Vogue 2532: Basic Pants

In the never ending attempt to make enough wardrobe pieces so that I can always have a “made by me” outfit to wear to work, I added these simple black linen cropped pants to the line up. The linen is also from work so I’m adding to the challenge to use as many fabrics from work as possible so I can be a walking, talking promotion for our fashion fabrics.

I made this pattern before and wasn’t pleased at all with the results. There were a number of reasons why it didn’t work before. For one I made a size too big and used stretchy fabric, the combination made them saggy and unflattering. The pockets added to the weird fit in the front and I eliminated them this time.

 

I almost used McCall’s 5239 for these because I like the fit on those and the pockets go in nicely without sagging and gapping at the side seams. But they have a narrower leg than I wanted for these so I went with the Vogue pattern. I could’ve combined the two patterns but I was being lazy.

Overall I am happy with the results. The fit is better than the shorts I made previously, I went down a size. I did have to taper off to a 3/8” seam allowance at the sides just to be sure they wouldn’t be too small. Next time I will add a bit to the sides unless I’m using something with some stretch. I’m hoping these will soften with wear and laundering. I don’t intend to iron and starch them to keep them crisp, I want soft linen pants.

The best part about these two pieces is that I made them both in ONE day. I even took my daughters to doctor’s appointments today and still had time to make an outfit. Add in my usual internet distractions and that I got caught up on last week’s “So You Think You Can Dance?” and I’d say this outfit was low on the time commitment scale. WINNING!