Those crazy seam lines were definitely a bear to sew. I hand-basted them first, which was good because I discovered I hadn’t blended well enough around the pocket and there was a weird pooch under my hips. I took in about a quarter inch on either side right at the hip since it still felt too big (I should have gone with a smaller size, I have realized), and after blending that in, I have something that doesn’t lay flat by any stretch but actually fits reasonably well. It’s definitely not perfect, and I am sure I broke all sorts of cardinal sewing rules to get there, but you do what you gotta do!
Front and back pinned together, pins where the seam is going to be
After stitching everything up by machine, trimming the seams, and then pressing them flat, I’m happy enough with the fit that I opted not to tweak the darts at all.
You can see just how much I’m taking off the back here – I’m essentially taking a massive dart out of the bottom. In the process of course I broke the alignment wth the bottom front, so I had to trim some off there, and the back already is a bit lower at the center back than at the sides, so I trimmed some off there as well.
After looking at the instructions, which say the lining is intentionally a bit smaller to help pull the lapped zipper in, I’m worried about getting the lining in, so I guess I’ll do some substantial measuring before I do that step. While I think the end result of this project will work out okay in the end, I’m looking forward to being done with it – I’ve made so many errors along the way that I am ready to start fresh with something new!
Goals for next week:
Getting the zipper installed to the lining is a whole process, I remember, so my only goal for next week will be to get that done.
Make it or Mend it 