So I made me some pants: Plinka Pants

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Sometimes inspiration strikes at the oddest moments.

For a while now I’ve wanted to return to a regular yoga practice and recently tried a new studio.  Settling in for class, I spied some fantastic pants a couple rows ahead of me. What grabbed my attention was how much they were not like typical yoga pants. They were a deep russet color, wide-legged and really flowy. They appeared to be made from linen or voile — something very lightweight. Definitely not your basic black fitted lycra yoga pant. And henceforth I became obsessed with the thought of soft, flowy yoga pants.

And, so, did I make myself yoga pants? Nope. I guess this is a case where the end product strayed a bit from the genesis of my inspiration. My pants are wide-legged, relaxed and linen, but not really yoga class attire. I’ve worn them out a few times now and I think they are a unique and stylish summer option. Especially helpful for covering mosquito-bitten legs, while keeping you cool on warm days.

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I don’t recall exactly the path that led me to these pants, but it started with scrolling through linen fabric choices online late one night, and then somehow stumbling onto some great patterns by designer Tina Givens. I purchased some patterns (more reveals coming soon!) and also downloaded the free pattern for her Plinka Pants.

These pants were my introduction to Tina Givens. I’m still wondering how I’d never heard of her. I love that her designs are so unfussy but still feminine. And they leave plenty of room for you to add your own design elements and embellishments. I’m giving myself way too much credit here, but I felt a certain kinship with her design vision. Scrolling through her pattern gallery I was struck by how similar some of her designs are to the items I sketch for myself or rip from magazines or simply imagine wearing.

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The sewing was easy but the instructions are pretty light (about one page of instruction!). I guess I have become spoiled with the high level of direction, photographs and diagrams included by most of the independent pattern makers I have sewn. It’s not that the techniques used in these pants were tricky, but I think it would definitely be helpful to have a good understanding of the techniques involved, as well as the basics of constructing clothes, so that you can follow along with the limited directions. This is not the kind of pattern that includes instruction on the individual techniques needed to complete the pattern. I couldn’t for the life of me understand the description for the final step of attaching the ruffle along the pant hem. I just attached it the way I typically add a ruffle trim, even though I think a different method was being described.

The only advice I would share about the pattern (and I think this might apply generally to TG patterns, since it was also relevant to the next TG pattern I tried) is that her style is very relaxed — there is nothing fitted about these items!! — and depending on your personal comfort level with additional fullness in your clothing (i.e., is this a romantic, flow-y look, or do I look like I’m smuggling something in my clothes?), you may want to reduce some of that fullness. I sewed a size small (her pattern sizes cover a wide range), altered the pattern to shorten the length to about mid-calf and reduced some of the fullness in the legs. Yep, this is the reduced fullness version! These are very wide-legged pants – kind of a ruffled hem version of a harem pant. As one of my friends remarked, “It looks like a skirt, until you start walking.”

I tried taking some photographs holding the pant legs out to their fullest width to make my point about the fullness, but the result was so ridiculous looking I just couldn’t post them. We are in the middle of toilet-training my daughter, and the way I looked in the photos reminded me of the way my daughter walks when she’s had an accident and wants her pants off ASAP. Actually this whole photography session was humorous because I was using the self-timer on my camera and running back and forth taking shots and posing, trying to accomplish it all within the 24 minute window I had while the kids watched a television show On Demand.  And any typical self-consciousness about having my picture taken was compounded by the fact I was paranoid my neighbors could watch my silly sprint-filled photo shoot on the porch.

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These pants are super comfortable. And the linen-rayon blend fabric I used is perfect. It provides a nice drape but doesn’t wrinkle the way pure linen does. And, I scored it on sale at Jo-Anns, which made these pants a super bargain considering the pattern was graciously provided for free on the Tina Givens website.

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I’m actually starting to re-think my statement that these pants wouldn’t work for yoga! They are so relaxed, not restrictive in the least. Or maybe I’ve been confusing them with pajamas — nice bed head, huh?

Happy start to summer!