Liberty Skinnies

This is one of those projects that I really wanted to make, but wasn't sure they would work. I think they work though. What do you think?

I purchased this Liberty canvas from Shaukat earlier this year. It is just like a stable denim/twill weave fabric with quite a bit of mechanical stretch. Perfect for skinny jeans.

It's always a gamble buying Liberty from Shaukat. It's really hard to gauge the scale of the print in those tiny boxes. The Liberty site isn't much better. I find the best way to visualise how a print will work is to find a garment made from it. For this print, called Childhood Treasures, I found this maternity dress. Which is kinda cute for those who need that type of garment.

This print has the inkiest navy back ground and very vivid orange, purple, yellow and pink flowers. It even has tiny dragon flies, butterflies and elephants. I'm quite smitten with the colours on this fabric, but quite surprised to find it is printed on a very stark white canvas. It will be interesting to see how it wears over time. I have pre washed the fabric twice and it still looks great. I'll make sure I update you if the colour fades dramatically with wear.

Like my last pair of skinnies, I used Burda 127/2009. As I still haven't found the yoke pattern piece, I substituted it with the yoke from my Grainline skirt and fudged it together to fit. Again I basted the jeans together to check they fit before finishing and top stitching. I'm really quite amazed at how well these fit. I didn't make any changes from my last pair.

To balance the rows of flowers on the print, I tried to cut the legs with as much navy running down the front and back as possible. Rather than pattern match, which would have been impossible, I staggered the flower patches so they weren't sitting next to each other, kinda diagonal. Does that make sense?

I think these pants are totally wild, but the 7/8 length helps balance the look a little. They will be perfect for Spring and perfect for wearing to school with sandals. I've even looked through my wardrobe for tops that will work with them and so far have this linen tank,  my recent Valerie top and I have a piece of purple linen that will shortly become another top.

In other funny news, when making these pants I quite possibly made the biggest sewing mistake I have ever made! My pant/jeans making process is a little relaxed these days. I've made numerous well fitted pairs of pants and am quite confident in my ability. So much so, that I often only cut the front/back leg and waist band from a pattern. The rest I often cut by eye, guesstimating as I go. Yep, I live on the edge!

Anyway, I needed pocket facings, so picked up the nearest scrap and cut them. Only to find that I had accidentally cut into the leg of my jeans!!! Doh!

Naturally I didn't have enough fabric to recut the leg, so I now have a slightly visible 'design feature' on the leg just below my knee. At least I've learnt a lesson about keeping my work space tidier so I can see the fabric I'm cutting in to!