Butterick B4861 - Art Nouveau Palazzo Pants I

I took a break from knitting this weekend and did a little sewing.  I ordered this fabric from the Vogue Fabrics On Line site.  I get their swatches.  I rarely order fabric anymore.  When I first started sewing I ordered a lot of fabric from Fashion Fabrics On Line.  They had a swatch club as well.  They no longer have the swatch club, and don't seem to have as interesting a selection, although they still carry a lot of fabric.

I ordered two different cotton Art Nouveau prints - the one I used to make these pants and the one in the photo below, which will be used to make another pair of pants using the same pattern.

I started out the way I always do - washing the fabric.  I threw both pieces into the washing machine, along with a color catcher, and washed and dried them the way I would the finished piece.  Then I ironed them.  The photo above was taken on the ironing board.

Here's the one I used this weekend, after ironing, hanging out on my loom.

Given the bold pattern of this fabric, I knew that I had to be very careful laying the pattern pieces out.  First I pulled out the pieces that I needed and ironed them.  Then I laid out the fabric in a single layer and placed the front and back leg pieces, carefully lining them up vertically.

Once I had cut out the pieces, I marked them and then unpinned that pattern tissue and laid the cut pattern pieces right side down on the fabric, matching the fabric pattern as best I could.  After cutting them out I laid the pattern tissue on them and marked them.

The sewing didn't take very long, overcasting the raw edges after sewing the seams took the longest.

I also took some care with the placement of the waistband, and I laid it out across the grain, rather than with the grain, because of the directionality of the pattern on the fabric.  I couldn't make the pattern line up with the pattern on the pants (not being tubular), but I could at least maintain the symmetry.

The button is a vintage glass button that I found at a Bead & Button show some years ago.  It is actually a transparent purple, but the light is starting to go, so I couldn't get the best picture of it.

I also conveniently had a 7" zipper in my stash that was the right color.  This is the real advantage of having lots of things in my stash, I can usually complete a project without having to run out to the store to buy notions.