It's a gorram miracle.
I can't find the original photo of these fully lined Eddie Bauer wool pants, which were given some winter wear last year by adding a new zipper over the old opening and moving the button over an inch.
There's been a lot of cake since then.
This year's model: cake happens. It happened all in the front, the back fits just fine.
Is this flattering? No.
Is it real? Yes.
Do I have a problem I can solve with sewing? YESSSSSSS
OH YEAH
2/10: Took off tabs and waistband.
Took out pleats, gained inches (about three on each pants front side)
This is gonna work. Using the original zipper.
I was prepared to take that off and add the fabric harvested from the waistband.
I am leaving the waistband and tabs for later. Someone may want them.
This is the moral of this story. If you have a well made article of clothing, over it's lifespan it may need to be many sizes. Alterations in costuming teach you to leave your options open, keep the seam allowances, and save the scraps for the future you can't possibly know or plan for. The trick is keeping those spare parts somewhere you can find them again. And yes, I have a spare parts drawer. I've also found pieces sewn into other coats or vests, tucked in the linings. Because you never know that the temperature is going to drop and You Have No Warm Pants.
New waistband. Nothing fancy, I'M IN A HURRY. Gonna be 20s tomorrow. I'm old. I got super cold at work today, in my chilly little hallway.
Wearing them right now (2/11)
Brrrrrrrrr
This is great, as always. Love your blog.
ReplyDeleteAnother Stephanie????? I'm a Stephanie!!!!! (it's a Stephanie party.....)
DeleteThank you. Your coat has turned out well, and in time for winter! We get extra points for seasonal appropriate sewing.
Hahahaha. Cake happens.
ReplyDeleteI got very very good at the Buttermilk Chocolate Ina Garten cake. About twenty pounds of good.
DeleteI have a pair of Liz Claiborne wool pants I wore back in the 90s that I've hung onto longer than they fit. I have thought about doing exactly what you do with your's. I hadn't really planned out what to do with the waistband so it's really timely to see what you did and how it all worked out. I don't have any excuses not to do it, now. So thanks for that, but I think I need some cake before I start! LOL
ReplyDeleteHey, thank you for reading. It's entirely possible there's enough in those pleats to make it go. I got six inches out of it, and they weren't really deep pleats. If the waistband is the outside fabric on both sides, you could steal some of that and make a additional piece for the center back (and fill out the interior of the waistband with something else). Leave the waistband on at the center fronts and open it from the back towards the front? Nobody looks at the waistband to see if it's pieced. Nobody.
DeleteGreat job and stay warm.
ReplyDeleteThanks Grace. I hope your winter is going well. We are having our brief winter. All the snow fell on Friday, a little more fell on Saturday, and I assume that all of it will be gone tomorrow. At least I hope so. 12" of slush is awful, and now these pants need actual cleaning. I think I can damp clean them and avoid the dry cleaners again. We'll be back to 40F and rainy until April. I can live with that.
DeleteWow! I am so envious. My cake is happening to unpleated fronts, I have been wondering about maternity panels but I doubt that'd be so practical without adding a whole wardrobe of very long sweaters. But you're right, in my experience theater people are by far the best at fit and most inventive at alterations /upcycling. I should get myself in line to volunteer for my local theater as soon as they can reopen ��
ReplyDeleteThank you. Costuming is fun. Youth theatre is a great place to start, because it's so low stakes, and it's all thrift store, quick work, did I mention low stakes? You really learn how to make gold out of... not gold, and fast. There's this great photo on IG with three people frolicking, and the reverse photo shows the additional temporary panel added to the gent's pants to make them wider. Sailor front panel? There's the problem of finding enough matching fabric to make that panel (I did a pair of shorts this way, but then they stopped being pants). I haven't got a good solution for all the jeans I made and ate my way out of. Right now, I'm.....getting back into pleated pants. Just in case.
Delete