I did it!

After a year and a half of no sewing, I finally made something! A pair of pants to be more precise. A pair of plaid pants.

At the beginning of January, I posted about my intention to do the “Make Nine” sewing challenge. The idea is to choose nine projects that you want to complete over the year. It can be specific patterns, which is what I chose, or it can be types of items that you want to make.

I knew I wanted to make a pair of pants for my first pattern. I had picked up some plaid cotton fabric at Joann’s back in the fall, along with a Simplicity pattern (S9647). I chose to make view “C” of the pattern and I officially started on January 16. Based on the listed measurements, I decided to cut out a size 14. This didn’t seem right but I was trusting the process 😂. 

Things were going pretty good. I got the pockets and the zipper sewn up and I was really happy with them. Before adding the waistband, I tried them on and I’m glad that I did. They were too big. So I seam ripped the sides and took them down to about a size 10. One side went perfectly and the other side had to be redone a few times. Isn’t that always the case?!? 

When I got to the waistband, I had a lot of issues. I had recut a size 10 but I did need to add a little length to it. Since I was using a plaid fabric, and I’m a perfectionist, I needed everything to line up. Once I got it on, one side was a little higher than the other, so I ripped it back. I couldn’t get it exactly right and ended up taking a 3-week break from the project.

And I was okay with that. I want sewing to be something that I enjoy. I’m really trying to lean into “slow sewing” and doing what feels right.

The time felt right this past weekend. I knew it wouldn’t take too long to finish the waistband, add a closure and hem them.

There are a few things that I omitted from the pattern. I didn’t add back pockets. Mainly because I was working with plaid and I knew pattern matching would be brutal. I also don’t use them so I knew I wouldn’t miss them. I also omitted the belt loop for the same reasons.

I decided to use a hook and eye like closure instead of the standard button that it called for. This was mostly down to laziness and the fear of something else going wrong. I know that I can always add a button later if I want to.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with how they turned out. They’re extremely comfortable and I love that everything lines up on the front. I’m wasn’t so happy with the pattern matching on the back but I also wasn’t bothered enough to fix it!

I’ve joked that with these pants, it’s what’s on the outside that counts. I’m a long way from feeling confident enough in my pant making skills to worry about making the inside pretty, but I hope to get there someday.

Be sure to follow me on Instagram (@uncomplicatedspaces) to see other ways that I’ll be styling these pants!