Red pants/trousers fail/success

I know that Tempest's Bowiealong ended on April 8th.  I also know that since the Sew Weekly wrapped up last year, I've been cutting myself a lot of slack when it comes to creative deadlines.  I'm doing it for fun this year, not for a challenge.  Deadlines are dead to me. 

Way back in March when I decided to do a Bowie inspired make, I pinned these images:

I thought about doing red pants/trousers and some kind of feathered piece.  Like this:

or this:  

...but then practicality overcame fantasy.  Or to put it in sewcialist terms, I opted for cake over frosting. Also, I could only find cheap white chicken feathers at my local fabric store, and haven't had time to make the journey downtown to a better notion shop.  I'm still keeping my eyes open though, and may try to put some feathered creation together.

For now, I settled on just making myself a pair of red trousers.  It's a trend that may be fading, but I still wanted a pair; I just couldn't find the exact right shade of red.  You know what I mean?  Not too brown, not too orange, just right.  I had some cheap red twill that I bought in Cape Town last year that would do nicely for a (wearable?) muslin.  Yeah, what made me think that my first pair of fitted fly-front trousers ever would be wearable?  Naive optimism, I guess.

I won't even humour you with a photo of said trousers.  They  hang about 2 inches too low in the front and give me a mega wedgie in the back.  Not a flattering look to say the least. 

Leggings, however, I can whip up in about an hour, even after a busy day (who am I kidding, all my days are busy.  That's why I blog about once a month at best....)

 I traced a pattern off the best-fitting pair of RTW leggings that I own, tweaked the proportions a bit, and now I've got a pair in just the right shade of red, with just the right fiber content.  Is it only me that hates buying leggings that are almost 100% nylon and feeling itchy all day?  This fabric is medium weight cotton with a bit of lycra - not quite the weight of ponte, but thicker than T-shirt jersey.  Just right.  I overbought because it was on sale for $7/m, so there is enough left over for a few pairs for my little miss who just turned 4 and has decided that she will only wear pants if they are tight all the way down.  Since when do 4 year-olds have such strict fashion requirements?!?

If you're interested in making your own, there are loads of tutorials on Youtube.  One of the best ones for drafting your own pattern is here. I just took my leggings, put one leg inside the other and traced them on paper, starting with the inseam and rolling the leggings on the paper as I went.  That way, I have one pattern piece with a seam up the inside of the leg and a crotch seam.  Then I just have to finish the waist with elastic or a fold-over top, hem the legs and I'm done.  Easy peasy. 

Maybe I'll do a step-by-step tutorial some time, but frankly, it's pretty damn simple to figure out yourself.  Hell, if I can do it, anyone can.    

In lieu of said tutorial, here are a bunch of photos of the red leggings in action.  Bowie I ain't, but I think it's close enough to pass Tempest's rigorous requirements, n'est-ce pas? 

three generations of bird watchers

Most Bowie-along participants had furry models, so I tried to include my obviously reluctant Moe

Rear view with disdainful feline model

Coming up next time on the old blog:  Me-Made-May2013 planning!