My mom has sewed since she was a teenager. Growing up she sewed for me and my sister. She has an amazing ability to look at a thrift store sheet and turn it into something wonderful. But yesterday when she was showed me a pair of thrift store capri pants that she wasn't that happy with I was scratching my head in wonder why wouldn't she taper them in slightly and hem them up if that's what was bugging her.
As we discussed the pair of pants I spend the last 3 months working on and recently finished, it dawned on me why she wouldn't try to fix them. Although she has decades of sewing experience, she stopped sewing for herself when things started to require a bit more work to get them to fit. Knowing how much time I put into my pants she asked if it would of been easier/cheaper to just go buy a pair.
Short answer, maybe, long answer, not really. I didn't start this project looking for a quick and easy fix. I knew when I started I didn't know what I was doing and set out to learn; because I felt my options for ready to wear pants were limited. I'm not willing to spend $70+ for a pair of jeans, and I'm not ready to go with all elastic waist pants. As my daughter pointed out, "Those are Grandma Pants." I've never been to worried about keeping up with the latest fashions, but I still have ideals of what I like and what I think look good in and I just wasn't finding it in the stores.
Thanks to all my hard work and the help and guidance of some wonderful women, on the internet, who were very patience and took the time to point out my mistakes and how to fix them, I now have a pattern that I know fits and doesn't look half bad, and I can make design changes for different looks. Depending on what kind of fabric I use, I can make dress pants, casual summer capris, or work pants all from one pattern. I also gained the knowledge and confidence to tackle fitting a jean pattern for myself. When you weigh the skills I learned and the multiple pattern options against the cost of the fabric, my time, and the frustration of looking for ready to wear (more than once a shopping trip turned into a crying fit in the dressing room), I think I came out ahead.
As we discussed the pair of pants I spend the last 3 months working on and recently finished, it dawned on me why she wouldn't try to fix them. Although she has decades of sewing experience, she stopped sewing for herself when things started to require a bit more work to get them to fit. Knowing how much time I put into my pants she asked if it would of been easier/cheaper to just go buy a pair.
Short answer, maybe, long answer, not really. I didn't start this project looking for a quick and easy fix. I knew when I started I didn't know what I was doing and set out to learn; because I felt my options for ready to wear pants were limited. I'm not willing to spend $70+ for a pair of jeans, and I'm not ready to go with all elastic waist pants. As my daughter pointed out, "Those are Grandma Pants." I've never been to worried about keeping up with the latest fashions, but I still have ideals of what I like and what I think look good in and I just wasn't finding it in the stores.
Thanks to all my hard work and the help and guidance of some wonderful women, on the internet, who were very patience and took the time to point out my mistakes and how to fix them, I now have a pattern that I know fits and doesn't look half bad, and I can make design changes for different looks. Depending on what kind of fabric I use, I can make dress pants, casual summer capris, or work pants all from one pattern. I also gained the knowledge and confidence to tackle fitting a jean pattern for myself. When you weigh the skills I learned and the multiple pattern options against the cost of the fabric, my time, and the frustration of looking for ready to wear (more than once a shopping trip turned into a crying fit in the dressing room), I think I came out ahead.
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