Vogue OOP V2410 Tropical Wool Pants & Couture Techniques

Have you ever played hide and seek with your lining fabric.  I could have sworn I had black, but could not find it, so I'm using a cotton lawn fabric for the pocket lining and Hong Kong finish on the seam allowance.  A little color in a drab pant.

There are a few interesting details in this pattern, the pocket and the waistband have caught my attention.

I had a little fun with these, and auditioned some metallic thread to use for the topstitching.  I just love these little Featherweight bobbins.

The Pocket

The pocket on these pants is formed first by creating the finished pocket opening.  (Pant leg wrong side up, pocket lining right side up).

 Then basting the lining piece to the pant front (The basting becomes a guide for the self fabric pocket piece that will cover the lining edges) .

 When you turn it over you have a lovely finished edge.

 The final step- take your self fabric pocket piece, turn the 1/2" seam allowance on the bottom and long edge of the pocket piece and topstitch down.  The stitching will show on the right side of the pant, and the underside traps the lining piece and gives you a nice finished interior. 

This is what they look like finished, you can barely make out the topstitching.

I was very surprised that there was no stabilizing required for the pocket edge, and I might add a little organza strip the next time, just to make sure the pocket opening doesn't stretch out.

The Waistband

The waistband finish was also very interesting, it is  prepared without the inside lining (just the interfacing), turning and securing all of the seam allowances first.

Then the lining piece is prepared by folding back the seam allowance at the fold line, joining the folded edges by hand.  It makes for a very flat lying waistband.

Hit the Button Box

Forgive the rolled up t-shirt, these pants are wide legged and very comfortable and fluid.

Donna Karan Vogue Inspiration with OOP Vogue 2813 and Butterick 5756

It's black (slimming), it has pockets (practical), it's cotton (feels good against the skin), it has spandex in it (comfortable but manages to hold wrinkles but not a sharp pleat), it's poplin (so it's lightweight).  

  It rustles a bit like the nuns gowns.  When I was putting it together I was reminded of the pleated plaid skirt I had to wear in school.

Here it is without the hem band (way too short).

Here it is with the hem band fully extended (way too long)


The waistband is 1 1/4" wide, and contoured, so I had to make the changes to the curve for a swayback adjustment. The new pattern pieces lie beneath the originals.



As you can see it sits nicely.

Here are the details on the pocket from Butterick 5756, which are hidden in the side seam pleat.  

This is what it looks like inside out.

Here are the pattern pieces for the body of the skirt, they are rectangular.  The round shaping achieved at the band is through the angles of the tucks at the waistline.


We have front and back pieces here with the side seams facing each other.

As you can see, there is a tuck that bridges the side seam front and back piece.

First you add the pockets to the front and back side seam.

You join the side seam as you would any other, about 2" down from the waistband, then from the bottom opening to the hem (see pins), then around the pocket pieces.

Then you open up the seam...

And sew in your tuck

The pocket sits within the fold of the tuck, out of view.

Sorry about the black projects, they are nearly impossible to photograph.

I will say that the nice thing about these pockets is that if you have something in them, the fullness in the skirt camouflages the contents, which might be a nice feature when travelling.

I bought the skirt pattern (Butterick 5756) in the hopes I had found a workable solution for that Donna Karan shirt dress on the Vogue cover back in January, it had some of the elements I was looking for but falls a little short.  It's almost there but not quite.  So a little more tweaking.  The black shirt from Donna Karan OOP Vogue 2813, the Butterick 5756 skirt.

The Vogue dress for reference

On the runway

I need a wide belt to go with it, but there's no way I can make it out of the scrap that's left.  I did a really good job of getting all of the pieces cut from a limited amount of fabric. So the skirt has a similar silhouette, and it has the bottom hem band, but in black you can barely make out the pleats or any details.

What this really needs is a skirt that's not as pleated, maybe just one pleat to hide the pocket on the dress, and a fabric with a bit of sheen.  Something way happier than this dull black. 

Front - medium width belt

Back - medium width belt

Front - Wide belt

Back - Wide belt

I think I like the narrower belt for this version, so back to the drawing board.