For this project, we were told to design and construct a pair of pants. Immediately i was very excited about this because pants are my favorite thing in my closet. I have a thing for funky pair of pants, bold colors, etc. So the fact that we’d be learning how to construct pants made me very motivated from the very beginning. This leads me to the first step into creating my own design pant; making the
Original Basic Muslin Pant:
Once we had all the skills, and learned how to properly construct a basic pant, we were then able to design and begin to create our own. We had to pair up with a partner and create a design than satisfies both of our styles. I paired up with my friend, Renata. Ren & I have extremely different styles, which is why i know this assignment would be so interesting to do with her! She’s the type of person who mainly owns black, white and grey items, no prints. Me on the other hand, i’m a sucker for prints, bold colors and funky patterns. So we ended up deciding that we’d stick to a silhouette we both love, and i’d get to pick the colors. So, i designed a very flared, loose, and extremely high waisted pant. In terms of details, i decided to keep it simple, and make the “boldness” come through via the colors. Nonetheless, i still felt like it was too simple for my personal taste, so with this being said, i went ahead and added long, squared pockets that would have a different print and color than the rest of the pant. I also made the waistband much shorter, and added eyelets to the back of the pant, where it would be laced up. I wanted to keep the front of the pant clean and neat, so i added the closure to the center back (invisible zipper).
Here are a couple images of my process in terms of notes, designs, sketches and simply how i organized my thoughts through out making this pant:
CREATING THE PATTERN FOR DESIGN PANT:
I decided to use curved darts for the back part of the pants since i wanted it to flow nicely on the curve of the person who’d wear it.
FIRST FITTINGS [ MUSLIN VERSION ]
I knew i wanted the pockets to be one of the “fun” parts of these pants. So i decided to make them very long, and make them squared. I had to re-do the lining twice, because it kept coming our wrong. I fixed it, but it was a little bit tricky to draft the 4 patterns for this, but very happy i sticked to it because i loved the final result!
SEWING THE MUSLIN POCKET:
After a lot of errors, i FINALLY finished the muslin pant. I included every single thing such as the lining for the back part that doesn’t get attached to a waistband, the invisible zipper on the center back, and the waistband itself. I also went ahead and used a long shoe lace i had just to see how the full “complete” look would be. Here are a couple images:
ON TO THE REAL FABRICS:
DESIGNER STATEMENT:
Pants might possibly be my favorite garment ever. So when I found out this was our first project I was beyond excited and motivated to carry this out & develop my concepts even further. As soon I began sewing (I had never sewn before starting college) I realized that I am leaning towards designing and creating more conceptual work. After all, I do want to focus on costume design in the future, and it is something I just have so much fun with, way more than traditional designs. I say this with much honesty, that this was the very first project from Creative Tech, that I was extremely excited for from the beginning. Like I mentioned before, pants are my favorite, so I took this at heart from the very beginning, which is something I had struggled with doing last semester. This being said, when I began to design and brainstorm ideas for this pant, I knew that if I took it way too conceptual, I was afraid it might not have looked so neat and clean, but at the same time I did not want to make something similar to the muslin one we did in class. So, I was able to design a silhouette that is in the perfect balance of something a little out there (which I love), yet still sleek and simple. I partnered up with a good friend of mine, who is also in my class; Ren. One thing I love about us is how contrasting our styles are, yet they are SO similar at times. Since I was designing these pants for her, and knowing she rarely wears colors, I knew that for her part of the design, I’d give her a shape that she loves, which is very flared, yet waist-fitted design, which I so happen to love as well. From my side and preference, I chose the colors. I absolutely love color blocking, pattern blocking and using very bold choices of fabric, that might seem like they do not mix. But what I love doing is finding a way to blend the fabrics, colors and textures, and create a garment that looks very cohesive and well put together. So, I chose a navy blue for the legs, orange for the waistband and a white lining with subtle stripes for the pockets. Despite the design looking quite bold for some people, I was still feeling like it needed something a little ‘extra’ to it. This being said, I decided to make the waistband shorter than usual, each side ending an inch or so from the sides of the waist, and adding eyelets to the ends, where I would then lace it up. In terms of the construction of this garment, if I had not done the muslin version of it properly, I’m pretty sure the final result would not have come out properly, so I owe it all to the process of the muslin, where I made many mistakes, became aware of them, fixed them, and figured out the proper methods to sew certain parts and tiny details that made a huge difference in the final result. I decided to include the muslin version as part of the final result because I simply loved the “off-white” appeal to the design, providing different tasted to come through. I went on to photographing both pairs and simply loved the whole process of this project. Time was a little stressful for me since I had to turn it in a week before, but I honestly enjoyed every second of it and am very pleased with the result given it was my very first pair of pants I have made myself!
SASHA G.
