I finally did it!! I made fitted pants. The Persephone pants from Anna Allen to be exact.

I’ve been wanting to make a pair of fitted pants for a while. But I was terrified. Making fitted pants feels like a whole new ballgame and as someone who still feels like a beginner in a lot of ways, I’ve kept putting it off.

But I found some amazing denim fabric at an antique shop and I knew that the Persephone pants would be perfect for it.

*I haven’t used that denim to make this pair of persephones. I didn’t want to risk ruining it since I only have a small amount so I decided to do a practice run and I used one panel of a pair of thrifted denim curtains.*

Not a true toile but at least this way I could do a trial run and still have a wearable pair of pants…well, that was the hope. Especially after I messed up when cutting the fabric pieces out.

It started off good. I cut out the first leg piece according to plan but when I got to the second piece, I forgot to flip the pattern piece over. So I ended up with 2 leg pieces in the same orientation which meant that if I went ahead and used them, one side would have to be the dark denim and one would have to be light denim.

I didn’t want to waste the fabric and I thought that they had the potential to be pretty cool so I went for it!

I cut a straight size 10 and I didn’t make any modifications. Based on the size chart and using my hip measurement, I should have cut a size 8 but I was afraid of them being too tight. I wanted a comfortable pair of jeans that I could sit in (and breathe in) all day.

Before I cut into my “unicorn” fabric that I mentioned above, I’ll try making a pair of size 8s and, if necessary, size 6s, to get the perfect fit.

I got a new sewing machine for Mother’s Day…a Singer 6800C. I knew that I was going to get it because my husband told me that if I didn’t find something to ask for then he was going to get himself a new pair of headphones for Mother’s Day 🙄. I’m actually really happy that he gave me the ultimatum because I freaking love it!

It came a few days before Mother’s Day but I couldn’t use it until the actual day so I decided to make the Persephone pants as my first project. My new sewing machine came with a lot of cool extras that I knew would make sewing them a lot easier.

So on Sunday evening, I got to work. My first thought was that there were a lot of steps. Most of the steps are concentrated on sewing the button fly. I had reviewed the instructions a few days before and I was hella intimidated by them but I decided to just take it step by step and to not think ahead too much!

I had a goal to get halfway through, which would have taken me up to step 26. I actually ended up getting to step 44 but it meant that I didn’t get to bed until 2am!

Not my best decision. But sewing is like that for me sometimes.

I gotta say, the steps, although a lot, are very straightforward and well written! I didn’t have any issues and only had to pick back a tiny portion…due to my own perfectionism.

Unfortunately, staying up until 2am meant that I was exhausted on Monday evening so I went to bed early.

I’m not sure if that just set me up for a bad week but I was very low energy for the rest of the week and anything beyond my normal responsibilities seemed like too much. So I let myself rest and I didn’t push any of my hobbies.

I just decided to wait to finish them when I had the energy and the time was right. The right time was Monday evening!

At that point all I had left was to attach, edgestitch and topstitch the waistband, attach the belt loops and hem. I ran into a slight problem while edgestitching…basically, the layers of material were too thick to get my pressure foot over.

After getting advice on Instagram stories about the problem, I ended up hammering the thick area to flatten it and that worked perfectly! The rest was pretty smooth sailing!

And I love the end result. I actually think that they look so much cooler and unique in two-tone! A happy accident?

What do you think? Are you a fan of the two-tone? If you sew clothes, have you made the Persephone pants yet?

If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy reading about my other sewing adventures here.

Until next time,