Fibremood Thara Wide-Leg Trousers

There’s a new issue of Fibremood magazine out today (#25) and whenever one comes out I’m amongst a group of sewists who get to choose a pattern from a preview to try out. I join in if a design appeals to me and if it fits in with plans that I already have. This time around I made the Fibremood Thara wide-leg trousers {AD gifted pattern}. I’d already planned to sew up this particular brown fabric in a wide-leg style…but…the pattern is designed for woven fabrics and my fabric is a ponte knit…I like to live dangerously 😁.

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The Thara design has a side zip, a contoured facing at the waist, wide legs that have a decorative centre-front pintuck and lower-leg side silts. As I said, it’s recommended for wovens and I used ponte knit, so be warned if you decide to copy me 🙂. 

My yummy chocolate brown ponte came from Croftmill. It’s fairly stretchy and quite weighty and when I decided to sew up the Thara trousers/pants I had it in my mind to make them as an elasticated waist lounge pant which worked out really well. To accommodate the stretch of my knit fabric I sized down between one and two sizes.

Overall the instructions were fine and quite easy to follow. My one minor pet peeve with Fibremood patterns though, is how short the grainlines are drawn on the pattern pieces. On these pant pattern pieces, it was only a few inches long and on a full-length garment, it makes it hard to get on-grain when cutting out. I had to get my really long L square and draw the grainlines longer myself. Something to bear in mind if you make up this design.

Having tried out the ‘top down, centre out’ method in one of my previous posts I already had a rough idea of what shape the crotch curves needed to be on this pattern so I didn’t go through the whole process again. I just compared pattern pieces against the font and back crotch seams and made some small adjustments. 

The first thing you do when sewing up Thara is to sew the decorative centre front tuck. I marked my line from top to bottom and pressed a fold for me to stitch along. Next up in the process is where there are options. You can if you want, insert banded stripes of contrasting colour down the side fronts for a modern sporty vibe. I kind of liked this effect but not enough to commit to cutting through my patterns and making them permanent, so I decided to wait until they were finished before I made up my mind. If I wanted them, I could simply sew some strips of fabric or ribbon on at the end

The side slits were a breeze to sew and of course, I had no zip to contend with so that speeded up the whole process. The final bit of construction was my elasticated waist and for that, I just used the existing facing pieces (made a little deeper) which I used without interfacing. I simply attached them as per instructions along the waistline and then added a row of stitching to create my elastic channel, leaving a gap to thread the elastic through.

Once the trousers were finished I went back and forth in my head about whether to put on a side stripe or not. I tried out a few colours and in the end, I chickened out and went down the subtle route using an olive green ponte. I think if I change my mind I could always apply a narrower bolder stripe down the middle of the green, but I’m happy with them right now.

Overall this was a fun project and I’m super happy with the fit. The fact that I swapped out a woven for a knit fabric worked out just fine. I know I’m going to enjoy them worn with loafers and sneakers with a light sweater for Autumn. Having said that Summer has finally made a comeback here in the UK and I’m currently wearing a linen top and skirt in the baking hot sun. I’m still planning my Autumn makes though because I have more than enough hot weather clothes for the time being.

Thanks for stopping by, See you soon!