Evaluating the utility of pants as part of my wardrobe pointed out a simple fact. Knit pants are more comfortable than woven pants. To further test the theory, another pair of knit pants was added to my closet. This was a quick project made from leftover black summer-weight ponte. There was just about a yard of the 60" wide fabric left after making the skirt. The skirt is quite comfortable, but doesn't have pockets. The pants do. The pockets in this pant pattern are small, practically half-pockets, but they are large enough for car keys or a tissue--the essential pocket uses--perhaps even a cell phone. The real advantage to the size is that the pockets do not sit over the middle of the front of the pants where they would disrupt the smooth fabric.
The pants have an elastic waist with a (optional for me) drawstring. The drawstring is very cute but would have required a trip to the store for eyelets, an eyelet tool, and black cord. Rather than interrupt the quick project, I omitted the drawstring. The only other outstanding characteristic of this pattern is the leg width. Some who have made this pant pattern have opted to taper the legs. Some have not.
Initially, I was shocked at how much volume there was in the legs. Then I checked other pants patterns and found a similar width, about 20". Now, my legs have no width to speak of. My body measurements are average, somewhere in the 12 to 16 size range, but my arms and legs are quite twiggy. For this reason, I wore pants, particularly pantsuits, almost exclusively during my career, mostly with straight legs.
During the years, pants legs have gone from wide to bell bottom to straight to form fitting and now seem to be going back to straight. Recently, pants for all occasions were influenced by athletic wear. In fact, the old sweat pants featuring wide legs gathered at the ankle have been replaced by form fitting legs, almost leggings, with a cuff. These are called joggers. It's this style that I think has changed the perception of a properly fitting pant leg. People expect the leg to taper in toward the ankle in some way, either gradually, like joggers, or suddenly, like barrel-legged pants or harem pants. Expecting the more modern narrow legs made the relatively straight legs of Simplicity 9272 look really wide to me.
Admittedly, these pants legs look a little tapered in the photo of the front. From the back, they look like straight legs. This is what bothered me initially. However, my recent study of vintage patterns has changed my view of pants legs. Wider legs don't look so strange anymore. I am quite taken with this image of Amelia Earhart:
Those are just such nice pants! The way they hang, the break over the shoes, the flat front, the slanted pockets--they have such nice features. I have no idea what the fabric might be. The era would have me to think it is wool. Perhaps it is just heavy cotton, or even silk or rayon. Regardless, that is the image that made it possible for me to feel comfortable in my new pants.
Additionally, my new sweater feels comfortable, and goes well with these pants.
The sweater was a combination of two patterns, the Fredrika cardigan for the charts and the Ashland pullover for the style. I have knitted the Ashland before and liked the pattern, except for the wide swaths of stockinette between the stranded portions (that made the fabric pouf out between the patterning) and the steeks (that did not seem necessary). This one was knitted without the steeks but otherwise followed the shaping for the sleeves. The steeks are really not needed. The yarn is all left over from other projects except for the light gray--that was salvaged from an old sweater, one I made several years ago. The style and the fit was outdated. Since it was knit without steeks, it could be ripped out to reuse the yarn.
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