6 years ago
Since the beginning of my sewing journey, I have preferred making dresses and skirts to fit the lower half of my body not only because I like wearing both, but also because fitting my waist and hips is easier when all I have to figure out are the side seams in most cases. I also avoid adding volume around my lower half, not because I’m ashamed of my hips, but because I prefer a more balanced silhouette and I’ve already got the volume naturally! Normally, I avoid trouser patterns with pleats or gathers at the waist, but then I saw the Tatjana trousers by Just Patterns (available in French and English) and they looked fabulous on lots of different body shapes, so I wanted to give this pattern a try.
I cannot overstate this fact: the Robert Kaufman Stretch Rayon Suiting Fabric is the perfect fabric for a pair of loose-fitting trousers. I have honestly never experienced such a good pattern and fabric match in all of the three years of sewing experience and it’s just so satisfying! This fabric is a beautiful navy blue with what feels like a bottom-weight drape and that hangs gorgeously and creates perfect lines with these trousers.
The polyester, rayon, and spandex composition of this fabric makes it resistant (but not impervious) to wrinkles, relatively easy to press, and soft to touch (on both the right and wrong side) with a subtle peach skin texture. I did not experience any difficulty pressing, but I did make sure to use a medium heat iron and a pressing cloth at all times to avoid the dreaded polyester shine. The only difficulty with this fabric was the way it stretched under my machine’s presser foot; the spandex and rayon content of the fabric seems to make it spread under the pressure of the presser foot, so I switched to a walking foot and sewing was easy-peasy from there.
Originally, I spent a lot of time painstakingly grading this pattern at the waist because my waist measurement was between the pattern sizes 34 and 36 (waist 62 cm / 24.5”), but in the end, this size “35” I created was too tight around my waist and I ended up making a straight size 36. I could have graded out to a size “37” to match my hip measurement (92 cm / 36”), but seeing as there was already a good amount of ease incorporated in this pattern around the hips, I decided not to and I think it fits fine that way.
I did make sure to make two toiles of this pattern out of some unbleached cotton before cutting into the fashion fabric, as I often experience fitting problems around the crotch area because I am longer on average from my waist to crotch, but that was surprisingly not an issue with this pattern.
I choose to use a matching blue lining for the pockets and used homemade bias binding at the waistband and the front fly. I finished the inner seams with the overlock-imitation stitch my regular sewing machine offers and hand-stitched the hem with some invisible catch stitches.
The welt pockets in the back were tricky because they are placed somewhat over the tip of the back darts which means the back legs already have a good amount of shaping when the welts are sewn in (I much prefer making flat welts!), but I think the slightly wobbly lines of my welts are pretty indistinguishable to anyone but me. I also decided not to insert the back buttons because I didn’t feel that they were necessary and I preferred a more streamlined back silhouette.
Wearing these trousers feels really good – the loose design makes them really comfortable and the long lines and the way this fabric hangs makes me feel tall and elegant! I wore these to work the other day and I loved how polished they looked while being completely comfortable to wear. The softness of the fabric feels really nice and is such a luxury against the skin.
All in all, this is one of the most satisfying makes I’ve completed in a very long time and I highly recommend this fabric for trousers patterns such as the Tatjana trousers! Also, @Sewing Tidbits, the independent creator behind Just Patterns, is not only a talented pattern maker, but also a gifted sewist! You can find her here on the Minerva website as well as on Instagram under the same name.
Thanks for reading,
Sarah
IG: sarah__naomi_
#justpatterns #tatjanatrousers #minervamakes #minervabrandambassador #minervamakers #indiepattern #sewingtrousers
I cannot overstate this fact: the Robert Kaufman Stretch Rayon Suiting Fabric is the perfect fabric for a pair of loose-fitting trousers. I have honestly never experienced such a good pattern and fabric match in all of the three years of sewing experience and it’s just so satisfying! This fabric is a beautiful navy blue with what feels like a bottom-weight drape and that hangs gorgeously and creates perfect lines with these trousers.
The polyester, rayon, and spandex composition of this fabric makes it resistant (but not impervious) to wrinkles, relatively easy to press, and soft to touch (on both the right and wrong side) with a subtle peach skin texture. I did not experience any difficulty pressing, but I did make sure to use a medium heat iron and a pressing cloth at all times to avoid the dreaded polyester shine. The only difficulty with this fabric was the way it stretched under my machine’s presser foot; the spandex and rayon content of the fabric seems to make it spread under the pressure of the presser foot, so I switched to a walking foot and sewing was easy-peasy from there.
Originally, I spent a lot of time painstakingly grading this pattern at the waist because my waist measurement was between the pattern sizes 34 and 36 (waist 62 cm / 24.5”), but in the end, this size “35” I created was too tight around my waist and I ended up making a straight size 36. I could have graded out to a size “37” to match my hip measurement (92 cm / 36”), but seeing as there was already a good amount of ease incorporated in this pattern around the hips, I decided not to and I think it fits fine that way.
I did make sure to make two toiles of this pattern out of some unbleached cotton before cutting into the fashion fabric, as I often experience fitting problems around the crotch area because I am longer on average from my waist to crotch, but that was surprisingly not an issue with this pattern.
I choose to use a matching blue lining for the pockets and used homemade bias binding at the waistband and the front fly. I finished the inner seams with the overlock-imitation stitch my regular sewing machine offers and hand-stitched the hem with some invisible catch stitches.
The welt pockets in the back were tricky because they are placed somewhat over the tip of the back darts which means the back legs already have a good amount of shaping when the welts are sewn in (I much prefer making flat welts!), but I think the slightly wobbly lines of my welts are pretty indistinguishable to anyone but me. I also decided not to insert the back buttons because I didn’t feel that they were necessary and I preferred a more streamlined back silhouette.
Wearing these trousers feels really good – the loose design makes them really comfortable and the long lines and the way this fabric hangs makes me feel tall and elegant! I wore these to work the other day and I loved how polished they looked while being completely comfortable to wear. The softness of the fabric feels really nice and is such a luxury against the skin.
All in all, this is one of the most satisfying makes I’ve completed in a very long time and I highly recommend this fabric for trousers patterns such as the Tatjana trousers! Also, @Sewing Tidbits, the independent creator behind Just Patterns, is not only a talented pattern maker, but also a gifted sewist! You can find her here on the Minerva website as well as on Instagram under the same name.
Thanks for reading,
Sarah
IG: sarah__naomi_
#justpatterns #tatjanatrousers #minervamakes #minervabrandambassador #minervamakers #indiepattern #sewingtrousers
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