Vintage Trousers by Rebecca Page

 

These are the Vintage Trousers from Rebecca Page patterns. 

I do like this wide legged style. I have made several similar pairs before from different patterns.

These are really a wearable muslin because I did not pre-make these to try the pattern out. And they do not quite fit me. The trousers are the same suiting fabric of unknown fibre mix (but probably contain wool since they itch slightly), as I used for the wrap trousers.

 

Going on previous Rebecca Page patterns I added 3cm to the length. I am 170cm tall.

Sadly, the dart on the back right hand side is just dodgy. I restitched 3 times ad cannot seem to make it lie right.

In the end it seemed to be getting worse not better so I live with that.

I top stitched the side seams to keep them flat because this is very springy fabric and the  previous trousers showed me seams do not lay down flat well. I found that out with my last pair of trousers made from this. 

I like the top stitching and may have to incorporate that into all new trousers I make.



I reckon the zip looks crooked too. I measured it and its slightly off so the picture is right. 
 




According to my partner, the rear is a bit "baggy-arsed old lady wearing a nappy",  He is soooo complimentary about my sewing! Its true though. They do not look right at the back.

Despite this, I hope when we are finally back to normal that these will be good as work trousers. I reckon the baggy arse won't matter then because I will be wearing tops and jackets that are relatively long - unlike this top made from the Mood free Ginko pattern. I need to make another of these Ginko tops in fact because I love this top during the hot weather. You can read about the Ginko here:
https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-ginko-shirt-mood-fabrics-free.html

I actually quite like these, though prefer all of my previous patterns for wide legged trousers including my wide legged work trousers and my sailor style trousers which are both patterns from Burda and the free Jamesia pattern from Mood which I have made several times in both stretch knit and non-stretch woven fabric. To be fair I think the other patterns are all more stylish and fit me better without my having to play around with anything- and they do not give me a baggy looking arse.

I followed the construction directions for these exactly and found them quite confusing because they differ from my usual trouser construction method. Normally I sew each leg then join at the crutch seam. The directions do this differently and sew front and back rise at crutch separately then join down the legs. I found the new ( for me) method makes it far harder to line up the crutch front and back seams - well they don't line up here, they are miles off. Though I will be the only one to see this. I also think these will have more chance of splitting doing this method. I prefer a continuous crutch seam. Still its good to try out new  ways to sew things up. I will be returning to my usual trouser construction method after these though. The pattern just seems to make costructing trousers more difficult than I usually find it.

My personal hatred for facings not fitting properly was not realised this time because it actually fits the trousers waist properly without me having to recut or add a bit on or otherwise find a way to bodge it. It seems that with most patterns the facing does not quite work. Burda patterns are usually fine, but the big four have problems it seems with making facings that fit their trousers / skirts etc. Anyway wthese trousers worked really well and everything fitted together right.

I should have finished these much quicker than I did, but I had a problem with not having the right sized zip and having to wait ages it seems, for one from Ebay. Never mind. Lockdown has much to answer for! Anyway I finished them in the end.


What will I change next time or if I make these? The back zip. I will move it to the side. I hate back zips. Thats just my personal preference though. Also I think I will use a normal zip because I find invisible zips keep breaking on me. I need to use up the current zips I have first though. I did everything as pattern directions this time, but I reckon next time will consruct in a different order. I like to do the crutch seem as one seam not in two parts. Again though just my own preference.

I might well have to have a go at making the version with zip pockets as well because I think they are really cool and could work really nicely. I am not good at welt pockets though so need lots of extra fabric to attempt that. The zip pocket version needs a similar technique to the welt pockets and last time I did welt pockets I made each front of my egg coat several times. I did not have enough of this fabric to risk it going wrong so I stuck with the basic pocket-less version this time while I decide if this is a good pattern for me. Yes, kind of a cop out, but I do like this fabric and wanted to make sure I make something useful and functional from it.

Mind you going on my fit issues with this pattern, I might just add zip pockets to the Burda or the Jamesia patterns, but using the directions for doing that supplied with this pattern, because the directions are pretty compehensive and full of pictures, which is very helpful especially when you have not done something before.

So I am not really sure about these trousers.

I am tempted to take them to bits to reconstruct entirely with a side zip and using my usual method which will mean all my seams will line up as they should. On the other hand I stitched in the ditch at the waist between waist facing and trouser top as well as top stitched the facing to the seam allowance. And they are completely overlocked inside as well as normal straight stitched seams.

Thats lots to unpick without damaging my fabric. And they are wearable after all. Just not as good as my previous wide legged trousers. I suspect I will not bother with this pattern again (other than the directions for zip pockets), because I have others that fit me better, but thats not to say this is not a good basic trouser pattern, because it is. I am coming to the conclusion I am too tall and the wrong shape for Rebecca Page patterns. They just do not seem to fit my body as well as some other patterns.

Ah well onward to the next item................

Bracken