Altering pants pattern to fit

I could go on about how to make pants fit you, but Shelley J over at New Vintage Lady has it pretty much figured out.

http://newvintagelady.blogspot.com/2011/05/stout-alteration-tricks-pants-rise-to.html

As for my adventures in pants, 

Textile Studio 1001 basic pants don't fit me out of the box. I have a bit more junk in my trunk than they assume, so I needed to add more fabric down there. So, added a waistband in the back,  giving me almost three inches more depth to the back seam. 

I altered the pattern, and then went at the pants. Luckily, the elastic casing width in the pattern gave me something to work with. 

The back seam moved up.

Waist seam trimmed for band addition (lurking at right)

Sewn and ironed

Matched to front edge and ironed

Edge serged, top and bottom of elastic casing sewn, and finished with a rickrack loop at the back.

And next time, these pants are ready to go out of the envelope...except for the part where I'm moving the side seams forward and changing the pocket and.....

Hats and polka dots

Working on a set of prints at Spoonflower, partly for a pal, partly to replace the polka dot dress I love.

As part of the Pattern Review Pattern Stash contest, I've been doinking around with Vogue 7464, hat B. AKA, Satan's Little Hat. The instructions stink. 

http://fortieswardrobe.blogspot.com/2011/08/illustrated-guide-for-making-vintage.html

That's where you want to go if you want to make this one. She figured it out, but I have to say the results are still marvelously underwhelming. I used crap felt and a scrap of loved cotton to work it out for myself.

And then I had to try it in cotton with a contrast just for grins.  It's four smallish pieces and about an hour or two once you've got proper instruction (see link above). And even though I never finished the buckram for the cap, it was a fun afternoon.

Noooo, I'm not wearing it. Or the other one. But I learned something, I have an idea for the hat I'm cooking up, and more experiments are coming.

Because this summer, I've got Ring tickets.

And raven fabric.

Pics later.

Pants to sew.