In Living Color - Love Notions Bridget Trousers

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Oh my - when I signed up for this pattern test I did not realize it was due the same day as the start of my high school class reunion for which I knew I would make an outfit.  I was so stressed out and sleep deprived and that translates into mistakes.

On any pants pattern, I always have to raise my back rise 1" and when I am rushing and not paying attention, I will make the disastrous mistake of making the change on the outside (thigh area) rather than the inside crotch curve.  How about I did this on the first 3 pairs and couldn't figure out why my back leg kept being longer than the front leg (the tell tell sign that I have made this mistake) because I was so exhausted.  It finally hit me when I was stitching up the 3rd pair 😄.

Love Notions Bridget Trousers

I love color, but when I was sewing these up I thought it was a bit much even for me.  I was thinking it was perfect as a skirt (Cashmerette Ellis Skirt)  and thought it would have been perfect as a dress, but not pants.  

I  didn't know if I would wear them outside of the house.  That quickly changed when I put them on to take pictures.  The colors just made me happy and I knew then, they were my favorite pair - my 4th pair I sewed this week stress free.

How I Did It

  • Fabric

    • This stretch denim is from my stash and I bought it from JoAnn's Fabric at least 5 years ago.  It was left over fabric from a skirt I made.

  • Pattern Adjustments

    • Again this was a pattern test and I went through 4 iterations before I finally got it right (remember I was sleep deprived).
    • I shortened the dart 1/2" and am debating shortening it 1" instead
    • I raised the back rise 1"
    • I used the 30" inseam which translates to shortening the length 2"
    • I added more stabilization to the pocket to minimize the gapping (thanks to my disproportionate hips)
      • Added 1" wide interfacing to pocket opening slant for both the main and lining fabric
      • The pattern piece for the front pocket is supposed to be cut from interfacing only, but I cut it from both the lining fabric and interfacing.  Then I applied the interfacing to the lining fabric
      • I then sewed the interfaced lining piece to the pocket on the main fabric and then sew the pocket as per the instructions
      • After the pants were completed I went down 1" from the top and 1" up from the bottom of the pocket and stitched a 1" horizontal line starting from the edge of the pocket.
    • I was being lazy so to fix the normal adjustment that I have to make for any pair of pants I make, I cut a 1 1/4" wide by 6" long piece of elastic and stretched it evenly 7" at the middle of the back to fix the gap at the back.  To get the elastic in the lazy way, I opened up the waistband at the top about 1" and inserted it.  I used 2 pairs zigzag stitches about 1/4" apart on each end of the elastic to hold it in place.  I will adjust the pattern accordingly, so I won't need to add elastic.

  • Some Construction Pictures











































  • Some Finished Pictures
















Conclusion

I really love this pattern - the instructions are phenomenal.  The instructions for zipper and the welt pockets makes them easy to insert.  These pants are sooooooooooooo comfortable.

Since I have already gone through making 4 different iterations of this pattern, it may be a minute before I make another pair.

I would suggest if you make these pants to stabilize the pocket are really good to minimize pocket gapping (what I did is listed above).

What's Next

I hope I will switch back to completing some UFO's before starting something new

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