More Arthur Pants

So it turns out that I adore the Arthur Pants by Sew Liberated so much, that I needed to sew two more pairs.

Here’s the first pair that I made back in August, in navy silk noil.

Ahhh, outside in the sun vs inside in the shadows for my photos – the difference between August and October!!

Over on the blog post I wrote at the time, you can read all the usual ins and outs about the sewing experience. If you want more information about sewing the Arthur Pants, that’s the post where I really go into it and you should check it out.

Which is shorthand for saying that this is going to be a short blog post, because these two new pairs of Arthur Pants are pretty much identical to my first pair!!

I do have plenty of photos though, cuz I find all the Arthur Pants billowing volume just so lovely to photograph!

Soft stretch tencel

These two new pairs of Arthur Pants are both made out of soft stretch tencel twill from Meter Meter. These are the mustard and old rose colour. This fabric is 98% tencel and 2% elastane and I just find it great for pants. You know, if the context doesn’t allow me to just wear linen!

I’ve already sewn shorts and culottes out of it, so it’s becoming a regular “bottom weight” staple in my me-made wardrobe. It does crease a bit, but, hey, so do all the fabrics I love!

I made no changes from my previous pair of Arthur Pants except that, on the mustard/camel coloured pair, I lengthened them by 2cm, for ease of wearing with heeled boots.

Oh and I temporarily lost my belt loop pieces so I didn’t add belt loops to these new pairs.

I then found those pieces down behind the back of my sewing table and they have since been sitting next to my machine waiting for me to take a break to quickly add in the belt loops.

That was two projects ago now and they are still sitting there.

I will add the belt loops eventually.

I promise.

Look, I just said it on the internet, so now I have no choice.

Like my previous pair, these are view A of the Arthur Pants, featuring a zip fly front with elastic at the back. Mine are a size 14, although the measurement chart put me at a size 16. The elastic gives plenty of flexibility for sizing down if you’re not sure just how “out there” you are prepared to go with this “out there” silhouette.

I’m still interested in the idea of sewing view B, which skips the fly front and makes it elastic all the way around, one day. But I just love the front pleats so much that I can’t bear the idea of not having them there in this form!!

Batch sewing

Do you batch sew?

The word “batch” makes me think of cookies, which makes me think of dozens.

And, well, obviously, I do not make dozens of garments at a time.

But, I thought that the chance to make a pattern which I knew fitted and was just a matter of “sewing through the motions” would be a good chance to sew these two pairs of Arthur Pants together.

Further, the colours are close enough that I was able to use the same thread on the insides, and only change thread colours when I needed to top stitch (which, granted, is actually quite often for this pattern!).

And while I do not doubt that batch sewing is efficient, on this occasion, I must admit that I really found it boring!!!!

I think it is also because I sewed these not that long after I sewed my first pair of Arthur Pants. Which can be great when you know that, as long as you don’t fè@k it up, it will all work out fine.

But I realise that perhaps I get a little sewing equivalent of an adrenaline rush from the “will it fit or won’t it” rush of a new sewing project.

I’ve also realised that perhaps this plays into my visceral hatred of muslins – it just may be that I sew for the excitement of the unknown!!

That on-the-edge anticipation of “ahhhh, is it going to work” perhaps motivates me to get to the machine and to keep sewing just a little bit more on any given day.

The Arthur Pants are chock full of lovely flat-felled seams and French seams, so when I say that it was kind of boring, I’m not exaggerating. It is A LOT of sewing long straight lines when you are doing them two at a time.

But, all worth it in the end, because it feels soooo good to have three pairs of these Arthur Pants, in all my key colours, in my handmade wardrobe.

I think I’m going to officially declare this my silhouette and be done with it! Perhaps I never need another pair of pants?

Yeah sure!

Oh and, finally, a little P.S! If you like to get your blog hits through Bloglovin’, feel free to follow me over there: you can find me here. And you can find me on Instagram here.

5 thoughts on “More Arthur Pants

  1. These are both terrific. That center back leg seam?! 😍 I really like how the sweater vs. the tucked-in shirt changes this silhouette to reflect different ‘characters’, too. Versatile!

  2. Question: Did you really need all the fabric that was called for in the pattern? It seems like so much and I saw another reviewer saying she didn’t need nearly as much. Thanks so much for your review!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.