when lola became suzy

i have been meaning to sew a pair of loose elastic waist pants all summer.  i had been eyeing off the lola pant by style arc.  i like the waist detail - being a flat front and elastic back and also the elastic at the back cuff.  from the art work they look to be a narrow'ish fit, plus i haven't sewn style arc before.

when i finally decided elastic waist pants would be next up and looked into buying the pattern and i realised how gen y my sewing can be - even though i am clearly not gen y!  i was actually shocked when i couldn't find a pdf option - what wait for postage?? how could i?? this is something i haven't really done for patterns before since my return to sewing. i therefore made a last minute switch to suzy.

the suzy pattern from tessuti comes in pdf.  it seems i am in a minority in the sewing blog world, but i really like pdf patterns.  they are so now!  i don't mind putting them together at all.  i do all the cutting in a comfy chair then move to the floor or table to put them together depending how big they are.  lately i seem to be doing a better job at matching them nicely.

according to the tessuti website the suzy pant is a fun and relaxed pleated front pull on pant.  i used a rayon from spotlight but cut the pattern pieces on the cross wise grain so the wiggly lines of the pattern are vertical not horizontal.

the only thing i did different to the instructions was to use 25mm elastic, instead of 12mm.  i did originally use 12mm, but found that the pants dragged down a bit and therefore looked quite large around the hip area - perhaps this is because the rayon is a bit on the heavier side.  the 25mm elastic keeps the pants higher up and less baggy around the hips, but the trade off is the crotch seam sits a bit high.  next time i will consider lowering the crotch seam and lengthening the leg a smidg.

i went with the in seam pockets and was a bit confused at first by the instructions, but if you read them carefully and thoroughly (which often i don't do) it all makes sense and is quite easy.

i constructed them using my sewing machine with straight and zig zag stitch. am happy with this make - would like to try lola sometime, but have a feeling i will make a few more suzy's first.

am getting the itch to get stuck into some autumn and winter sewing now, is anyone else??

(lastly i should also say for a beautifully made and presented pattern from a great indie company i would be happy to wait for a hard copy in the post, but a quick pair of elastic waist pants really appeals to me in an immediate pdf format!)

emma