Nautical Palazzo Pants

Look! I made a thing!!!!!! That's basically the crux of this post, like most of my posts I guess now I come to think of it! Before these beauts were completed I only had two pairs that fit and are ok to be seen in the outside world. With the amount of five-month-old-baby's puke flying round these days, it was rapidly becoming clear that another pair of trousers would be mighty useful. 

Pattern:

Back in December I put the call out to you lovely readers to help me figure out what sailor style trouser pattern would be the way to go, considering my limited free time for sewing. I am very grateful for all the tuppence worths that were subsequently put in. The lovely Handmade Jane threw another pattern option in to the mix by offering to lend me her copy of Simplicity 2654 (pictured above) from which she had previously made an awesome pair of sailor trousers herself.  

I decided to take Jane up on her kind offer because I loved the notched waistline plus she explained how she found the front pleats made them easily adjustable (no time for toiles these days). In the end the pattern size that Jane had already cut out was fine with no modifications required. The loose style and forgiving fabric helped make that so. Styling wise, the simple omission of the side tab detail from the original design and the equally simple application of buttons, and BOOM!: vintage-style sailors slacks are go. 

The only change I made to the pattern was to lengthen the legs by 5cms to be safe, even though I'm fairly average height. I'm pleased that I did because they are just about long enough with a modest amount of hem turn-up. 

Fabric:

If this grey something-or-other-type-of-fabric looks familiar, it's because I have already used the same stuff for these cropped trousers and my mild-maternity Tova tunic dress. So like the porridge debacle in the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, this fabric was a bit too thin for the cropped trousers, and a bit too thick for the Tova tunic dress, but just right for this project! Hurrah! It has enough body for the notched waistline shaping and is warm enough to be wearable in Spring, but it also has sufficient drape for the wide legs to flow nicely. I have just enough scrap-age of this fabric left over to create a false hem or false turn-ups if I need to lengthen them in the future (I found with my black and denim wide leg trousers that after heaps of laundering, they slowly shrunk in length to a state of unwearability). 

Extras and thoughts:

The navy buttons are purely decorative, and it may not surprise you to learn that they have anchors carved into them. They were a gift that had been dwelling in my stash, along with this fabric that I don't think I paid for either in the first place, so effectively this was a free garment. I'm not sure if the final trousers are a bit too dressy for my day-to-day life, and I've only worn them to a house-party (daytime baby-friendly house party to be precise) so far. They did glean some compliments and there were vague hints from others to suggest that they would like me to make them a pair, that I managed to expertly side-step! 

So if you've managed to read this far into this post, I shall now reward you with a pic that includes one of the cutest babies in town!