I still have a few things that I sewed last year to get up on this blog. My resolution for this year is to blog as I sew! You may have already spotted these two garments in some of our holiday posts.

I’ve already shown you the rayon harem style pants that I sewed for both girls in anticipation of our trip. Clare also wanted some pants in a looser, wider leg style. We’d looked at some at the shops and the Style Arc Clare pattern immediately popped into my head as exactly what Clare was looking for. And of course, the name of the pattern was perfect! It was destiny!

Style Arc describe this pattern as follows: A wide leg is the standout pant shape of the season. The cleverly designed elastic waist sits flat at the waist for a slimming look. Featuring a tie belt and angled pockets you will love this easy to wear and easy to sew fashion forward pant. FABRIC SUGGESTION: Linen, crepe, fine wool.

This pattern starts at Australian size 4, and goes to Australian size 30. Style Arc have always been extremely inclusive in their sizing. I suspected that I would sew this pattern for me and possibly for my mum as well as for both my daughters, so I bought the multi-sized pdf version of the pattern. That way I can print it and cut it to whatever size I want, multiple times.

Clare chose this rusty coloured rayon from Darn Cheap Fabrics for her pants. I think that we bought 1.5 metres. I shortened the leg length a couple of inches before cutting out the pattern. The instructions call for 38mm wide elastic for the waistband – I used what I had in stash, which was around 30mm wide. I think it worked well for this smaller size.

Oh, size wise I sewed size 6 for Clare. Hip measurement is the key one for this pattern, and it’s drafted with a bit of ease, so since she’s at the lower end of the size bracket, I chose one size down from her measurements.  She prefers proportionately less ease.  One of the lovely features of this design is that the waist has elastic all around it, but it’s kept flat at the front between the two pleats. The elastic supports the waistband at the front, and creates lovely comfortable gathers around the sides and back.

Clare also wanted a pair of shorts – so we decided to use the same pattern, but at shorts length.

All I did was figure out what inseam length we wanted, and fold back the pattern pieces accordingly. When Clare tried them on at first they were still longer than she wanted; so I just folded back the hem again, stitched it in place, and she was happy! This also caught the bottom of the pocket bag in place, securing it from flapping around. An unintended but happy occurrence!

So this is the same size as the long pair, but in a slightly different fabric. It’s a pinstriped cupro, also from Darn Cheap Fabrics. I’ve just googled cupro and discovered that it is a type of rayon, produced from cellulose in combination with copper and ammonia. It is a breathable fabric, crisper when ironed than the drapey rayon I used for Clare’s pants, but it still wrinkles a fair bit. I’d definitely use this fabric again. I found a great blog post about regenerated fibres like cupro, tencel, viscose, modal, rayon – these are fabrics that I enjoy sewing and especially wearing.

Don’t look too closely at the stripe matching for this pair – because there isn’t much of it. I didn’t even manage to get the seam in the tie belt lined up exactly! I was a little bit pressured to get these clothes finished before our holiday.

There’s a lot of love for the Style Arc Clare pants over on Instagram – search for #clarepants or #saclarepants. Liz Alexandre (Sew Lizzie in Brizzy) in particular has sewn multiple pairs. There is an especially helpful blog post by Mie of Sewing Like Mad here. You’ll be seeing this pattern on my blog again too, I’m quite certain. It’s a great wide leg pants (and shorts!) pattern.