Pants!

I love dresses, I often call myself a dress maker, as in, one who makes dresses.

But, I don't love tights, or more specifically, I don't love wearing tights. And with winter sneaking in, I have to admit I also love pants. In fact, from November to April it's most of what I wear. (Find me the warm tights that don't pinch my toes and I'll keep wearing dresses...)

Designing pants is not always my favorite, but after years in menswear, I have developed a love of some of the traditional touches... and the fabrics! I love the men's wear fabrics.

So every fall/winter I come back to my pants patterns and work out the ones that are good and worth making again. I make myself rough drafts, my rough drafts never have pockets. (Which drives me batty when I actually end up wearing them.) Rough drafts are exactly what they sound like, rough. I make them for fit and adjust my pattern. Getting it right is tricky. Using a fabric with Lycra does not make up for pattern-making sins. Making the perfect fitting pattern can be a slow going process. (But it's really so worth the effort.) I don't have many pants that I love. I have exactly 3 pairs of pants that I love. (the pair not shown came from Club Monaco... I don't make all of my clothes, I just want to.) My favorite winter pants (hanging on the hook in the photo above) are lined in flannel. Flannel. They are so warm and easy to wear. I need more flannel ASAP. I could have 7 pairs like this during the NY winters. The other pair, they are new, made from the narrow strip of leftover fabric sent back to our office from the factory after they made a suit. This lack of fabric demanded these pants be skinny and short. The fabric was so beautiful I knew I could find a way to make it something. I'm quite pleased with how they turned out!

Despite this week's beautiful mild weather, I have pants on the brain. Need/want always inspires me, 'I am cold, I want warm pants, with pockets. That are slimming, look good with my shoes and are cute.' This is my assignment. I'll keep you posted on what I come up with... :)