Pockets and pants hemming

In article , Courtney M Eckhardt of Massachvsetts Institvte of Technology uttered

You should be OK with them - although it's difficult to tell without knowing how much ease you call "substantial". I've done the same modification, and it's worked fine, just watch out for any extra bulkiness within the waistband casing - you need to trim the seam on the pocket facing. Your best bet is to buy a lump of something cheap but the right weight and give it a go - you can always wear them up for gardening/ whatever. (My favourite trackies are a toile, but they are sooooo comfy)

It looks like the finished circumference of the waistband is 51.25", and my waist is 37", for a difference of about 14".

Excellent point! Thank you. Sometimes I think I get a little too worried about whether something will work "right". :)

Courtney

Unless your *hip* measurement is 51", that sound like too much for the waist. The elasticized waist only has to be able to slide over the hip.

I make all my daughter's scrubs, and she likes pockets in her pants. I altered a no-pocket pull-on pants pattern to incorporate slanted pockets, and cut the excess fabric out of the waist casing area to omit bulk. After inserting the elastic, I also slide about 2/3+/- of the fullness to the back, and stitch-in-the-ditch at the side seams to keep it there (and to keep the elastic from rolling).

HTH,

My hip measurement is 47". It does seem like a lot, but empirical evidence suggests these pants look reasonable when I'm wearing them. :)

That's a good idea- I'm working out a test at the moment, and I'll look at applying that technique.

Thanks, Courtney

Abandon pull-on pants and make broadfalls like mine.

(Urk. The *tone* is right, but Foghorn wears numbered feathers.)

I think of rayon as an underwear fiber -- and I *do* wish they still made rayon stockings; so much more comfortable than nylons. And I'll take them in sizes, and wider at the hip than at the ankle, if you please.

But don't mind me; I'm such an old fogy that I think overlocked seams look K-mart, rather than "professional".

If your rayon fabric grows to the max when ironed, then goes back when washed, one solution would be to iron the fabric before making the pants, and iron them again after every wash. But I HATE ironing pants.

Perhaps it's the dryer that shrinks them, rather than the washer. Try line-drying them instead. If you hang them by the hems, that should help to stretch them back into shape. If no line is available, use clamp-type clothespins to attach them to a wire hanger. I have a shower-curtain rod across my minute laundry room to hang things for airing.

Or make deep hems so you can turn up cuffs at noon.

The best solution is to use silk instead. It's surprisingly cheap nowadays, if you aren't too fussy about the pattern and color. Dharma <

> alwayshas all kinds of silk in white and black, and fabric.com < > frequently buyssilk that some factory got stuck with and sold very cheap.There hasn't, alas, been a repeat of the time they got acarload of thirty-yard scraps and sold them in cheapassortments of pre-cut lengths. ----------------------------------------- For the pockets, I'm no help; all my elastic-waist pants are underwear.

It's possible to make a patch pocket that looks like a slant-opening or blue-jeans pocket. (Egad, does anyone else remember what blue jeans -- the dirty-work pants -- were like?) In a waist-band garment, extending the patch up into the band at one side helps to support the weight, but an elastic band wouldn't help with this, and the pocket would make the casing unpleasantly thick at that point.

Back in the sixties, I made a patch pocket for a pair of coveralls in the shape of a blue-jeans pocket, the top of the pocket forming a belt loop for a sash I wore to support the pockets and hang my canteen on. At the time, one could still buy work denim. (Bull denim is rough to the touch, and doesn't wear as well as work denim did. And it's stiffer.)

I still have those coveralls. When I wore them for a halloween party about twenty years ago, I had to wear just underwear instead of a complete other outfit underneath. I haven't dared to try them on lately!

Joy Beeson