Red Pant Friday

I declare today Red Pant Friday! A great day to wear red pants. Why? Because it is Friday, the last day of work for 9 days - vacation yeah! Food, family and friends coming up on Thanksgiving, and the first frost of the fall i.e. I am cold, time to break out my wool pants.

My other suitcase sewing project was a pair of red pants. The pattern was Burda 9-2011-107, a fitted , slim leg pant with no side seams. Instead there is rather interesting wedge shaped piece over the hip area. The wedge seams incorporate the darts usually seen in fitted pants. There are in-seam pockets in the front wedge seam and a pocket stay that helps hold the pockets in place and flatten the tummy.

The pattern recommends a stretch fabric. I used a prewashed, medium weight, wool gabardine from Vogue Fabrics. I did add some extra fabric in the waist and upper hips because it was non stretch and the largest pattern size was a 42. I usually use a size 44 for waist and high hip. There is an invisible zipper in the back seam that extends all the way up to the top of the waistband. I made the pants to duplicate this look by Australian brand Lover.

I have the fabric and pattern (self drafted) for the blouse, but sourcing the lace has been an adventure. It is a very light weight net lace. The scallops are larger than normal and the transparency creates interest where two layers overlaps. After an exhaustive search, I found similar white lace on a British bridal site for big bucks. And an acceptable poly lace at JoAnn’s. When I attempted to dye the poly lace red using iDye Poly Red, I ended up with some very pretty wine colored lace.

That really puzzled me. Oh well, I have some red silk netting in my fabric stash so someday if I am feeling especially creative, I may embroider my own lace using my sewing machine and instructions found on the internet. Since the blouse is going to be a long time coming, I decided to incorporate the pants into my winter wardrobe. With styling inspiration from netaporter.


McQueen




Versace

 Though I didn't go with the black shoes cause I wanted to wear the red ones I bought for the Lover look. The jacket is one I made several years ago with a Burda style pattern, to replicate an Akris jacket I loved.