Butterick B4861 - Red Silk Pleated Palazzo Pants

Last weekend I finished sewing another pair of pants - I'm calling these palazzo pants, but they are actually Gauchos.  I have been revamping my wardrobe and wanted to make pants our of some of the fabric that I have in my stash, but I didn't want to use the bold prints that I have with regular pant patterns because I just didn't think that would work.  And I didn't want to make skirts because I really don't like wearing skirts anymore and that was when it occurred to me that what I really wanted was gauchos - the fullness of skirts, the convenience of pants.  I went to the Butterick/McCall/Vogue web site and did a pattern search and found two discontinued patterns that were on sale at a deep discount.  I bought both.

I have yards and yards of this red silk, in fact this pattern barely dented the quantity that I have.  This is a lightweight plain weave silk, not as heavy as a broadcloth, and it has a strong inclination to ravel.  I washed and ironed the fabric before using it.  I had actually done that some time ago because I was going to make a Steampunk outfit to wear at Bead & Button.  I think I used the delicate cycle for both the washer and the dryer.  Silk can be a challenge to work with.  After I had cut out the pattern pieces I overcast all of the raw edges.  I have found that when sewing silk overcasting the raw edges helps stabilize things and makes it easier to sew the seams.  This is especially true when sewing silk charmeuse, which is very slippery to work with.  Washing silk charmeuse really helps reduce the slippery factor as well.

I wore these to work on Monday with the top that is hanging next to them.  My husband told me it was a "pretty fabulous" outfit.  For the button I used a Czech pressed glass button that I had gotten in trade (for some of my woven scarves) at a Bead & Button show some years ago.