Anita Ponti Pants...in stretch cotton (an experiment)

After the success of my most recent pair of Anita Ponti Pants I feel super keen to make ALL the Anita pants I can. After the pants alteration class at Tessuti our teacher Megan pointed out this super stretchy cotton elastaine to me and suggested that they could make a good pair of Anita's. Because I always do what the teacher tells me this fabric came home with me...

The fabric is just 140cm wide and it was a VERY tight squeeze to say the very least.  This is the closest I've come to not having my pattern pieces fit onto the fabric and I certainly had to jiggle things about quite a bit. One of the legs was sitting well into the selvage, but I thinking that's not going to stop the world spinning.  Ah well, the joys of being at the bigger end of the size scale is you need more fabric to make things fit...I blame my bum on this occasion.

I had NO trouble sewing up these pants. The fabric was a dream to sew - so stable and it pressed really nicely. Looking at the finished product though I have to say that the fabric doesn't suit the pattern...I feel the Anita's definitely needs the "softness" of a Ponti to fall nicely and sit smoothly on my body. You can see here how lumpy and bumpy things are from mid-thigh downwards probably due to the fabric being so stiff. The pants do fit well on my thighs and butt though so (mini) winning.

The only silly thing I did was make the elastic waistband WAY too big...so if I were to keep these pants I'd have to unpick the waistband top stitching and make the elastic a bit smaller (I sewed the elastic in by making a channel again, not attaching it directly via overlocker to the waistband as suggested). The elastic waistband is my main stumbling point on these pants (or on anything really...even undies). I DETEST tight things on my tummy and I'm paranoid about making my Anita's too tight....so instead I make them too big. Smart, huh? I've come home from work early before because my undies/pants have been too tight so tight elastic is NO joke.

Speaking of elastic, this is what I have used for my last two Anita pants. Prior to this I was using the ribbed, non-roll elastic and oh boy, talk about uncomfortable - it feels like a steel belt clamped onto my waist.  This elastic (pictured below) is not as stiff as the ribbed elastic, but it still feels really stiff and uncomfortable to me - ribbed for my displeasure that's for sure! I'm wondering if there is another type of waistband elastic on offer that I could be using - your advice would be VERY VERY much appreciated!

So all in all I'm not sure if this is a win...or a fail. I don't think I'll keep the pants, so some chunky waisted lady is going to be VERY happy when she goes shopping at Vinnies next week. I would LOVE to find this fabric again and make a Mabel skirt out of it...that I think would be the perfect fabric/pattern match.

Anita Ponti Pants OF JOY!

Normally when I make something that is a wadder I ditch it almost ASAP - either to a charity if it's wearable, or in the bin if it's beyond all help. I am the opposite of a hoarder! For some reason I hung on to my Anita Pants of Broken Hearts as I felt they didn't need all that much help to make them wearable...I just didn't know how to fix the pattern.

It's about 6 months down the track, but today I finally I attended a class at Tessuti in Surry Hills that was all about altering a pants pattern. I actually thought this pattern might be TOO easy for the class but it turns out they were the perfect project as we got the pattern altered and the new toile all but complete within 4 hours!

When I tried on my dodgy pants our teacher Meghan actaully said they weren't too bad at all - they just needed a few tweaks to make them great for me.  Just to jog your memory here's the aforementioned "evil pants of pain, heartbreak and broken needles"...

Confession: I am really bad at spatial stuff and maths, which makes it near on impossible for me to figure out how to make changes to a pattern; and how "things on papper" and "numbers floating around in the air" would translate to the sewn garment. I tried to concentrate on what Meghan was doing, but I got a bit lost.  I'm not sure I could replicate these changes again, but I have a "general idea" of what went on.  In summary this is what I "think we did":

• Added 5cm to the back rise
• Lowered the front rise but about 2cm
• Lengthen the hem by 5cm
• Added 7mm to each leg seam allowance (which we later shaved off below the thigh as the pants were too roomy)
• Added more material to the crouch area so they didn't sit so low
• Made the waist elastic looser (though I think I still need to work on this as I think it's a fraction too tight -- I have "issues" with tight stuff on my guts, so perhaps a regular Joe would think they are fine?)
• Changed the way of sewing on the elastic - made a channel and threaded the elastic through the channel, which I think I like better than over locking the elastic to the pants (at least this way if the elastic is too loose/tight it can easily be fixed...over locking it to the pants is too much "elastic commitment" for me)

The fabric is pretty crazy, a ponti knit from fabric.com that I bought back when I first thought I'd be making Anita's by the truck load. It is much thinner than my purple Anita pants which may account for some differences to the feel of the fit.

Overall I am SO happy with how these pants turned out. So happy that I gave the teacher a big hug for helping me out and I almost burst into tears I was so RELIEVED that something finally fits me. After well over a year of sewing I don't have many wearable garments/"go to patterns" that have worked for my body...so this pattern alteration means the world to me. I know that it takes time blah blah blah but that dosen't stop me losing my sewjo in a major way when things go peared shaped.

So YAY for Anita Ponti Pants and yay for classes! Dave says my tiger roar below is null-and-void as these pants are a zebra print...so perhaps this is the sign of a zebra being eaten by a white tiger?

I'm so excited to try these pants again. After the class today I bought some black ponti which is washed already and on the clothesline as I type.  Meghan also found a remnant in the sales bin of a cotton/elastaine that she thinks could work well with this pattern as the fabric is very stretchy.  I think they could make good work pants if they work.  Watch this space...

The Anita Ponti Pants...of broken hearts (and needles)

These are the pants that broke not only my heart and my sewjo, but TWO overlocker needles and one sewing machine needle.  Let's just say this was NOT a fun sewing weekend for yours truly!

I've heard Tessuit's Anita Ponti Pants being described as "secret tracksuit pants" by various sewing bloggers (you know who you are)! Naturally I wanted in on this. A nice, elastic-waisted slimline pant that are as comfy as tracksuit bottoms. That I can wear out to work. Or dinner. Or on the couch. YES YES YES!

These pants were only ever going to be a practice pair (stunt pants/toile/muslin - call it what you will) so I was prepared for them not to fit (they mostly don't fit though they look fine in the photos). What I was NOT prepared for was a battle with both my sewing machine AND my overlocker.

Things started off badly (with some crazy sort of bobbin tension issue that I have NFI how to fix) and reached epic tantrum stage (from me and the overlocker) when I tried to attach the elastic to the waistband using the overlocker. One needle simply broke in half and then another bent to nearly 90 degrees! When I tried to install a third needle that darn overlocker WOULD not stitch. I took me about TWO hours and 2,000 f-bombs (and some other choice words) to figure out the needle (that has no obvious front or back) was in backwards. It's sewing now, but the tension is bonkers (again, I have NFI how to fix this).

When it came to hemming the pants and stitching down the waistband using my twin needle my regular machine will all of a sudden only stitch one line of stitching...no matter how many times I re-threaded the machine, glared at it, turn it off/on, spoke to it nicely and swore at it. Nadda.  So it's zigzag stitch for these babies, which to be honest I'm fine with as it's easier than twin-needling (and you can do it from the wrong side so yay to that).

Apart from ALL the heartbreak and dramas some of the sewing on these went quite well (mainly the straight stitching, top stitching and seam finishing)...though I'm still confused at how to sew the crotch seams together (put one leg inside the other and...WHAT)?

Like I said these pants looks OK in the photos but they don't really fit. The back rise is WAY too low for me (think the worst kind of plumbers crack too low) and I made the elastic waistband too tight. The crotch is too low and the legs are a tad firm.  These are one uncomfortable pair of pants.  There's a fine line between too tight and too loose that I'm yet to master.

So yes, I am going to make these pants again (as I have four lots of ponti stashed away for them).

Future changes: 

• I will have a G+T beside me to calm the nerves before I embark on pair #2.
• On this pair I sewed all the seams at 5/8" as recommenced and the legs are...firm. Next time I will sew the inside leg seams at 1/2" (that's SMALLER than 5/8", right)?  This ponti isn't particularly stretchy so I guess I adjust the seams based on the fabric...or something like that.
• The crotch isn't sitting quite where it should...too low in a bad "I'm wearing an adult diaper" kind of way. Perhaps I can fix this by sewing the crotch seam a bit smaller (or actually wearing aforementioned adult diaper)...or something?
• I'm going to heighten the rise at the CB and taper it off towards the side seams. I'm also going to lower the front rise at the CF as they are bit too high on my waist. Of course I have NFI how to do this so it's all just a pipe dream.
• I might lengthen them hem and make my next pair an inch longer too, though I do like this length I might get cold ankles in winter...brrr.
• I need to figure out what length I need to cut the elastic at to make these comfortable rather than torturous.
• I'm changing my overlocker! Yes, really!  I've realised that this old machine is really only good for seam finishing. It's lacking the fourth spool/second needle that you really need to construct secure knit garments. My yellow + mustard Mandy Boat Tee is already falling apart at the seams and if I am going to continue to sew knits (which I want too) then Mr Singer, sadly, isn't going to cut it.

In the meantime I've totally lost ALL my sewjo after this traumatic experience...I'll be back...eventually!