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I’m really proud of this make because it gave me a chance to demonstrate perseverance to myself in a way that I don’t always experience with sewing! About a year and a half ago when in Vancouver for work, I brought a few new-to-me patterns to be #sewnawayfromhome in my hotel room. One of them was the Style Arc Tully Pant. I had heard and seen a lot of Style Arc in the blogosphere over the years but this was to be the very first pattern of theirs that I made for myself. The design was simple, but not one that had ever been a part of my wardrobe. The woven cropped pants hit at the ankle, have a slim-looking but loose and comfortable leg, and use elastic and ties at the front to complete the paperbag waist. Elastic waist pants, though oh-so comfortable, are sometimes not super flattering on me because I have a lot of butt and a little waist, so the line between looking comfortably chic and looking like I took a dump in my pants is pretty fine. But I powered through because I really liked the look of the pattern and I wanted to get out of my Skinny Jeans And Sweats Are The Only Pants I Own rut.
Unfortunately, devastatingly, shockingly, I chose such an ill-suited fabric for these pants that they were doomed from the very start. The rust-colored corduroy seemed like a great fabric to make a fall/winter pant in, but a thick, textured, solidly bottom-weight textile is simply not the proper material to make in a design that’s gathered at the waist. I’ll save you the painful details of each ensuing incarnation I tried to put them through once I realized how disastrous and lumpy the original make was, just know that at some point I became a dead ringer for a street urchin in the ensemble cast of Oliver.
No big deal, sewists make god-awful things all the time- most of the time we can fix it, but if we can’t, into the fabric recycling they go! That’s exactly where mine went once I got back home, and I didn’t think much about that project again until an image popped up on my Pinterest a month or so ago that was a dead ringer for the Tully pants, made in a breezy striped linen. I remembered immediately that I had a similar pattern to the ones on the model, so I rifled through my Evernote app where I keep all my patterns. Had it been the Style Arc pattern that was a mess, or had it been the fabric I used for said pattern? Only one way to find out! (Cue:persevering through another attempt).
I knew immediately that I had the perfect fabric for this project; a while back I had received a cut of this variegated striped linen in white and red from The Fabric Store and had been waiting for the perfect pattern to pair it with- this was it! I knew that if the forgiving fabric didn’t look good in this pattern, then nothing would. As soon as I cut out my pattern pieces and started to construct the pants I remembered how obnoxiously crappy the instructions were when I made my first attempt at this pattern a year and a half ago- they give even Burda a run for their money! Numbered diagrams that don’t match up to the written instructions they are supposed to accommodate, steps that are completely missing, construction techniques listed with no explanation, the whole shebang! Fortunately these pants were simple enough that I could figure out how to put them together on my own, and I did. The tie assembly was fine but the elastic-insertion technique was not, and I opted to sew the casing closed before threading my elastic through as opposed to placing the flat elastic on the waistband line and sewing the casing on top of it. My method worked out great, and I completed the pants in just an afternoon.
I love the deep, slightly hidden pockets on these pants and I also love using the striped fabric both vertically and horizontally as per the pattern layout- it adds a bit of visual interest that you don’t even realize is there if you aren’t looking for it. The pants fit my waist very comfortably but look fitted and light enough in the linen that I don’t have baggy butt! Because of the decorative ruffle at the top of the waistband, these pants come up pretty high and look best when paired with either my Closet Case Files Nettie Bodysuit or a tank/crop top. I tried it with a regular t shirt for these photos from our trip to Huntington Gardens and the look is pretty blah in my opinion- the visual interest of the pants gets lost a bit when there is a cotton t shirt tucked into the waistband. All in all I think this is a decent pattern, but I personally don’t think it’s worth $17- I’m gonna need way better instructions and attention to detail in a pattern with that price, especially when there are so many other amazing indie patterns on the market creating terrific, clear and concise instructions at that same price point or lower.
Okay, now let’s talk about what I DO love about this outfit: my memade baby blue slides!
One thing I really love about shoe making is that if you mess a pair up or outwear them or just decide you aren’t feeling the look anymore, it’s pretty easy to save some of the shoe components for a future pair, namely the heel and shank/shank board. Years ago when I took my first sandal making class, we made shoes using these super cute low-heeled wedge soles and lasts provided by the class instructor. Although I learned quite a few new things about shoe construction (I had been making my own shoes for over a year at this point), the class was not my favorite. It was a satellite course taught over one day in the rented space of a furniture store in LA, and since we didn’t have the aid of machines, buckles, zippers or other notions for our shoes, we should have been limited in our design choices in order to create a functional shoe. Unfortunately we were not guided in the design of the shoe at all, so most of us, not knowing exactly what we were doing, made shoes that weren’t actually wearable. Mine, for instance, used leather straps for the upper around the toe of the shoe, but there wasn’t enough material created with the straps to keep the shoe on my foot when I walked around, so they just kept falling off my feet.
Once I got home and realized that I would never be able to wear the shoes as designed, I pulled the wedge sole, upper straps and shank boards apart and stored them in my craft room, just waiting for the day that I got inspired to remake them. Well, that day finally came and I am CRAZY about the end result! With the low wedge heel, these shoes are super comfortable and they kind of go with everything. I didn’t have a last to perfectly match the shape of the wedge sole, but I had a pair that was close enough and laid flush with the front part of the shoe, which is all I really needed it for anyways to last the upper. I used the leftover blue nubuck leather from when I made my sneakers from Sneaker Kit and it worked beautifully- the leather is surprisingly soft and pliable for how thick it is, and I made a cute little peep toe and gave the uppers one of my favorite bow details. I lined the inside of the shoes with foam to make them extra cushiony and comfy and as a result I have worn these shoes several times a week since completing them- like I said, they go with everything! The wedge is so low that I don’t feel like I’m wearing heels, but they give me enough of a height boost that I do get a little swish in my step when I’m walking around!
Thanks to Claire for these fun shots at the Huntington! Also pictured is my leather fanny pack that I recently finished that I actually don’t like much at all (construction left so much to be desired and then add to that my decision to use thick leather instead of fabric!) so I probably wont blog about it, but just wanted to point that out.
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