Saturday 22 June 2013

The Quest for a Great Fitting Pair of Pants: Chapter 1

The quiet Manitoba Prairies.   
I rarely wear pants. Sew much sew that people seem to notice when I do. What can I say, it's the prairies, nothing much happens out here.  

I have tried to sew pants in the past but I haven't found a pattern that has
a) totally wow'd me and 
b) fits my quirky body.

I know this is going to be a quest, hopefully not one of epic porportions. I don't have a lot of time.

Now you might be wondering why the rush and why I would want to sew pants now that it is officially summer. Well, let's just add that I also live in a part of the world that is know for the mosquitos. We experienced the rare event of two relatively mosquito-free summers but now the mosquitos are back with a vengeance making up for lost time.

And everyone in these parts have heard the advice that clothing can help in reducing mosquito bites. Now, I really don't rock the mosquito net hat all that well so my next best option is to protect myself with long sleeve shirts and long pants perfumed with a light mist of deet.

Since these pants that I plan to make and wear this summer are likely to be exposed to chemical warfare I'm going to have to chose my fabric carefully.
DEET is an effective solvent,[4] and may dissolve some plasticsrayonspandex, other synthetic fabrics, and painted or varnished surfaces including nail polish.
Okay, all joking aside. I'm more of the enjoying the air-conditioning at a movie theatre rather than the great outdoors kind-of-gal.

But I wasn't kidding about pants. I really am going to try my hand at another pair of pants. I even have a cream cotton sateen in mind for these summer pants.

I'm going to give Burda 7122 a try. I've read some good reviews of this pattern over at Pattern Review about the fit. Hopefully, this is the pant pattern that will wow me.  

Well that's enough joking around, I have my deet-friendly cotton fabric pre-washed, pressed and a cup of coffee. There's no stopping me now as I bid adieu and head over to the cutting table.  

Happy sewing!










3 comments:

  1. I feel for you. It has pretty bad here in Aberta as well, and I suspect that the flooding is going to prove to an unbeatable breeding ground for the little blighters.

    It is worth persevering with the pants, I took a Palmer Pletsch class by a lady local to me and she showed me how to deal with my flat butt issues. Now I am loving making pants!

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  2. I've worked a lot of field seasons in mosquito- and black fly-infested areas, and I've learned a lot of tricks for reducing my attractiveness to them.

    First off, light colours, as much as possible. I've done tests, and there's a significant reduction in the amount of pests around when I'm wearing light coloured clothing than when wearing dark colours - especially black.

    Secondly, try to get scent-free soaps and shampoos/conditioners. They're attracted to sweet smells, so if you're using fruity and flowery soaps, your very skin and hair will attract them. Same goes for avoiding perfume. Try to be as scentless (or at least, less sweet smelling) as possible.

    Thirdly, and this is rumour and I can't say I know of a difference either way, but apparently if you eat a lot of bananas, you'll let off some sort of scent that will attract them. I usually just cut out bananas completely in the summer, just in case. :D

    Anyways, you probably know all this, but I thought I'd share anyways! Good luck this summer! The mosquitos have finally come out here in Whitehorse, and I'm living in a thin layer of Muskol every time I go out! lol

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  3. I really like that pant pattern, best of luck with the pant-venture! I love your blog, I've nominated you for an award.
    http://melodysews.blogspot.com/2013/06/liebster-award-thank-you-for-nominating.html

    ReplyDelete

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