Make Laundry, Don’t Do Laundry: Ladies Harem Pants

Laundry…ugh.  Who wants to do laundry, when it’s just as easy to make something new??

Okay, so I’m mostly kidding. Even though laundry is a real pain, I still do it.  But it’s kind of the ongoing joke in the sewing world that if you don’t have any clean clothes, there’s no need to cut into sewing time when you could just make yourself something to wear in the same amount of time.  Thus, the Make Laundry tour was born!

A number of us crazy folks accepted the challenge to make a garment in the time it would take us to do a load of laundry, thus obviating the need for laundry that day.

For my stop on the tour, I sewed up two new-to-me patterns, each of which were easily completed in less than my machines’ 2-hour laundry cycle.

First up, and subject of the review below, are the Ladies Harem Pants from Pattern Emporium.  It’s always nice to find a pants pattern that sews up in such a short amount of time — that’s not always the case!  And granted, if I needed to make a bunch of fitting alterations, they would not have gone as fast as they did.

Luckily, these are a loose-fitting pant that required no alterations for me, and likely are a style that would require relatively minimal alterations for most people.  Even the slim-fit view that I made are loose through the hip and all the way through the leg.  The pattern as-drafted is much longer than these with elasticized ankles.  However, I wanted the option of wearing them to the office, so I nixed the elastic at the ankle and shortened the pants by about 6″ to ankle length.  I also narrowed the leg opening by about 4″ so that they tapered in at the ankle.  Otherwise, these would have been leaning towards gaucho pants.

It worked really well!  The length and leg style combined with this fabric (which is a rayon crepe suiting, by the way) makes these pants really comfy for weekend wear but also perfectly office appropriate.  In fact, I wore them to the office the day after I finished them 🙂

The sizing on these seems a little generous to me.  My measurements put me in about a size 12, which is what I made.  I think I could easily have gone with the size 10, particularly since I was making the slim fit version.  While I love these pants, they aren’t particularly slim!

My other garment, no less amazing is the new Grainline Willow tank in this great anchor poplin from Joann’s of all places.   This tank and pattern definitely deserve their own post.  So for now, let’s just say that I was really happy with this pattern, which took me all of about 1 1/2 hours to make.  But I will be back with the full details very soon!

Don’t miss any stop on the tour:

6/6 Creative Counselor / Phat Quarters / Call Ajaire / Friends Stitched Together / The Wholesome Mama / Wild & Wanderful

6/7 Blaverry / The Inspired Wren / Sew Sophie Lynn / Sprouting Jube Jube / Coral & Co / Once Upon A Sewing Machine

6/8 Paisley Roots / Sew Happily Ever After / Randoms By Rydz / Elegantine / Rebel & Malice / Fabulous Home Sewn / Candice Ayala

6/9 Create 3.5 / Muse Of The Morning / Sew & Tell Project / Gracious Threads / Beatnik Kids / Everything Your Mama Made

6/10 Sweeter Than Cupcakes / Pear Berry Lane / All Things Katy! / Sew Starly / Handcrafted By RED / Adventures of Bubba & Bug / Sew & Tell Project

 

Enter the giveaway here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks to all of our amazing sponsors for being a part of this tour.

A few of the designers are having sales for the duration of the tour, so here’s the codes!
George & Ginger use code MAKELAUNDRY25 for 25% off her patterns

Blaverry use code MAKELAUNDRY for 25% off her patterns

Stitch Art use code MAKELAUNDRY for 30% off patterns

Paisley Roots use code MAKELAUNDRY for 25% off patterns

These codes are good through June 12th!

Then Laela Jeyne’s Emily Womens T-shirt & the Deluxe Charlotte Kids Leggings are on sale through the 11th! No code needed!

I know everyone loves a good giveaway so here’s the prize packages:

Link-up Prize Package

Link Up at Pear Berry Lane, Paisley Roots, or The Crafting Fiend

Thread Faction Full Collection Spring/Summer 2016

2 Patterns of choice from Momma Quail

$15 gift certificate to Gracious Threads

$25 gift certificate to Peek-a-boo Pattern Shop (good for fabric too!)

2 Patterns of choice from Made For Mermaids

1 Pattern of choice from Blaverry

1 Pattern of choice from Brownie Goose

2 Patterns of choice from Laela Jeyne Patterns (excludes bundles)

1 Pattern of choice from The Wolf & the Tree

1 Pattern of choice from Stitch Art

2 Patterns from Paisley Roots

$20 gift certificate to Phat Quarters

3 Patterns of choice from Everything Your Mama Made

Prize Package 1

1 Pattern of choice from Pattern for Pirates

1 Pattern of choice from Brownie Goose

2 Patterns of choice from Hey June

2 Patterns from Paisley Roots

1 Pattern of choice from Muse of the Morning

1 Pattern of choice from Call Ajaire

1 Pattern of choice from Stitch Art

1 Pattern of choice from The Wolf & the Tree

3 Patterns of choice from Everything Your Mama Made

Prize Package 2

1 Pattern of choice from Simple Life Pattern Company

1 Pattern of choice from Modkid

1 Pattern of choice from Laela Jeyne

1 Pattern of choice from SisBoom

1 Pattern of choice from Stitch Art

2 Patterns from Paisley Roots

1 Pattern of choice from FABulous Sewn Home