BARB pants are new to me!

This week The Monthly Stitch collective is encouraging us to try new Indie Pattern Designers in order to discover new and interesting perspectives on modern dressmaking. I have been looking at Style Arc for quite some time, but for some reason the cartoon models always made me feel unsure about their patterns. Something subconscious I think, when I am buying a pattern I want to see the clothes move and how they sit on the actual person.

Recently Style Arc was running (and maybe still are, not sure) advertising campaign and I signed up for their newsletter and got a free Barb pants pattern. My thought process was – it is a pant with elastic waist, how much can go wrong? I will try it out!

First of all – they have a separate file for each pattern size – OMG it makes life SO much easier! Definitely a plus!

Second – the seam allowance is actually marked on the pattern – bonus points for that, too.

Third – I did not need to make a lot of adjustments, apart from shortening the length. I am a shortie, so it comes natural with a lot of patterns.

Fabric: stretched cotton with brushed velvet pattern? not sure completely what is the fabric blend, I had it in my stash for quite some time, but that’s how it feels to the touch. I did not have enough to match pattern completely symmetric, so I had to do some magic!

Additional elements: wide elastic

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Pattern: although the pattern suggested that serger is okay to use, I still sewn it first with the straight sticth and then applied serger. Also, there wasn’t a lot of instructions, which does not worry me with this pattern, it is pretty straight forwards, but if it is something complicated that requires some deal of construction –  a bit of detailed instruction would be nice. That’s my only fear for the future – choosing Style Arc patterns.

Time: it only took me about 1.5 hrs to put it all together and have it ready to wear. That’s not including the time for piecing the pattern pieces after printing.

Blouse/top: also me-made! Made recently by drafting it myself, I used basic block bodice with using my measurements and separated the black between top and bottom and utilized this beautiful “floral” fabric remnant! I will be blogging about it later!

Just so proud of matching these seams 🙂 and I have done contrasting serging on the my recently made top – so much fun!

I think the result is good, and I love my new pants! Also, the extra wide waist band prevents from your butt popping out when you lean over or pick up something form the floor. That’s very important for me!

Have you tried Style Arc patterns? Any good suggestions for the future?

Sorry for the back pictures, but the fit I think is pretty good 🙂