What happens when you combine a *sick* collection of vintage trims (if I do say so myself?!) and a pants pattern with interesting seam detail?
The Arthur Pants by Sew Liberated need little to no introduction to the sewing community. Released 3 or so years ago (WELL before barrel leg pants were hanging on the rack of every chain store!) They have since gained loads of popularity – as seen by the instagram hashtag #arthurpants – and rightfully so. We have a 2 part series of our own if you’d like to watch Part 1 here and Part 2 here :-)
We'd like to think these vids that went slightly viral, helped to bring back ric-rac! Since posting these videos we have been tagged in so many of your own ric-rac adventures and we love it! Please keep them coming.
I’m just a Millennial girl who up until recently, simply accepted my fate of a constricting pant leg. I’m not just pointing fingers at the skinny jean but even back further in time to the low rise stretch flares of the noughties…those things were cut tight through the hip and thigh, yo! To say barrel leg pants are a revelation is an understatement. The Arthur Pants have the perfect exaggerated silhouette, front and back leg seam detail and the choice of an elastic or structured waistband. Duh, sign me up!
When planning my pants, I kept circling back to the seaming detail that runs down the centre of each of the legs. I’m always inspired by the clothing details of British brand, Boden, and love how they use trims and other finishes, often in bright rainbow colours or florals. I decided to crack into my vintage stash of ric-rac (who can resist the graphics on the packaging?!) and see if I could make a rainbow of scalloping details to highlight the design lines of the pattern.
Flatfelling seams is a bit tricky to wrap your head around (watch our reel here if you’re a visual learner like us!) and It reminds me a little of french seams - once you’re okay with the back-to-front feeling of sewing right sides together first, it’s okay.
The general concept is to sew wrong sides together, cut away on side of the seam (depending on which way you want the seam to fall/fell) and then fold and press the larger side in half then half again, encapsulating the raw edges. This is the point where I slipped my ric-rac into the seam. I used SiliPins to hold it in place until I secured it when doing the second run of stitching the seam. I love the scalloped effect it’s created and feel like it’s added a quirky detail to what could otherwise be rather PJ-leaning pants!
I didn’t do myself any favours using this super floaty (and quick to fray!) linen. However, once I gained some confidence and handled the fabric less, it came together. Our Sew Your Way SiliPins were a lifesaver here! Super sharp, and easy to grip - honestly a godsend with this wayward fabric.
I like to read other people’s experiences before making a new-to-me pattern, and chose to follow other’s advice and size down from my measurements on the chart so the legs aren’t quite so balloony. Lots of people also said the crotch of the Arthur Pants is very dropped. I decided to take a punt and scoop a little out of the front and in a VERY non-technical manner I eyeballed a little bit extra on the waistband pieces to compensate for the now longer curve. This combined with a forgiving elastic waist worked out perfectly and I don’t think you can see that I’ve fudged it.
I feel like you can’t breathe the words linen pants without “matching set” being twittered by passing birds and coming rustling through the treetops so surprise! I used the minimal scraps I had leftover combined with some other block coloured linen scraps to create a Matchy-Matchy Collage Gather Top. I love how the rainbow theme is continued but not perfectly matched with blocks of colour being substituted for the ric-rac.
Hopefully the rainbow details are subtle enough to not go full clown mode but honestly, is that such a bad thing? Let us know if you have used ric-rac within the seam, or how you feel about the Arthur Pants. We love seeing your makes!