Happy Easter Pants

I  hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and Passover this weekend.   I had a perfect weekend… A little cooking, a little pattern design and fitting, a little sewing and a little family gathering (Plus my  husband spent the entire weekend working on setting up my Fancy New Streaming Software with HDMI out, 2 camera views and pro audio … more about that in a minute).  I started the weekend working my new pants pattern to make my Happy Easter Pants.

Technically, it’s not actually “new”  it’s an updated version of a pants pattern that I’ve been playing with for a while now.  I have a set of fit muslins for this pattern.  After trying them on, I made adjustments to my traced pattern and cut out my Happy Easter Pants.  I’ve had this Liberty of London fabric in my stash for a long time.  Originally my Mom bought it for me to make something for my daughter Anna.  Anna decided it was a little to fun for her taste, so I tucked it on the shelf.

Then I took a break from my studio to get into my kitchen to make potato cheese perogies.  Perogies are a yummy Polish dish.   Basically they are just like ravioli.  I made a dough from flour, eggs, butter, sour cream and baking powder and a little salt.  The filling this time was mashed potatoes with some white cheddar and a little American Cheese for creaminess.  Traditionally, this filling would have Farmer’s Cheese, but I’m not a huge fan.  After the dough rested in the fridge for a little bit, I rolled it  out and cut circles with one of my glasses.  Then I like to stretch the circle into an oval by rolling it out again.  These ovals are transformed into perogies after a dollop of filling is encased in the dough.  I wet my fingers help seal the edges after the oval is folded in half.  After making several, they are dropped into a large pot of gently boiling water.  When they float to the surface, they are ready to come out.  A little drizzle of olive oil keeps them from sticking together.   My brother was hosting Easter this year… He had sauteed mushrooms and onions waiting to finish them.

With my Easter Dinner assignment finished, I was back in the studio to sew my Happy Easter Pants.  It was going to be a nice day, so I decided to make a pair of cropped pants.   They were really quick to sew together because my shape only requires 2 back waist darts.   The number of darts depends on the difference between your waist and full hip measurements.   Happy for me, I only have a 4″ difference.  So, I didn’t need any darts in the front.     My easy front fly zipper technique made putting in a closure a snap.

To make it easy to finish the waistband, I cut the facing a little wider than the waistband.   When it’s turned to the inside, it hangs down past the waist seam.  I turned the edge up right above the zipper then let it hang.  The topstitching along the waist seam holds the facing in place.   The only thing about these pants that I regret is that I rushed the buttonhole.  And, I didn’t treat it with Fray Check after cutting it open.   After wearing them all day, the buttonhole got a little yucky.  (I’ll post an update showing how to fix it.)

During the whole process of making these pants, I didn’t think about what I was going to wear with them.   After searching my entire closet and trunk of samples, I ended up with nothing…  Then I saw my pile of Tee Fit Muslins  for my Tee Twin Set Class.   They were just the right shade of purple to compliment my Happy Easter Pants.   So, I cut the size tag off so I could wear it!

 

These pants are so comfortable. I can sit and stand and touch my toes without the waistband sliding.  I will be releasing this pattern after I debut it at a 3-day Pants Fitting Workshop that I’m teaching for the Kansas City ASG next week.   If you’d like to try my family recipe for Perogies, I will be including it in the April J Stern Designs Newsletter.  If you need to sign up for the Newsletter,  there is a form on the right side of this blog post!   Plus, stay tuned for more Happy Pants!