The “Flow and Flower” Summer Capris

The Facts
Fabric: Cotton Poplin, $14 per metre (1.5 metres)
Pattern: Vogue 8712 (altered to omit the bottom panel on the leg)
Year: 2012
Notions: Elastic
Time to complete: 3 hours
First worn: For these photos
Wear again? I can hardly wait until the weather is more amenable to wear them!
Total price: $20

I had no idea what to make for this week’s challenge – being that it’s so wintery here, I really wasn’t feeling summer inspired – but then I saw this cotton poplin in the shop on a quick dash to the fabric store last week and I knew that I was going to make something fabulous for the summer out of them!

The woman cutting my fabric seemed a bit surprised when I told her I was going to attempt capris out of the fabric – this was a double-bordered piece and neither of us were sure if it would be possible. But when I came home and tested the pattern, it turned out to be entirely do-able, so I went ahead and I’ve now got my first summer wardrobe item.

Alterations: I cut these a size too big and then had to reduce the pant at the crotch seam, which means that the pants are a mite wider in the leg than the pattern design would suggest – but with the flowing pattern, it just gives them a greater sense of movement. I also omitted a bottom panel on the leg because I didn’t want to interrupt the pattern from the bottom and also because I wanted a pant that sat at the bottom of the calf (as opposed to just above the ankle as per the pattern).

I highly recommend the pattern I used, and can imagine many different pant styles which could be created with it. There are two elastic-waisted options (which I chose for ease of figuring out the pattern) and one option with a button and zipper. Option A took me less than three hours to put together – which is what I call a fast piece of clothing.

Spring and summer fabrics are rolling into my local shops now which means there will be a lot more lightweight clothing running under the sewing machine in the next little while – even if the weather here is still dismal (hence the indoor photos today – sleet does nothing for the bare feet of summer).