Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Batik Glebe Pants and a Pocket Tutorial

More Muna and Broad pants! With a fit like this, I just can't quit them...


These are the Glebe Pants, the wide legged option from Muna and Broad.


I loved the fit on my tester version, as I said, as well as the giant slash pockets, so I had to make some more.


I really wanted to make a pair of Glebes for summer out of some of the cotton batik I have in my stash from when I lived in Indonesia.


I adore the color combination on this particular piece of hand-stamped batik: rust, lavender and gold. It feels very modern! The piece of batik was printed with an asymmetrical double border that I tried to put at the hem on both side of the pants.


The problem with a lot of my batik is that it's pre-cut in small pieces, like 2-2.5 yards by 42" wide (for sarong purposes). So I had to be creative with my cutting!


I couldn't make the pant legs, waistband and both pocket pieces fit on this particular piece of batik, so I decided to use another method for the pockets using mostly lining fabric.


Since the main fabric doesn't really show on the outside of the garment, except for that little peek at the corner of the pocket, I just needed to draft a little pocket facing (I guess that's what you'd call it?). I put together a little tutorial on the method I used:


1. I lay the pocket bag over the main pocket piece in order to draft a third pattern piece that I would use for that triangle in the upper right corner.


2. I traced around the upper corner of the main pocket piece, traced the line where at the pocket edges, and drew a line parallel to that, about 1.5" away, forming my triangular pocket facing pattern piece. This worked out pretty well, although next time I might give myself 2-2.5" to be extra sure the lining fabric doesn't show when I wear the pants - I forgot about seam allowance on that angled pocket edge!


3. I cut my triangular pocket facing pattern piece out of my main fabric. Then I cut the pocket bag and pocket pieces out of my lining fabric (some solid white cotton lawn from my stash). 


4. I finished the long, angled edge of the pocket facing piece and sewed it onto the pocket piece, wrong side of the facing on the right side of the pocket. I sewed it along the long, angled edge with a regular stitch length and along the other two edges with a basting stitch.


5. Then I went ahead and sewed the pockets as described in the Glebe Pants instructions, treating the pocket/pocket facing combo I just sewed as one piece. Ta da! Fabric saving solutions, direct to you.


Back to these Glebes...  they're the same size and view as my tester version. Size iii and View A with the fully elasticated waistband. Worked out great, again. 


I shortened them by 1" to fit them on the fabric, figuring cropped would be cute for summer.


I love them! They're comfy, stylish, unique, and a little art-teacher chic, which is my aim, aesthetically.


I paired them with my cropped linen Closet Case Patterns Kalle shirt- great pairing! 


Can't wait for summer (it was 17F when I took these photos), and the demise of the coronavirus (I work at the Health Department, so things are crazy as you can imagine), so I can wear this in public and not just on my front porch by my lonesome.