I made two pairs of Luna Pants with the exact same pattern pieces and ended up with pretty dramatic fit differences, so I thought I’d show them together in one post so you can see the differences, too. The first one is cotton double gauze (pretty loose weave, some drape, not much stand):

And this one is cotton lawn (pretty tight weave, almost no drape, lots of stand):

See what I mean? These two fabrics make for a great illustration because they differ significantly as far as how they behave once they are sewn up into a piece of clothing. In fact, now that I’ve worn the double gauze ones around a few times, I might even go down a size if I make them out of double gauze again. The weave is so loose that you get a few extra inches of ease just because of the way the fabric moves around.

So how do you figure out how to get the pants (or any garment for that matter) to fit right the first time without your precious apparel fabrics becoming an expensive experiment? My advice is always to first make a muslin (“test version”) out of actual muslin fabric (see this post to get a good overview of my garment-making process if you’re unfamiliar with making a muslin), which has zero drape and a very stable weave. This means that you’ll get a very true fit on the pattern pieces in the muslin. Then once you know what size is a true fit, you can try it out in looser fabrics (which most apparel fabrics are; cotton lawn is the one exception I can think of right off the top of my head. The fit you get with lawn is very similar to the fit you would get with muslin). Remember, you can always take in the seams to go down a size (for all of my women’s patterns, if you take 1/2″ out of each seam, you’ll get the equivalent width to the next size down).

Another option, as I mentioned above, is to go down a size. If your fabric is pretty drapelicious or loosely woven, you’re probably going to be fine with a smaller size, but remember that the length of the pattern pieces will be shorter, so you might need to add a little length. AND be sure to check the finished hip width on the next size down before you try this to make sure you’ll still have a little room left for your hips!

Even before I started working on it, I knew that making a pattern like Luna would be a little risky: the design walks a fine line between wow-those-are-awesome and wow-are-you-really-wearing-your-pajamas, and don’t worry, I understand that people will either like it or they won’t, and I’m OK with that. My mom was dubious when I showed her those green pants; I can’t remember her exact words but let’s just say she wasn’t the target audience for this pattern. I’m not going to try to convince those of you who aren’t on board that these will look great on you; your confidence in a design is just as important as the design when it comes to feeling good in your clothes, and Luna is definitely one of those patterns that is a matter of personal taste.

For those of you who love the look of Luna and are excited about the pattern but aren’t exactly sure if you will be able to pull it off and end up with something fantastic, hopefully you can see that the fabric you choose is really important. If you can make these out of a fabric that will drape the way you want it to, that’s half the battle. And I think you will love these most if you find a fabric that is either pretty lightweight, or has quite a bit of drape. Heavier fabrics are probably not a great idea, and the same goes for fabrics that are mid-weight with no drape (quilting cottons, for example, might not be the most flattering or comfortable, depending on the manufacturer).

Are you getting excited for this pattern?? I am! We are on the home stretch with this one so it should be ready soon.

Update: Luna Pants Pattern is now available! BUY NOW

Pattern: Luna Pants Sewing Pattern

Fabric: Cotton and Steel Bespoke Double Gauze and Cotton and Steel Mesa Lawn by Alexia Abegg

Luna Pants: why fabric makes a big difference

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