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Cashmerette Club - Ashwood Pants - 4202


Cashmerette - Ashwood Pants



We've taken the comfort of leggings and added a pinch of polish, and voila! The Ashwood Pants are elegant ponte pants with stylish princess seams and optional front slits, and of course, pockets. The Ashwood is fitted through the waist and hips and flares below the knees, with a yoga-style waistband for the ultimate in waist comfort. A super-speedy sew, you'll be ready to hit the town in your secret pajamas in no time.

Pattern Sizing:
PDF download only.
0-32, Includes 35-62” hip. 
Separate files for both size ranges (0-16 and 12-32) are included. 
Recommend fabric Ponte or double knit with approximately 30% stretch across the grain and 10-20% stretch along the grain.
I used bengaline from Spotlight which does not have any stretch along the grain.

Fit Changes
I didn’t make any fit alterations because I assumed they would fit me. That was silly of me really because I just made the Cashmerette Meriam trousers and took out 1.5” from the crotch length. I think I was just super excited by my hem design that I overlooked the obvious. 
So I made them up and the crotch depth was 2” too long. My conundrum then was how to fix it? 

First version where the crotch was too long

Option 1: unpicking the coverstitching and remove some length from the top edge of pocket so I can move the waistband down. Pro- the pockets are long so shortening them wouldn’t matter and the top edge of the pocket is just folded over and topstitched, unpicking coverstitch is easy. I could reuse the existing waistband.
Con- restitching the section of coverstitching would be tricky as the garment is sewn together and my machine does not have a lot of clearance so I would have to unpick the CF and CB seams part way. 

Option 2: remove the waistband and unpick it to make a single layer waistband. Sew the narrower top edge of the waistband to the waist and create a floating facing on the inside instead of a waistband. Pro- I keep the shape of the hips in the correct position. Con- I would only be able to secure the new facing at the vertical seam lines because it would now be behind the pocket and I can’t close them up. 

Solution chosen - option 2, I unpicked the waistband and made it a single layer but also cut a waistband from powermesh to add an extra layer of support, I used clear elastic around the waist to add extra tension which is like the original version. 

The waistband is sewn to the inside of the pants giving the support and shortening the crotch length


I added power mesh to the waistband for extra strength

Design changes 
These are floor length flaired pants but I don’t like flairs and it’s summer in Australia so I don’t need long pants. 
I removed the flair by drawing a straight line from the knee to the hem using the grid printed on the PDF pattern to make sure the line was parallel to the grainline.
Initially I planned to just shorten the pants to just below the knee. I cut my fabric and constructed the pattern making up each leg and leaving the inseam open. The pattern instructions ask you to sew the fronts together at the crotch seam after adding the pocket but it is easier to coverstitch the seam lines without the excess of another leg attached so I didn’t do it that way.
Having completed each leg and cover stitching the indicated vertical seams I decided to add an intricate basket weave hem detail.


Vertical strips pinned in place


Basket weave hem
I cut 8 x 2” wide by 150cm long strips along the straight grain. I overlocked 1 long edge and pressed the strip into 3rds like you would a belt loop. I topstitched the strip 4 times in coordinating thread. 
I cut the hem off the pants in a arrowhead shape with the point at the side seam. 
I unpicked 1cm of the side seam and added reinforcement stitching to the side seam stopping at the new point 1cm from the edge.
After overlocking the raw edge of the hem I pressed it 1cm to the wrong side.


Basket weave hem
I cut 8 x 2” wide by 150cm long strips along the straight grain. I overlocked 1 long edge and pressed the strip into 3rds like you would a belt loop. I topstitched the strip 4 times in coordinating thread. 
I cut the hem off the pants in a arrowhead shape with the point at the side seam. 
I unpicked 1cm of the side seam and added reinforcement stitching to the side seam stopping at the new point 1cm from the edge.
After overlocking the raw edge of the hem I pressed it 1cm to the wrong side.



My fabric choice of a busy print worked to my advantage as all the overlapping topstitching I did would have looked very messy on a solid colour but you can’t see it on this print. 

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