fit me a lot better than my first pair and they are so comfortable! There are still some weird lines on the back of the leg which I really have no idea how to eliminate. Do I need more length in the back crotch? But, as my lovely reader Becky pointed out, I am my own worst critic and hopefully, no one else is critiquing my backside. (Or if they are they have been keeping it to themselves, thankfully.) At least this time the lines are not because the pants are too small for me so I feel much better about wearing these.
I really like the rise on the Emerson pants and the swishy, wide legs are just what I wanted for my late Summer, early Fall pants. I am wearing them here with my linen Willow tank. I think this is my first all linen outfit and now I want to buy all the linen (in addition to all of the Tencel.) I have one more length of linen in a caper green color in my stash that is waiting for its turn to become the Megan Nielsen Matilda dress. It may be seasonally inappropriate, but I want to get to it in the next few months. I think it will be so pretty in green!
What are you sewing lately?
~Teri
Fa Sew La 
I think linen is addictive. I started buying linen this summer, and I can’t get enough of it. I live in the South, so who knew it would take me so long? I think these are great transitional pants. I have been trying new things in my wardrobe, and it’s nice to find something that fills a niche. I cannot help you with the back creases, but I do think sewists look so much more closely at the fit of the clothes they make than the ones they buy. I think they look fine, but hopefully someone else can add something to the conversation. I think a linen dress would be dynamite!
LikeLike
Yes, linen is totally addictive! This weight is cool and breezy and I’ve got a heavier weight linen in my stash that seems perfect for Fall. Now I just need to figure out what to make from it! You are right that sewists are more critical about our handmades than ready to wear. These are comfortable and fill a wardrobe hole so I will put those back lines out of my mind and enjoy wearing this pretty fabric! Thanks, Becky!
LikeLike
Teri, I might be able to help with the drag lines you mentioned. I’ve been reading everything I can find about fitting because everything I make needs some kind of adjustment. From what I’ve learned, diagonal wrinkles mean something is pulling at the area where the wrinkles point. On your pants, the wrinkles are pointing to your inner thigh area at one end and to the lower hip/butt area at the other end. I also think the back crotch seam needs to be longer. Does the crotch feel comfortable as it is? Maybe you need a combination of longer back crotch seam and more leg room at the inseam where it meets the crotch and a couple inches down from the crotch. If you could rip out the seam of the right leg just a few inches down from the crotch and then pin it back together, taking in only 1/4″ seam allowance on the back and the normal seam allowance in the front. Then check the wrinkles and see if there is any improvement in appearance. I am far from an expert, but this is something you could try. I wish you the best of luck in figuring it out. I know how frustrating it can be.
LikeLike
Thanks, Jeanette! I think you are completely right about needing more room in the back crotch and upper inseam. I made another pair of wide leg pants after I made these and the back leg is a lot straighter from the back crotch down to the hem. The Emerson pattern comes in somewhat in the upper inseam. I adjusted that part to be less of a curve before I cut these pants but I think I should have been more aggressive. Thanks for your input and help! I’m not sure I have much room to experiment with these because I cut off the seam allowances when I serged the edges. But if I make these again I’ll try doing what you suggested!
LikeLike
Great outfit! It looks very comfortable but such a classy look! I am going to have to try this combo too š
LikeLike
Thanks, Julie! I have been wondering about trying a cropped, non-elastic hem on the Luna pants. I bet that would be really cute and I know that pattern fits me well. I will have to add that to my mental sewing list!
LikeLike
I have been thinking about doing that with the Luna pants pattern too. I need to find the right fabric. I think they would be perfect for spring. Something drapey. I have some of that beautiful April Rhodes challis like rayon and I just can’t decide what to make with it. It would be good for so many things but I think cropped Luna’s would be great š
LikeLike
Your Emersons are luxurious yet practical, and they look wonderfully comfortable!
I’m glad you’re enjoying your linen Burnsides. I’m wondering if you feel the need to iron them?
LikeLike
Thanks, Lodi! I do iron my Burnside Bibs. I don’t so much mind the rumpled look on the outside but the pocket facings and the straps come out of the wash all wrinkled and messy. If I make another pair I think I would finish the pockets with bias tape instead of a facing. That would solve at least one of the problems!
LikeLike
Ah, back pants wrinkles are the bane of my existence! That said, yours aren’t too bad st all. And I love the outfit so much!
LikeLike
Thanks, Masha! The wrinkles are the bane of my existence, too! My Flint shorts didnāt have a single back wrinkle so I should probably just make variations of those over and over again.
LikeLike