Pattern progress: Rose pants!
UPDATE: The Rose sewing pattern is now available!
Just wanted to give you an update on the pants pattern I've been working on this fall! The working name for this pattern is currently "Rose" as in the flower (my late grandmother's favorite), and I love that the name "Rose" is both strong and feminine. Plus it's consistent with my pattern naming history in that it's botanical ("Parsley, Geranium"), a female name ("Bianca, Josephine"), and/or a color ("Jade, Ruby").
After the striped Loominous pants (shown above) I made this summer got such an incredible response on Instagram, I decided to work on a pattern for it. The concept behind these pants is similar to my Cleo skirt design (flat front waistband, elastic back waistband, super comfortable), but in a pant rather than a skirt. I also wanted a super high rise, wide leg, and multiple lengths. After the initial prototype, Karen made pattern pieces in my size and I tested them out with this fun gold floral print from my recent line, Fanciful. I thought these were pretty cute!
Note that this fabric is quilter's cotton, so it worked nicely as a sample muslin but could also be a fun summer pant. Since there's very little drape, it behaves similarly to actual muslin fabric and is therefore helpful for finding and fixing fit issues. Here's the back view so you can see the elastic in back.
Next I tried a much different fabric, and also played around with a longer length, for those of you who would prefer to have a long pant pattern. The inseam length on this brown pair is 32" which is really a "tall" (I'm 5'8). I'm planning to include a cutting line for the more standard length (30" inseam), as well as an easy guide so that if you need less or more length on the inseam it will be super easy to get the correct length.
I was really happy with how these turned out -- I love this slub linen/rayon blend fabric (posted more info about it here, by the way, if you're interested in sources). which made these pants incredibly dreamy and comfy.
Last week, I made another pair out of yarn-dyed Manchester cotton. Like quilter's cotton, this fabric has very little drape and will probably get pretty wrinkly, but I wanted to try and see if a kick-pleat would work as nicely as four separate outward-facing pleats (like the ones above have). What do you think?
Rose pants / made by rae
Currently we have the pattern graded into all nine sizes (that's our extended women's size range) but the pieces need a few more edits before it will be ready for testers. Meanwhile, I'm starting to sketch diagrams and write the instruction steps this week. Fun, fun!!! Tentative launch is set for early next spring.
I'm really excited to bring another fun pant pattern to the sewing pattern market -- Luna has been a huge success and I hope you're excited about Rose, too. Which view is your favorite so far? Do you prefer the separate pleats or the kick-pleats? Any other ideas you want to share? We're always open to feedback and it's fun when a great idea gets incorporated into a new pattern.
PS. If you're interested in reading more about how we make a pattern here at MBR, check out my behind-the-scenes post from last week!