Pattern: Persephone Pants by Anna Allen

Fabric: Stretch Twill in Mustard

Size: 16

Started: November 27, 2019

Completed: November 28, 2019

One of the patterns I have heard recommended nearly unanimously on the Sewing Internet has been the Anna Allen Persephone pants. They’re supposed to be incredibly comfortable and universally flattering. That is a lot of hype, and I was not sure these would live up to it for me – this is not a silhouette I can ever remember wearing and after a life of mostly RTW I generally assume most pants will not look good on me. I am so glad that sewing has pushed my outside of my comfort zone here, because I love my first pair of Persephones and plan to make many more!

The unusual thing about this pants pattern is that they don’t have an outside seam. You cut out the pieces and they look totally unlike pants. I found the instructions to be incredibly clear, though, and they came together really quickly. The pattern is drafted for a button-fly, but I hate those so I used the zipper expansion pack which made a scary step super easy. I made a sad zipper mistake – I trimmed it and then zipped my zipper pull right off! There’s no way to recover from that mistake, unfortunately, so I had to rip out my zipper and replace it with a new one. I truly thought I might lose the pants entirely and was shocked at how simple the process was. Sewing is pretty amazing in that way, you can recover from so many mistakes!

One thing I was worried about in terms of these pants being flattering is that they have no back pockets. I do think a lot about the underwear I wear with these, but I think that may especially be an issue because this fabric is on the thinner side of bottom weight and is lighter colored. I plan to experiment with adding pack pockets to my next pair as I use them a lot in my clothing and the front pockets on these are cute but not super convenient to use. You can’t see the front pockets in any of my photos, I realize – they sit between the belt loops on each side and are just big enough to hold my phone.

A local stray cat joined us so we decided to include her in our photoshoot. One choice I made that I regret was not interfacing the waistband. The interfacing I had would not stick to the fabric and in a fit I just tore it off and sewed on the piece without it. The waistband crumples down a lot and would definitely look nicer if I had taken the time to try again rather than being so impatient. The other thing I would do differently if I were to redo this pair is I would go down one size. These pants are drafted for non-stretch fabric. I thought the 3% spandex in my fabric wouldn’t be a big deal, but I think it makes them look a bit stretched out and messy at times, and I think a slightly smaller size would have mitigated this.

My favorite thing about these pants is that they are truly high-waisted – they sit at my natural waist. One of the hardest things about dressing with an ostomy is getting waistbands to hit in a comfortable place. This is the first pair of pants I have found that are high enough to entirely cover my bag, rather than bisecting it, and one of the reason I plan to make them a staple of my wardrobe.

Do you have a pattern that works just right for your body that you make over and over? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

• fofriday