So  I have two finished objects this week, both from the same pattern! The Anita Ponti Pant pattern by Tessuti Fabrics.

My sister and I were discussing while out shopping recently a pair of slim leg ponti pants she was wearing and how much she loved them. I also liked them very much! 🙂 She was telling me they’re so comfy but also stylish and can be dressed up or down depending on the circumstances. I thought to myself I gotta have me some of those, I wonder if they’re like those ones I saw on that blog?

And they were! I came across this pattern while reading about Rachel of Boo Dogg and Me’s Bleach Boys pair. They looked so lovely and by Rachel’s own admission comfy and cosy and as I’ve moved away from flared pants to more slim-line style, I really liked them for that too. I also have a new-found love of Ponti so these were perfect! I knew they were very similar to the ones my sister was wearing and only for $10 for a downloadable pattern – winning!!!

I recently put in an order on Fabric.com for some fabrics for making products for my store and as I was already there, picked up some fairly cheap as chips ponti (or ponte as they call it) for a couple pairs of pants. The only ponti I’ve purchased in Adelaide was in the vicinity of $18.99 full price (although I paid only $8; again: winning!) so at US$9.98/yard each of these pairs of pants cost probably <$20 so I'm chuffed with that. I purchased 1.5 yrds each of the Blue/Black Leopard print ponte de roma (I’m wearing these today! 😉 ) and Geometric in Putty/Black ponte de roma.

Also, I’d like to just stop for a moment and give kudos to Fabric.com; I was so impressed with their service. Postage from the US was only ~$25 and I received my parcel about 3 days after it was shipped. Gotta love that! 🙂 They have tons of great percentage off offers too and a daily deal so definitely check them out. And no, I’m not being paid to say that! I just think it’s so hard to get a decent selection of fabric types and designs at good prices in Oz so when you find a place (albeit not in Australia) where you can get a good deal with good service and quick postage, you spread it around! 😉

I diverged from the prescribed construction method after reading some other blogs about these pants. Other people had simply put them together on their overlockers so that’s what I did. It really cut down on construction time by sewing and finishing in one go. I decreased my stitch length a little though, bringing it down to ~2-2.5mm so it was more inline with what I would use on my sewing machine.

Outside leg seams done.

I did originally try my machine but for some reason the stretch straight stitch wasn’t sewing properly. It was leaving all these loops on the bobbin side. I guess it might be something to do with tension but I couldn’t remedy it and along with the added ease of overlocking the decision to just overlock was the winner.

Nearly have some pants!!!

Everything in the construction of these pants was quick and easy until I got to the twin needle part. Oh. My. Gosh. I hate twin needles!!! I spent the better part of an hour working out the best settings on my machine thanks to some awesome tutorials on the web. I’ve discovered I need to make a lot of changes to the settings on my machine to make the twin needle work. I had to change tension, needle position, threading of the needles… I was nearly pulling my hair out over this!!! And then when I thought I had it, the thread would snap and I’d have to re-thread, unpick and try again. BUT, all that being said, I did figure it out and got a half decent result on my waist of one pair (I stretch stitched the other) and the four hems. See proof below:

A little dark I know, but you can definitely see it. Right? 😉

The only fit changes I would make would be to deepen the crotch a little, and lengthen the legs by about 2 inches or so. I have only short legs and thought I’d be okay but when I tried on the first pair, after I’d hemmed them by the prescribed 3cm (after trying on and deciding the 3cm would be fine *eye roll*) they were about an inch too short. Perfect cropped pant length but not what I was after. I couldn’t be bothered unpicking and resewing (after all the problems with the twin needle!) so I’ve just left them as they are. They’re fine for at home with ugg boots or going out in the slightly warmer weather with some ballet flats. The second pair (leopard) I hemmed at 1.5cm and they are pretty much perfect, although another half an inch wouldn’t have gone astray. I wore them today with my ankle boots and they’re just long enough to overlap the boots and look fine. In fact, I very much enjoyed wearing them today for a trip down to Victor for lunch with Mr. MyMuddlings. 🙂