I know I have been away for a long time.  Life really got in the way!  Actually work got in the way…so ready to retire!

Follow-up to the previous post on the Eureka Pants.  In a nutshell, still not happy.  I attended the June class I mentioned in the previous post and had another fitting.  I had lost about 10 lbs since the 2014 fitting, so there was a bit of change.  I made a ‘wearable muslin’, or at least I hoped it would be wearable.  It was not.  I used a stretch woven with very little recovery.  Consequently my pants grew as I wore them.  I put them on fresh washed, drove 40 minutes to my ASG Fashion meeting and when I got out of the car they looked like they were two sizes too big – excess fabric everywhere.  So the cause here was bad fabric.  Solution:  thrown in the trash.

I then cut a new pair out of a stretch woven brushed twill.  It had much less stretch than the previous fabric and was a bit heavier.  I took this pair to a sewing retreat, hoping I would finish them and have a wearable pair of pants.  I did make changes.  The original pattern has a back zipper.  There is a supplement to the pattern called Sporty Details, which has instruction and pattern pieces for a fly front zipper, outside pockets, etc.  The idea is make them more like jeans so the pattern has instructions on modifications to your trouser version to give these more of a jeans fit.

I traced the pattern that was fitted in June 2015 and adjusted for the sporty details.  This pair had too much fabric in the front below the zipper.  The front thighs also seemed to pull when walking.  This pattern is still not right for me and what I think is comfortable.  I don’t really know what changes to make at this time to turn this pattern into what I like.   Solution – thrown in the trash.

I had made the StyleArc Barb pants and was happy with those.  I used a relatively lightweight ponte knit.  I compared the Barb pattern with the Eureka pattern and they are very different.  If I get the urge to play with pants again, I will go back to the Barb pattern and use a stretch woven.  I don’t mind the elastic waist and if I get a good pair of pants, there are a number of changes I could make that don’t affect fit (adding pockets, narrowing the legs and adding a vent, etc).

Next post will talk about what I moved on to after these pants.