Hacking Pants With Simplicity 8701

I decided to try hacking pants with Simplicity 8701 as the pattern. This is considered a “design hacking pattern”. Honestly, you can “hack” or make any pattern your own by whatever alterations you chose to make. I actually liked the style of the pattern on the envelope cover. That is considered the base pattern.

Pattern Details

This pair is what I consider to be a wearable muslin. I used a quilting cotton that has a very wide width. I like the view that the model on the pattern envelope is wearing. It’s a rather simple style with a wide, straight leg.

Line drawing for hacking with Simplicity 8701

With no back yoke, just a simple waistband, I figure that these will be easy to fit. That was partially true. I think I should have chosen a slightly smaller size (just for the upper back piece). These are a bit big in the back and the last thing I want is my pants falling down!

My Alterations

To keep the back waist from gapping or falling I made a quick fix to this pair. I used 3/8″ elastic inside the back waistband. That means I did have to open up just that part of the finished pants. I kept pulling the elastic until I felt it was tight enough. There is a fly front on the pants so keep that in mind.

In order to prevent having to do this in the future, I will make the back waist smaller. There are darts in the back that I can make wider which will take up some excess. Also, making adjustments to the back pattern pieces or sizing down in that area will help. The pants are a good fit in the waist, so no need to over adjust anything there.

Hacking Pants With Simplicity 8701

The biggest issue I have with the pants I made is their lack of pockets. I LOVE having pockets in my clothing (even if I don’t use them). There are only two small front pockets that are included with the pattern.

Next time, I will add cargo-type pockets to the sides of the pants. Back pockets will be a plus as well.

The pockets Im thinking of are like the pockets in these Kerry Cargo pants here. A slightly narrower leg will be good as well.

Conclusion

Hacking pants with Simplicity 8701 is great to start with if you’ve never done it before. They have instructions for different hacking techniques/designs that you may be interested in. But in all honesty, you can change any pattern you like as long as you are willing to give it a try! I would rate this as easy (they really are easy to sew) and great for the enthusiastic beginner.

Love Notions Arlington Sweater

The Love Notions Arlington sweater is one of those things that came across my Instagram feed a few weeks back. If you aren’t aware, Love Notions pattern company does what they call “$5 Friday”. That means that whatever pattern is the feature for that week, you can purchase the PDF for $5. This is one of those that I wanted and bought.

As you can see from the drawing above, the Love Notions Arlington sweater is very versatile. I love having patterns that have many options available without me having to alter or “hack”. I do love a good hackable pattern too (here’s one of my favorites).

For this one, I made the cowl neck with the elbow length sleeves. The fabric I used is a textured stretch knit I was gifted from Minerva Fabrics. You can take a look at it here and read the corresponding post on their site as well. The fabric is warm and weighty (it’s considered a medium-weight knit). It sews easy and washes and dries very well.

The pattern is definitely beginner friendly. I didn’t have to make any adjustments to it for fit. And with the PDF, you can get it and print it up. Because the pattern has layers, you can just print the size you want. And best of all, you only need to assemble the pages you want to use. This helped me a lot because I didn’t want to put the entire pattern together to make this top.

Love Notions Arlington sweater side view

As cooler weather approaches here, I’m happy to have some Fall tops that I can wear to stay warm and comfortable without overheating. I can wear this under a jacket (or shacket) and it’s quite comfortable.

Seamwork Ani Pants

When I thinking of what I need most for my Fall/Winter wardrobe, pants (specifically dress pants) come to mind. So when I got the August issue of Seamwork Magazine (you can check out my referral link here) I decided to give the Seamwork Ani Pants a try.

The pants have pleats in the front, tapered legs, zipper fly, and welt pockets in the back. This is a bit different style for me, but I wanted to see how I would like the fit. Front-pleated pants are not something I usually go for, so this was also a style discovery experiment for me as well.

The process

As I usually do when making a new pattern (especially a pants pattern), I made a muslin to check the fit and sizing. These are PDF patterns, by the way. This one was actually very straightforward to put together and didn’t take long at all.

I do like this part of the process because I can decide if I really want to continue or let it go. Generally, I continue. And I can work out all (or at least most) of my fit issues during the process of making a mockup.

Tip:

When doing the muslin or mockup of your pattern, try to use a fabric similar to the weight to the fashion fabric you’re going to use. It’ll make getting a good fit a bit easier in the long run.

The Pants

For my Seamwork Ani pants, I used a fabric I had in my stash. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but it’s some kind of polyester blend suiting (I’m pretty sure). I had a piece of this fabric in one of my favorite colors for Fall – burgundy/wine.

The Results

I am happy I made them. Honestly, this is not my favorite style of pant for me (I prefer a flat-front). But, I’m generally happy with how these turned out. If I made them again, I would shorten the front crotch seam some more (I shortened it about 2″ already). But, wonky welts and all, they turned out pretty good.

As a side note, the fabric I used for this top is the same fabric I used for the pocket lining (save those large pieces). I think the whole look of these pants looks better on me with the longer top.

But if there’s ever something you want to know how it’s going to work on you, either shop for that item (you can just try it on and not buy) or go ahead and make it!

Since I need to work on my welt pocket making and fitting skills, I was happy to give this pattern a try. It’s quite easy to make. I would say the skill level would be for an advanced beginner to intermediate sewer.

That’s it for this review. The pattern is a good one if this style is to your liking.

Until next time…

Pants fitting books:

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