Faux Suede Style Arc Sage Trousers

More trousers! (sorry, not sorry, hehe 🙂 ) What can I say? Trousers are a wardrobe staple for me so I like to make many different iterations. These rust-coloured faux suede Style Arc Sage trousers are a recent make. It’s the first time I’ve tried a trouser pattern by Style Arc, and I’m pleasantly surprised at how well-drafted they are.

Before I dive into the pattern details and talk about the sewing process, a quick word about my fabric. It’s a sueded scuba knit fabric that has a bit of stretch, and I found it on the Croftmill website (sold out now). It was lovely to work with and stitched easily with a size 70 jersey needle.

If you’re not familiar with Style Arc patterns, they sell both PDF and paper patterns. When you buy a PDF, you’re given the size that you order plus the size above and the size below to allow for grading up or down between sizes. I ordered a size 10, and I sewed up a size 10, grading out to a 12 at the waist.

Faux Suede Style Arc Sage Trousers Fit Adjustments

Pattern adjustments for fit that I made, besides making the waist a bit bigger, were to straighten the front crotch curve and to scoop out the back crotch curve. I also discovered through trial and error that I had more sitting room if I angled the centre back seam inwards a bit. Having said all of that, I made quite a major change, and I added seams down the back legs so that I could have more fit control to reduce a bit of under-bum excess fabric and to shape in at my ankles. I’ve become a huge fan of back-leg seams lately because I’ve been having much more success fitting slim-legged trouser patterns when I’ve used them. Have you tried adding back-leg seams to slim-fit trouser patterns? Let me know in the comments 🙂

You can’t have missed that little design feature I’ve added to the fronts. This pattern has lovely angled seams on either side and I thought adding zips would be a great feature. Potentially, you could put pockets where those seams are, but I didn’t want any extra bulk, so my zips are purely decorative. The metal teeth felt rough on the inside, so to make for a more comfortable wearing experience, I’ve handsewn some strips of Merino wool jersey fabric on the back. It’s not the neatest looking solution but it does the job, hehe.

I love how the zips look and if you didn’t want zips, you could also highlight those seams with topstitching or some piping.

PS…You’ll notice that I didn’t bother with overlocking any seam edges as this fabric resists fraying.

I used a lovely deep elastic at the waist. It’s anchored in place along the upper edge with a zig-zag stitch on the inside as per the instructions. I strayed a bit from the instructions for attaching the band to the trousers by only sewing the outer fabric along to the top edge and then sewing in the ditch to attach the inside fabric. I feel like this is less bulky and lies flat.

Sewing the Sage pattern was really enjoyable and even though Style Arc instructions aren’t the most detailed, I didn’t encounter any problems. I’ve never sewn a very complicated garment by Style Arc, so I can’t comment on what the instructions would be like for, say, a tailored coat. Less experienced sewers might struggle. Have you sewn any SA patterns? The other design I’ve tried is the Indigo skirt which I made twice

I love these trousers so much that I cut out a second pair in a marbled print suede scuba and I’m already halfway through sewing those up. I love it when I find a slim-leg trouser pattern that I can work with to get the fit just how I like it. I’m pretty sure I’ll be using this as a TNT from now on. I can imagine lots of ways to change up the design…don’t you just love how it feels to be able to create unique pieces?

As always thanks for stopping by my blog for a read. Don’t forget I love a natter in the comments too.

See you soon!