Christine Jonson's Travel Trio One Pattern was on clearance at Nancy's Notions when I purchased a software title.
I decided to take the plunge because I like the idea of having elongating seams on all pant pattern pieces, and at clearance price, I could not pass it up. Even though I had a rotten experience with one CJ pattern, I decided to try one more time. After all, you should give every pattern company two chances ... at least ... right???
My CJ failure was the old 419, Ruffle Top and Swing Skirt ... the sizing was so far off for me that I tossed the items I'd made. The top was uncomfortably tight, and my fabric was washed, so shrinkage was no issue. Anyway, onto the travel pant.
When I measured the length of the crotch seam and compared it to my own body, I had my first "Uh-Oh" moment. This pattern has a wide waistband, which is not the problem. The issue was confirmed via tissue fitting ... these pants came up to my waistline, without the waistband. I really don't like high-waisted pants. So the first issue was cutting down the upper band seam on the pants - two inches of length, gone.
The second was pant length. There are made to a typical 30.5" inseam, which is a bit highwater on me, especially for winter. I want these to cover my foot and come to the base of my heel, so I added 2" at the knee.
I chose a heavy black RPL that has been long languishing in the stash. It is not an exciting color, but it will give me the opportunity to test out the pattern.
Whilst sewing, I ignored the directions for the most part. The pants were together and trialled before I realized that according to directions, the top of the waistband was only supposed to be serged, which meant my 5/8" seam shortened the waistband by 1/2", too much according to the pattern and directions.
Happy results with the too short waistband. The pants fit about where they should, just below the waist, but I'm going to make some additional adjustments for the next pair.
The legs are a little too wide, so I'll trim down a touch. But first, I need to shorten the back pant length at the inner thigh. I've got lots of excess below my rear, but not quite enough rear room. So what I remove in the back leg, I'll add into the back crotch.
They are comfortable and easy to move around it. I could see these as yoga pants, easy.
As drafted, they are made for a long crotch length individual with some hip curve and regular length legs. The only thing that threw me was the crotch length. I'm used to adding length at the crotch or leaving as is, NOT subtracting.
I guess for CJ's draft I have a short pelvic length?
I wore them to work with a tunic, and did not feel hideously exposed. This RPL is of lower quality as I wore them two days in a row and they were somewhat stretched out by the end of the second day. I'd recommend staying with higher quality fabrics with great recovery, because this pattern will look pajama-ish when stretched out.
These aren't going to hide any "issues" the media has convinced you you have, but they are fairly good at flattening out lower belly bulge. I'm just not this skinny at the abdomenal area. Probably just doesn't add any extra thickness at the waist region.
I stitched down the front, side, and back seams (not the inner side seams) and used a domestic machine to do so ... hence the ripples in the seams. For my next pair I will mostly use my industrial straight stitch. It will do a much better job with this fabric.
If you stretch the leg forward just right, you can mimic incredibly long legs ... at least until you stand up straight.
Side back view, here the excess in the back is more obvious. And it looks like my calf shape is causing some pulling. Hmm ...
Yes, yes, I know all the experts say there is no such thing as a wearable muslin. But most of the time I think you need to wear it for a while to figure out how and where everything is going to move on your own body. So take that, here is my wearable muslin.
Now to make the changes and try again. And make a couple shorties up for working out.
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