Allegro Pants - Lessons Learned

I haven't really ventured much into pants sewing (I only tried one pair and although it was somewhat successful, the fit was far from perfect). Pants are hard to fit due to tummies, bums and thighs, but I really want to nail the fit on some comfy pants - I mean, I'll be working from home for the foreseeable future, might as well have some cute comfy pants!

The Allegro Bottoms pattern by Love Notions was completely re-drafted and was on sale a little while ago. It comes with two lengths for shorts and pants as well as two skirts - a short skirt and a maxi. I decided to purchase the pattern because if I can't get the pants to fit me properly, I'm pretty sure I can get the skirts to.

About a week ago, I used some cotton to make a muslin of the shorts. I figured if I can make the shorts fit, I could use the same adjustments on the pants. My first pair of shorts ended up a bit long in the rise and a bit snug in the back. But other than that, they fit ok at the waist and the thighs.

I had to google how to shorten the rise and add a little more room for the bum. Both adjustments turned out to be pretty easy and after making the changes to the pattern pieces, I went ahead and made a second pair of shorts, again with some quilting weight cotton I had in my stash.

I didn't put the pockets in my second version and the gathers aren't quite evenly spaced but I definitely had enough room in the back now which is good. The front also fit much better. After making that second muslin, I felt like I had gotten the fit near enough to try out the pants in a softer fabric. 

I used a Tencel twill I purchased a few months ago from DG Patterns. 

In the above pictures, the pants look pretty good and I do love them with my Love Notions Rhapsody Blouse (blogged here). However, I can't sit in them! I'm pretty sure I should have made the full pants as a muslin because the thighs are just way too tight when I sit down. It isn't comfortable and really isn't an attractive look! So I'm going to have to research how to make more room for the thighs (in the front only which is a little weird).

But I do love how the front and pockets turned out.

And I've also learned how to fix those wrinkles under my bum - turns out I need a flat bum adjustment (who knew I had a flat bum?!). I'm also thinking now that once I fix the flat bum, it might fix the issue on the front? I've learned that some of the fixes for problems you see on a garment aren't necessarily obvious. 

I might try to unpick the inner and outer seams to see if that gives me a little bit more room in the front because it's definitely too late to make the flat bum adjustment on these pants.

The details:

• Pattern: Allegro Bottoms by Love Notions (I made the 5" and 9" shorts and the full-length pants)
• Size: 18 (front rise shortened by 1/2", "scooped" out back rise) - Next time, I'll make a small flat bum adjustment to eliminate the "smiles" under my bum. 
• Fabrics: Tencel twill from DG Patterns