New favorite pair of pants? Quite possibly, yes.
These are the Thea Pant from Style Arc. The Thea pattern is for a high, elastic waist, "paper bag" style pant with wide legs and a self-fabric tie belt. I don't know what it was about this pattern, but I bought it immediately upon release. I just adore it. It was all I could do not to buy their other paper bag pant pattern, the Tully, too. After having made the Thea, though, I am now reconsidering my prior restraint...
This is the size 18. I go back and forth on whether I am a 16 or an 18 in Style Arc pants and skirts. I think, though, that I am really an 18 on bottom and a 14 or 16 on top, depending on how much ease there is in the pattern. 18 worked well for these Thea pants, though.
The construction of the pants are kind of fun- the waist area is reaaaaaaally long, and is folded over and topstitched to form the "paperbag" part as well as the elastic casing. Then the pockets and belt loops are sewn over the casing.
I love how the top of the front patch pockets (is there a name for that type/shape of pocket?) form the front two belt loops. However, the way I read the instructions for topstitching the pockets, one small section of the pocket, the part that goes over the belt, would be left unstitched. I stitched it up to be consistent. I also topstitched on either side of each of the other belt loops before attaching them, so they would better match the front pockets.
The pattern calls for 1.5 inch elastic, but I only had 1 inch, so I just narrowed the casing slightly, no prob.
Since my serger is still on its way to me from Bangkok and I had so much bias tape at my disposal after getting a bit overzealous with the continuous bias tape method, I decided to finish all the seams with bias binding. Time consuming, but totally worth it for gorgeous insides!
I stopped the leg seam binding just short of where the hem would be stitched and where the elastic casing at the waistband would be stitched, to avoid too much bulkiness where those sections are folded back on themselves. All those seams are contained anyway, so it's ok to leave them raw.
I don't know what I am doing in the photo above, but let's roll with it. This photoshoot was a comedy of errors, so I got a little bit giddy. This brick wall is near my apartment and is on the edge of the University of Vermont campus. The last time I took photos there it was quiet and no one bothered me. This time, unbeknownst to me, it was freshman move-in day, so there was a constant stream of cars driving by, groups of students on tours or something, a creepy guy hovering around, and a ride-on lawnmower that seemed to always want to mow exactly where I was standing, no matter how many times I moved. Phew. Worth it, though.
The fabric is a brick red tencel twill that I got from Indiesew several months back. Dudes, this stuff is amazing! I wish I had purchased more in the other colorways before it sold out! The sort of sandwash texture is fabulous: soft and velvety. It's like wearing butter in fabric form. It's thick and weighty, perfect for trans-seasonal pants like these. The color is also perfect for autumn. I've really been feeling the autumn vibes these days. So excited for my first fall in 6 years!
All-in-all, I am really delighted with these pants. Here I've paired them with my Cashmerette Springfield top and a to-be-blogged-next-week Jalie cardigan, but I'm thinking they would pair the best with the sleekness of a long-sleeved Nettie bodysuit to show off the waist detail. I hadn't made the Nettie because it seemed like it would be unpleasant to wear a bodysuit in Bangkok's heat, but in Vermont, I think Nettie may be my key to avoiding those cold drafts of wind that blow up your shirt in winter!
So, to sum up: Thea pants get two thumbs up from me.
