Sewing 1940’s Hepburn Trousers - A Collab with @PocketFullofPoseys

It is necessarily a big problem; I could just make a belt loop pattern, it's essentially a long rectangle, and I can go back and cut another front waistband and another back waistband to act as an inner lining or lining, but it would have been nice to know from the beginning. that these were necessary when I was placing the pattern pieces on the fabric to cut them out. As it is, I have a ton of fabric because it happened to be on sale, but if I was out of fabric, that might have caused me to run out, and you know, the way things are, it means I'm done Last night I was in I worked with a lot of time, but I was missing several pieces, so in reality very little progress was made.

What did I do? Well, I finished piecing the pockets together, including the French seam, which involved some sort of purl shenanigans that I'll go over later, and then basted the entire pocket down to the front pieces. The fronts and back were sewn together, and sewn together along the crotch seams, so now I have a floating back panel and a floating front panel. And now that I'm back home, I'm going to cut out the pleats, belt loops, and waistbands, and we should finally be close to finishing these pants! So the pattern for the belt loops is very simple, just a long rectangle, but if you've spent much time on my channel you'll know that I don't really like to waste fabric, so I probably won't do it.

You might be surprised to know that I used all my leftover scraps to cut several small waist strips instead of one long one. These were sewn into little tubes and turned inside out using a handy safety pin and I honestly think the fact that they were short little strips made this process a little quicker; I just stuck the safety pin into the tubes and they flipped over pretty easily. Pleat B was also small enough to cut from a piece of fabric, but the waistbands forced me to go back to my original measurement. The pleats are sewn to the top edges of the back panel, where they will act as a button placket.

Once sewn, all the raw edges are ironed, and then the placket is folded in half and sewn, trapping all those raw edges on the inside. I said, trapping all those raw edges inside! I decided to hand baste them first to make sure all the raw edges were properly tucked in. Next, I tackled the belt loops and waistbands. I made sure to pin all my darts and seams in the right direction before

sewing

them, so the back edge would be nice and clean. Then I was struck by the sudden, overwhelming fear that the pants wouldn't fit because I hadn't tried them on yet, so before I finished the waistbands, I threw in some pins and tried them on.

Wow! And luckily, they seem to be the right size. Then, I went ahead and finished my waistband. Belt loops are basted along the top edge of the waistband and then permanently secured by

sewing

the inside waistband along all three edges. The inner waistband would be turned inside out and hand finished later, so I'll deal with the legs now. These are sewn together along the crotch and outside seam, and I then finished the edges following the method suggested in the original instructions, which is to saw them flat. I have thoughts on this whole process, but I'll save them for Behind the Seams.

With the legs all sewn together, the only thing left was to hem the cuffs at the bottom of the leg and then finish all the sewing by hand, including sewing the cuffs, attaching the buttons, and sewing the inner waistband. So, as usual, while Sewing Shannon finishes the last bits of hand stitching, I'll reflect a little on the pattern and the process in general. I really enjoyed working   with this pattern. My adjustments went pretty smoothly, although I'm really glad I spent some time finishing my mockup and then living it out for a bit before moving on to the actual fabric, because it definitely helped me a lot in figuring out the construction process. ,   and it actually informed certain modifications I made.

Working with this pattern specifically was a little frustrating and definitely more work than other vintage reproduction patterns I've made, even though they are from the same supplier. I found that, in addition to a couple of pattern pieces missing, the written instructions didn't always match the pictures, and that really left me using my common sense and past sewing experience to put them together, and if I was more of a Sewist newbie, I think I really could have felt confused and frustrated. I didn't delve too deeply into how the pants went together, or how the instructions were confusing here in this video, but if you're thinking about making a pair, or are just morbidly curious, be sure to check out next week's Behind the Seams to this project, because I will cover it in greater detail for those of you who want more information, some tips and tricks, or maybe just an insight into my personal methods and problem-solving processes. .

And this is, of course, the part of the video where I do all the YouTube stuff, like reminding you that I have a Ko-fi page if you want to leave a tip and support my work, and ask. Like the video if you learned something or found it useful. Not only is leaving a comment below a great way to build a little community here, but the questions left below can be answered in my Behind the Seams video, AND help boost the video so other people like you they can find it. Enjoy sewing, vintage tomboys and/or forked garments!

As for the final product, I'm pretty happy with the result, even if the process to get there was a little more complicated than I'd like. I think they are a great starting point for future pants, and now that I have this pattern fine-tuned, I think it will be a great base for future alterations, not on a fit level, but on an aesthetic level. . This pair was made simple and direct on purpose, following the original inspiration of Katharine Hepburn and her tan pants, but on my next pair, I would love to add some pleats to the front, play with the pocket design and add something unique and Original touches to make a truly personalized pair of pants for climbing all the trees!

If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check out Rebecca's channel to see not one, but TWO videos featuring her version of the Hepburn pants, and stay tuned for one more

collab

oration between the two of us involving some vintage sketches. Thanks for watching and I'll see you in my next video!