Dress Pants Muslin -- Simplicity 4971

My third and final pair of pants for February is Simplicity 4971, a men's shirt jacket and slim pants pattern which dates from approximately 1963.

I needed to make a muslin first so I dug out an old percale bedsheet and went to work.  I already knew I'd have to shorten the rise approximately 2" and the pants length about 4".  I also added 1" to the outer edge of the back and side pieces at the top, as you can see below.  Right now my hips and my waist are approximately the same width.



I cut just the two fronts and the two backs, skipping the fly and the waistband.  The fit was good.









Yesterday I started the pants in my fashion fabric, a lightweight khaki cotton weave.





I chose matching thread from my thread stash.  I didn't feel like buying something new and there isn't much visible topstitching in these pants anyway.







Yesterday I completed the front fly and, today, the back single welt pockets, which gave me a lot of trouble.  Next time I'm going to add the pocket bag separate from cutting the welt (i.e., after).  Pulling all that fabric (the pocket bag) through from the front rarely results in a perfectly angled corner -- too many layers to clip through.





My smooth cotton fabric is not forgiving and I may add two pocket flaps to cover these up.  I know there's nothing more tedious than hearing sewers complain about their welt pockets so apologies.

I hope to finish these pants by the weekend in time to do our three-pants photo shoot (white twill, blue denim, and cotton khaki), tentatively scheduled for Sunday.  Cross your fingers the weather is mild as I'll be changing in the street, no joke.

Have a great day, everybody!

I wore my me-made suit and shirt to a Toastmaster's contest last night and won first prize in the speech evaluation competition!