Earlier in the spring, I had the pleasure of testing the Waffle Patterns Anzu cargo skirt and while I was making it I thought would be brilliant as a pair of work pants. Now Yuki does have the pattern for a pants version with all the amazing pockets and attachments but I figured I could hack it using one of the many trouser patterns I have in my stash.

I’ve been on a bit of a jeans ride at the moment so what better than to use the vintage 90s Calvin Klein jeans pattern which I’ve been planning to make for… well since the 90s!

So I’m dusting it off, ironing it flat. In fact, I’m getting ready to cut it out. From Anzu, I’m going to use the tool pockets, the pouch pocket, the side zip pocket and I’m going to add my own knee patches.

I also decided to make these trousers from contrasting fabrics again raiding the stash for what constitutes my small contribution to sustainable sewing. I have this crazy printed lightweight Ponte (I think) which I bought on holiday in Albania a few years ago. It has a brilliant tiger motif on a kind of animal print base, yes animal print again. To contrast, I’m going to use some of this beautiful coffee coloured faux suede that I have from Wouters Textiles.

I was playing with Affinity Designer, learning how to use layers and masking. I used it to come up with this concept image. Making this was fun in itself.

It’s going to be quite a statement I think but I’m looking forward to how this will turn out.

Cutting it out – while I was not using as many pockets as on the Anzu skirt it still mounted up to quite a lot of pieces and as I was doing contrasting parts I needed to be careful not to cut out the wrong pieces in the wrong fabric. The pockets will be in the contrast fabric which is the faux-suede, with the exception of the holster pocket which will be made wholly of the suede fabric.

Sewing the fly – after a summer in which I made two pairs of denim jeans, I was now feeling much more in control of my fly technique. It’s one of the things that I’ve never been confident with. My first pair of jeans has had relatively little wear because I made such a bad job of the fly. However, I now feel that I have overcome that hurdle and won’t be avoiding fly fronts anymore. It was interesting that the Calvin Klein pattern had a slightly different construction method for the fly front. Whereas the trousers I’ve made previously had all the fly pieces combined with the trouser fronts, in this pattern you add them separately. I followed the instructions carefully and the result was a very pleasing fly fronted trouser.

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Then I went to work on the contrast pieces using the pockets from the Waffle Patterns skirt and my bespoke knee patches.

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I’m really hoping the fit is right because you have to close the side seam before attaching the pocket. Usually, when making jeans the inside leg is closed and then the jeans can be fitted before you do the final seams. Here, because of this embellishment of the pockets, you have to close the seam before you can put them in place.

I bit the bullet and sewed the sides of my trousers and then tried them on – the good news was that the fit is good, REALLY good! The bad news is that I somehow managed to put my knee pads on in completely the wrong position they were a good 15 cm too high so I’m going to have to undo those legs and reposition the knee pads. BOO!

Despite this small setback, the finished trousers are simply AWESOME. I still think the knee pads are a tad high giving no knee coverage when I sit or kneel so I’ll have to adjust. To be real though, these will not be going anywhere near any bona fide “work” scenarios. Perhaps for my allotment trousers version.

When we decided that we were finally ready to brave travelling, they were what I swanned through the airport in. Eyes were popping! Hehehe … or Jajaja as my Spanish sewists will attest.

I seem to love some lairy novelty makes. These jeans are so much fun and I loved wearing them out and about on my trip. Thanks to the great features from the Anzu skirt that elevate a pair of trousers into something wild.

Do you ever go full-on crazy fabric?

Thanks for dropping by,