Sunday, March 6, 2011

Burda 7400 - Two Pairs of Pants!

It was great this morning to wake up to two new pairs of pants!

Well, almost. The second pair only needed the bottom bands, which I completed by 8:30am. After all my recent involved projects, I needed some nearly instant gratification!

Burda 7400 (view B) calls for knits or wovens (linen, jersey or crushed fabrics, and rib knit for the waistband). For my first pair, I used black ponte and for my second pair, a denim-colored linen washed/dried so many times I lost count; so I tried both types of fabrics.

On the pattern tissue, it states that the finished hip measurement for a 38/40 is 41-1/2". The finished hip measurement for a size 42/44 is 44-1/2". As my hips are 40", I fell between these sizes, so I decided to use the size 42/44 for the front and the 38/40 for the back. For the first time since sewing pants, I decided to use the crotch on the pattern. The Burda crotch is very shallow in front, which echoes my TNT crotch curve.

Materials:

  • Black ponte from Fabrix. Love this stuff, but my stock is getting low and they only carry it occasionally. Danger, Will Robinson!
  • Denim-colored linen from FabricMart. I bought so many yards of this fabric, I must have been contemplating a wedding dress. :) I want to use some of this for a spring jacket.
  • Stiff waistband elastic.
  • Fusible interfacing for the leg bands.

Alterations and Modifications

  • The first pair, the black ponte, was much too large through the hips, so I used a trick I've used before. These pants do not have a side seam - they have a forward seam. So, where there would be a side seam, I added a vertical dart. It started from the waist and ended around the knee. At the waist, I sewed at 1" (removing 4" total) and tapered it to nothing around the knee. I was very pleased with the resulting fit and the vertical dart just adds to the funkiness of the pants.
  • I shortened the pants 2-1/2". For the first pair, I just chopped the length off the bottom of the pant before attaching the band. The pant leg is very straight and the fullness is pleated into the band, so this approach didn't affect the design. For the second pair, I made the alteration in the pattern.
  • For the linen pant, the fit was perfect as it was cut out. I needed that 4" at the hip for movement.
  • I omitted the rib knit waistband. While this is a cute look, I didn't want to bother tracking down coordinating rib knit and I wear my tops over my pants anyway. I did my usual elastic waistband.

Pair #1. Black ponte. When I took this picture yesterday afternoon, it was sunny and gorgeous!

Pair #2. Distressed linen. When I took this picture at 9am this morning, it was rainy and foggy! I took the picture on my landing so the camera could stay covered, but I got quite wet.

This last week was very intense, work-wise. But I have been keeping up with Me-Made-March. You can see my personal journey on my Me-Made-March 2011 Flickr set and the group effort in the Me-Made-March Flick Group.

17 comments:

  1. Great pants, Shams...I may need to add this to my collection! I am having trouble picturing a horizontal dart from waist to knee...did you mean vertical? Or maybe I'm just visually challenged...?

    Margy

    ReplyDelete
  2. D'OH! Thanks Margy! Yes, I meant vertical. I guess I've always been vertically challenged, in one way or another. :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. I didn't even give this pattern a second look -- probably because of the knit waistband. My bad! What a clever alteration for the ponte version -- and what a neat look in the denim linen! What I wouldn't give for your eye!

    ReplyDelete
  4. The pants look great, especially knowing how you sacrificed yourself to the rain to get the photo!

    I also wanted to thank you for mentioning the Full Busted video a while back. I ordered it and have learned so much! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  5. How super to have not only one, but two new pair of pants! And they look terrific on you. You wear these edgy type clothes so well. Nice sewing, as always.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Another winner!

    It looks like the model has her hand in a pocket? If they have pockets, I'm definitely scooping one of these patterns up - love them on you!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yup, pockets are included in the forward seams. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. 2 new pairs of pants is always a good thing! You had me laughing at the enough fabric for a wedding gown comment because I've done that too!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Well, thank you for that compliment!! That's very nice of you! I suppose I could pass for that girl........ 's mother, maybe (hehe!)
    What did you think looked unusual about that strip on my Burda top? I did put some close-up shots of the front view on the review of that pattern I posted on my blog, last month sometime. The bottom part of the strip is curved up to the centre front, and the necklines are cut to curve down from the shoulder to the same point. None of them are straight strips.
    Also Sharon, I have passed on to you an Awesome blog award because I think your blog is awesome, naturally! If you would like to check it out I have posted the button and the link on my blog here
    http://handmadebycarolyn.blogspot.com/2011/03/what-day-is-it-today.html

    ReplyDelete
  10. Shams, you are right about the so-called "ideal" figure. But as you also mentioned, after sewing for oneself for a long time you get to know about the automatic adjustments required for your figure type, and at that point a muslin becomes unnecessary in most ordinary garments. And also, I kind of treat the fashion fabric as a muslin, and am constantly trying on and tweaking while I am trying out a new pattern, to check for necessary adjustments. So again, making a muslin an unnecessary extra step (imo) for me.
    Once, I read a really good idea where somebody made their muslin out of lining fabric. All the fitting was done on this, and markings transferred to the paper pattern, and once it was finished the lining was all finished and ready to be popped into the dress once it was done!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love your idea to use one size for the front and a smaller size for the back. I never thought I would need to worry about such a round stomach, but my usual set of alterations is not fitting so well these days (sigh).

    ReplyDelete
  12. Feel free to run screaming from that blogger award too, if you want! There are no rules, lol!
    I'm not trying to imply that making a muslin is wrong or silly, just stating what my way is. I'm not one to firmly insist that there are any hard and fast rules when it comes to sewing... I'm winging it a lot of the time myself!
    If you have a great fitting way worked out for yourself, then that is fabulous! I always admire your outfits hugely, and think your sewing skills are superb, so you are definitely doing it all right!!
    Re Cate Blanchett's gown, sigh, utterly divine imo. I raved about it the day after the Oscars at length in my blog...
    And I wouldn't dream of deleting your lovely comments. They make my day!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Cool pants! You wear the style well!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hopefully you get this question...

    I'm just cutting out these pants. Following your example, I cut one size for the front and one for the back so I wouldn't be drowning in excess ease. I also took out my automatic 1" adjustment through the hip depth. That said, they still seem a bit long. The pattern envelope says the finished length is 43" less the 1" equals 43" and my waist to the floor is 40 1/2". Is that extra needed to form the pleat or how much would you suggest removing. Thanks.

    Myrna (at) myrnagiesbrecht (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Myrna! You don't need extra length for the pleat. I would pin the cuff on and see if you need to shorten. It sounds like you might.

    ReplyDelete
  16. By the way, Myrna, you can send me email at the address in my profile.

    ReplyDelete