My Magic Lander Pants

I can't tell you how thrilled I am to finally have these Lander pants/magic overalls be a reality! I had seen a few versions of this shape of overall or jumpsuit last Fall and I finally got around to making this idea happen. I had planned to have these finished by the end of January for the Sew Fancy Pants contest but I'm slow and I was taking my time, and drafting the bib and top stitching and so on. But they are done now, and aren't they freaking fantastic?!
 

I had made a pair of Lander Shorts last summer that I love. However I like my pants much more fitted than my shorts. I ended up taking them in 1/4" at the side seams, except through the hip and I drafted a curved waistband, which I will use for any future versions of this pattern. I also took 1/2 wedge out of the center back seam where it meets the waistband. This eliminated the swayback.






I used the tutorial from SewNorth on instagram to figure out how to attach my two bib pieces. The waist band has an extra layer of fabric to protect it from the buttons and the inside waist band has button holes. This worked out great and now I have a party trick where I can remove the top half of these overalls and have plain 'ol pants.



The only downside to this is that I think between the extra layer of fabric and the buttons they fit a little tighter when the bib is buttoned on.






I'm learning so much about my body from sewing pants. I always thought of myself as "short waisted". My waist is very close to my bust. In my mind I assumed that my waist to crotch length would also be short, but now I think I have a high waist. I have seen the Lander pants sit at some peoples true waist without alterations. Even with lowering the crotch after they were all put together I think these need another 1" to 1.5" to sit at my true waist. Next time I make this pattern I will add that length. Right now they are just a tiny bit uncomfortable where they are sitting. While that could be frustrating, this is by far the best fitting pair of pants that I have made so far and I am hoping they will stretch enough to make them comfy.



I'm super proud of the top stitching on these pants. When I got my new Bernina last Fall I really thought it would handle top stitching thread easily, but that was not the case. I now use my triple stitch and it works so well! I can't get enough of top stitching, so I am really happy to have an option that works without the headache of thread nests that come along with proper top stitching thread. I highly recommend trying the triple stitch if your machine has that setting.



Planning and drafting the bib portion really took some thinking. I started with a triangle shape but that angled straight up to my neck. I pinched enough out of the side to see what the angle should look like and went from there. It was all very intuitive. I did about 5 drafts and muslins before I cam up with this shape and I'm thrilled with the results. I can totally envision having a skirt with this bib attached as well.



Lander Pants 

Fabric: Robert Kauffman Ventana Twill in Brick Brown from Fancy Tiger Crafts (3 yards)

Adjustments:
I'm not totally sure now where these end up on the Lander pattern size wise. I need to retrace my pattern pieces with my new pants adjustments and see.
Cut 4 at front waist and 6 at back waist, tapering out to an 8 at the hips
Took in 1/4" off side seams except at hip
Took 1/2 wedge out of the center back seam where it meets the waistband.
Low butt and Round pubis adjustments
Lowered crotch slightly after putting them all together (next time I will add 1-1.5" to crotch length)
Drafted curved waistband

Measurements: 
34 Bust
26 Waist
38 Hip

I realized this past week that my last three sewing projects have been extremely labor intensive and tedious. I still need to share the other two of those. I think I need a palate cleanser, and now would probably be a good time to work on my plan of sewing more projects with knit fabrics.

Pattern Release: Off Color Tunic

I am so excited to finally be able to share the Off Color Tunic, a brand new pattern from Sew and Tell Patterns  that I was a pattern tester for last Fall.
 

This pattern is written for woven fabrics, but the designer gave me the go ahead to test it out in knits. I used a cotton knit with minimal stretch that I dyed with turmeric (my first try at that) and some leftover Leah Duncan knit from my Plantain Tee.





The pattern has a ton of ease. I made the XS and it measures 49" at the bust. That is the smallest size available. For my next version I plan to make a longer dress length in woven fabrics but I think I will take it up at the shoulder seam. You can see above that the armhole is quite wide and if you look straight in you can see my bra. This version is for lounging at home, so that is ok but on a dress I will need to alter that. I also have plans to add pockets to the angled front seams on my dress version.



I love the style lines of this pattern. It is a clever design where the back pattern piece wraps around to the front. I like the kimono sleeves with cuffs and the option to do so many variations with color blocking.



I love the graphics and thought that have been put into the virtual packaging by this designer. I feel like her branding is very strong and it makes the pattern instructions more fun than I am used to. This particular pattern has three versions, allowing you to color block the front only like I did, or the front and back, or to do a solid tunic.



Fair warning, this pattern takes up a ton of paper, 56 pages to be exact. I think it could have saved a lot of space by having the solid back and front options cut on the fold. Regrettably I re-printed the final draft to see what changes were made. Lengthen and shorten lines were added, a feature which I am happy to see but I don't think anything was changed in the drafting. I do plan to lengthen my next version and while I'm sure the lines will be helpful there is nothing in the instructions about how to do so across all the angled pieces. I will definitely have to experiment with that. I would consider this tunic an intermediate pattern even though the style lines are pretty simple.

Jen has offered a 20% discount off of her new patterns from February 1-7 with the code MINDFULMAKER20