I was a tester for the latest True Bias pattern, the Lander pant and short and I've got my tester version to share today!
I love the utilitarian look of the Lander pattern's pockets (including those "pork chop pockets" in the front... thanks for letting me know the name, Kisha!), the high waist, the wide legs and the exposed button fly. You can read more about Kelli's unusual inspiration for these pants in her introductory blog post.
I obviously went for View C, the full length pant. The Lander pattern also comes with options for shorts and a cropped pant, too. All are very stylish, but also decidedly wearable and practical!
Since my butt can be hard to fit, I made a couple muslins of the top half of the pant during testing to make sure the crotch fit was right before cutting into my fabric. I ended up extending the front and back crotch to give myself some more room, and Kelli ultimately incorporated similar changes into the final pattern.
The Lander pattern calls for medium- to heavy-weight non-stretch fabrics. I went with a delightfully soft, heavy-weight, brushed cotton twill. The outside is like velvet and the inside feels more like regular twill.
I bought it during a visit to a fabric shop in my hometown that I haven't been to in ages: Osgood's Textiles. I have very fond memories of going there as a kid with my mom and running through the aisles, overstuffed with rolls of fabric. I wasn't disappointed when I returned as an adult; lots of apparel fabric gems to be found at this store (my 6 year old niece for scale, holding my twill, hamming it up, and wearing a dress I made her):
In retrospect, this twill may have been a bit too heavy for the Lander. It's looking a bit clunky in these photos. That said, I think the twill will help keep me warm in the winter! Arg, fabric choice can be tough sometimes. Maybe my choice of top is also contributing to this heavy feeling, too. If I paired it with a boxy cropped sweater, perhaps it would jive better. And now off to make myself a boxy cropped sweater...
These pants are a straight size 18 and are a little bit big. I muslined the size 16, which seemed too small, and even my muslin of the 18 was a much closer fit than these; I think the twill has more mechanical stretch to it than my heavy-weight muslin did, especially after a few minutes of wear. Next time I will increase the back waist darts and use a slightly more curved size 16 waistband to keep the pants from sliding down and eliminate a tiny bit of waistband gape I have at the back.
I also used a slightly smaller hem then Kelli provided for. It's quite a deep 3" hem, but I did a 1.5" hem to wear the pants with my high-heeled clog/boot things. The Lander pattern is drafted for 5'5" height and I am 5'7". Maybe I should have left it higher, though. I like how the sample Lander pants hang on Kelli's model here, with no "break" at the hem. I may re-hem this pair with a deeper hem to get that sleek look!
As I did for my Thea pants, I opted to bind all of the inner seams on this pair of Lander pants... lots of work, but so worth it. It makes me smile every time I see these neat innards! I also used the same quilting cotton fabric (an Alexander Henry print from Joann Fabric) for the lining of the porkchop pockets. Such a cheerful detail!
I really love these pants and can't wait to make another pair! I've already picked out the fabric for my next pair: an organic cotton twill in a rich plum color, from Organic Cotton Plus! It's the same weight as the Ventana twill Kelli used for her Lander samples, so I'm hoping it will work out well!
