PR Shopping Day

It's official; I hate Karen of Sewing By the Seat of My Pants.  She was wearing her Jalie jeans and boy are they fabulous.  Right out of the envelope.  Rub it in a little why don't you?  You all know how much trouble I've had getting pants to fit well and there she is with her amazing jeans.  They fit her like the really expensive jeans I hemmed for my sister last year.  I had an amazing time on Saturday.   Where else can you talk about your passion for sewing without eyes glazing over  as you talk.  For me it's 90 minutes from doorstep to the city so not that big a deal to get in, but there were women from as far away as Chicago and Atlanta.  I bought more fabric than I planned but it was all in the colors, or I should say color that I wanted.  I bought shades of gray in knits  and  exactly what I was looking for in a wool crossweave that looked exactly like the Marc Jacobs $900 and something pair of pants over on Net a Porter.  He lined them in stretch silk charmeuse, which I forgot to pick up, but I can order that on line from Mood when I am ready to make the pants.  His fabric was non stretch and he used stretch for lining which makes perfect sense since lining often tears because it doesn't stretch and the outer fabric will. Of course if your fabric is stretch it's really necessary to have a stretch lining and not too many of those are available except in polyester.  I do not wear polyester.  Not because I am a natural fiber snob, but because my post menopausal body rebels against anything that isn't breathable.  I have seen Bemberg rayon in stretch but not recently.  However, Mood has a lot of colors in stretch charmeuse and I'll spring for that.  I don't even have to line them all the way down, but only to the knee if I want to save on fabric.  I have an old Threads article on a pair of  Armani pants that are only  lined in front to the knee.  There is also a Claire Schaeffer couture pants pattern where she only lines to the knee, so it is not  absolutely necessary to line all the way to the bottom.  The other issue with lining to the hem, even just covering the pants  hem, is that when you sit it often shows.  
What else have I been up to?  Other than fooling around with my new Viking, I've been working on my pants pattern.  Next post I'll talk about fitting pants and the amazing Claire Kennedy.