What I thought was going to be a complete nightmare of an alteration turned out to be a cinch (… pun intended!).

I needed to nip the waist in on MrA’s Trousers… I made them from a pattern generated on the genius make my pattern website by Joost De Cock (you can read about my experience with the website HERE if you’d like…) I’m pretty sure that the fit issue is down to my erratic measuring, not the pattern. I didn’t use an elastic around MrA’s waist as I took the measurements, so I can’t guarantee I kept the waist height even. In fact, I can pretty much guarantee I didn’t. So…

I unpicked a portion of the back waistband, seat seam and topstitching and removed the beltloops. Then, somewhat bravely, I thought, cut the waistband in half…

I always maintain that I hate unpicking. This isn’t strictly true. As the start of an alteration or refashioning job, I actually quite like it.

MrA put them back on and I marked the new seam line…

… Then stitched and topstitched the seat seam…

Just one beltloop made it back into the equation (to cover the new centre seam) and the waistband went back together really smoothly.

They’ll need a wash and a good press to get the old stitch lines out, but the fit is great. From start to finish it didn’t take more than an hour and a half.

The issue of the low back rise has been resolved because the waist fits and they stay up, so the 3cm addition on the original pattern was right after all. I took 2cm total from the waist, tapering into the seat seam.

To finish off, I topstitched the hems. Previously I’d blind-hem-stitched them but the topstitching suits the casual fabric better, I think.

So now, with this simple adjustment, I’ve got my default trouser pattern for MrA. The fit is great and I’m confident in going ahead with plenty more pairs for him in the future. I’d tried a few trouser patterns out for MrA in the past. They’re all wearable but you can definitely tell the difference with a made to measure pattern. I think the MMP site is an amazing resource. I’m looking forward to trying out some more of the catalogue in the future. 

Job done. MrA’s happy and I feel like I’ve completed a module of an imaginary-open-university-sewing-course. Win, win.

One thing I’d love to see Joost, please, if you’re reading this, is a pocket option for a jeans variation…?

Happy sewing!

Notes to self:

  • It’s never as tough as you think it’s going to be!
  • Check the fit before the finish in future (this is becoming a recurring theme…)
  • Amend the paper pattern (1cm from waist, tapering 15cm down seat seam)
  • Try the shirt. Try the shirt…!