McCalls 6361 - It's all Pants!

Having taken the Ron Collins class on pants/flies, I knew that I had to make up a pair as soon as possible and practice what I had learned.  With my local (only) fabric shop having a sale on McCalls patterns, I picked up a copy of 6361 - a basic ladies trousers pattern with a fly front.  Following advice from Threads Magazine about trouser fitting, I used size 18 (my hip measurement) and adjusted the crotch to match my TNT pattern that I have been using over the last year or so.  Having lost weight, I am finding that my 'me-made' clothes are not fitting very well, so I need to update my TNT's.

Source

I made up a muslin that fitted OK-ish, and with a couple of minor alterations, I made up these bright red corduroy trousers.  The fabric was a 'hmm, that doesn't look like the colour on the website' when I ordered it a year or two ago, and it has sat festering in my stash ever since.  There is some lycra/spandex in it that gives it just the right amount of stretch.

I know, red is such a hard colour to photograph . . . . .   I can now see from these pics that I may need to make a slight adjustment in the small of my back as there is some puckering - a sway back adjustment perhaps?

I traced off the size 18 and then used my TNT crotch curves from previous trousers.  All in all, I pretty happy with these.

I then made three pairs of work pants - but in order to photograph them in daylight I didn't hem them, so please turn a blind eye to the bottoms.  I lost three inches to hemming!

C'mon, focus - take your eyes away from the hems and look at the rest of the trousers!!

As you can see - there is the same problem in the small of my back.  I'm actually wondering if I should let out the side dea,s a little.  I will need to check my fitting book.

And here are the last two pairs.  This fabric is a narrow pinstripe:

And finally in a soft mid grey fabric that I am now having second thoughts about.

I will take some more photos now that they have been hemmed - but that may not be for a few days, and I will be wearing the trousers to work before then.  I am mostly pleased with them - on the plus side I am thrilled that I have mastered the fly zips and pockets, but on the minus side I think that the legs are on the loose side, and the fit is a little snug around my hips.  I will wear them and see.  As I am still loosing weight, they will get looser over the next few weeks so it will be interesting to see how the fit changes.  I think that I may also try Style Arc Barb - although they are pull-ons, they are more tight fitting and I have a couple of other corduroys with lycra that I can use.  I can always add a zip if needed.

I will write a follow up post talking about the pockets, zips and closures as well as the waistband treatment - this post is getting rather long now!

All in all this is a great pattern - after a few adjustments, and I think I will make the skirt next as I am now hooked on fly zips!  I find these are quite labour intensive - probably about 3-4 hours each pair, but I think that the finished trousers look quite professional, and I do need to have quite a few pairs for work during the winter - all my lovely lined, pull-on trousers from last winter are too large :(

You can find my review of this pattern here.

Have you tried adding flied to your trousers or are you a die hard pull-on fan?