Posy Pleated Pants by Rebecca Page

The big palazzo pant search is over!

I’ve been searching for the perfect palazzo pant pattern for a long time. I do love Sew Tina Givens’ Townsend pants, but I was really looking for something flowier.

When I stumbled across the Posy Pants pattern, it seemed all my dreams had come true! Even down to the color of the pants on the pattern cover. Does that color not scream exuberance to you?

It was important to me that the waist sash was optional. As a woman of ample circumference, I don’t try to draw attention to my waist and usually hide it under another layer or four. I certainly don’t want to add an unnecessary layer of fussiness.

Prep work was a breeze

There were a lot of pages to print! Seventy-four, to be precise. Thirty-one of those pages are instructions, and they are really excellent explicit instructions.

The instructions may seem too in depth for some, but you could just give them a quick read through (which is encouraged.) There is a handy dandy one-page quick-glance cheat sheet that you can use to sew the pants if you have that level of confidence off the bat.

I read through the instructions and then used the one-pager as my guide.

Jersey or nah?

Fabric choice is obviously important to consider. I have a stash (is there a single word for a HUGE stash? Mountain, maybe? Underground lair a la Smaug?) of bed linens in various fabrics, and I really envisaged Posy in a jersey knit. The pattern suggests light- to medium-weight wovens, so maybe a jersey would be too heavy and cause it to not lay correctly. Maybe bamboo would be good? I also had a really nice grey stretch modal sheet, but it was twin sized, and not wide enough to fold in half and cut two leg fronts.

But then I found the most beautiful non-stretch modal sheet in eggplant (aubergine), and it was perfect! Not to mention it was almost the same luxurious hue as the pattern cover photo.

They have pockets!

Typically, if a pattern doesn’t have pockets, I’ll make pockets anyway. For pants and dresses I like in-seam pockets, but there are also many patch-type pockets I like.

Luckily, the Posy Pleated Pants have pockets and the pattern offers alternate instructions if you don’t want to add them.

As for me. It’s pockets all the way.

Vive les French seams!

I just love a good French seam and the Posy pants are all French seams! There is an option to serge, and I could have done that if I had the right color thread for my serger, but I settled on the French seams. I almost ended up regretting that decision! After the first row of stitching, if you cut modal too close to the stitch line, you’re flirting with danger. One hair too close and you may find yourself with a gap where the fabric has pulled away from the stitches. Ask me how I know! *facepalm*

The seam allowance for these pants is 1/2″, and I really should have been more careful with the seams, some of them need their whiskers trimmed!

(Yes, those are my whiskers to the left.)

I wanted to take my time with these pants because I usually rush making clothes. Couple that with the fact that I have some back spasm issues going on, and I really had no other option than to break up my sewing session!

I cut and assembled the pattern one day, then did most of the sewing the next day. On the third day, I tackled the waistband and the hems.

I do love the box pleats in the front of these pants! They definitely complete the look, and helped stabilize the fabric for adding the waistband.  And now it was time to attach said waistband.

About that waistband

Thank goodness for Facebook groups! Pretty much all of the patterns I’ve purchased as downloads have a companion Facebook group where you can ask questions, get support, air grievances, and all that jazz. Rebecca Page is no exception. (There is also an excellent photo album system where users post their results. Great inspiration!)

It was the Rebecca Page Facebook Group that saved my sanity when I was about to fold in a heap. See, I’m a little literal when it comes to following instructions. I can’t make anything off-the-cuff or free-form, I need instructions for even the stupidest little detail. I was following the directions for the waistband and I suddenly realized they were talking about the “non-interfaced side”. Now, wait a minute. My whole waistband is non-interfaced! I mean, I cut the interfacing, but nowhere have I been instructed to actually attach it to anything!

I read and re-read the instructions. Nothing.

I went into the Facebook group and searched “Posy interfacing”. Nothing. I must have missed something because nobody else seemed to be having an issue with it!

I had to bite the bullet, show my ignorance, and post the question. I got the answer, which was painfully obvious after I thought about it. If you have a waistband and a piece of interfacing, that interfacing should be attached to the waistband! Problem solved.

I did not unpick the waistband to do the whole reconstruction, I just ironed that sucker on over everything, including the stitching. Oh well!

Once I was back on track, everything went to plan.

Stitchin’ in the ditch

Oh, am I ever thankful for this stitch in the ditch foot! You just line up the guide in the “ditch” (in my case, between the waistband and the pants), and sew. Your row of stitches will line right up, and – in my case – the inside of the waistband was also stitched in perfectly. I wouldn’t like to try to wing that!

Accessories can be our best friends, and my presser foot collection is definitely growing.

Back on track

All the finishing touches went just as planned, except I did have to make my hems bigger than the 1/2″ quoted in the pattern.

The pattern states that it is scaled for someone my height – 5′ 6″. I would wager a bet that’s a skinny 5′ 6″ person who would wear these “tall-waisted” or a 5′ 6″ person wearing heels. They hung longer on me (or maybe I’m still shrinking? I know for a fact I was once 5′ 8″!)

Would I make Posy pants again?

Heck yeah! But next time I’d use fabric that was not as slippery as modal. It’s “bendy” – if you know what I mean. You can cut a straight line, but if you move your fabric ever-so-slightly, that line can easily become a curve!

What I don’t like:

• The sash. Sashes in general LOL
• The elastic in the back. I do like the elastic, it just sits funny. And curls over.
• Working with slippery fabrics like modal

Pattern images are © 2019 Rebecca Page