The Calyer Pants by French Navy

Since January I have somehow sewn seven pairs of pants! I am a little shocked reading that sentence! Most of these were pattern tests, including this lovely pair of pants by Sarah-May of French Navy.



I enjoyed testing The Forsythe Dress over the summer and knew Sarah-May was pleasant to work with and takes tester feedback seriously. She teased a few pants pictures on instagram and they looked like the perfect casual or dressy pants. Luckily I got picked to test with some other wonderful testers! Check out their beautiful work!



The Calyer Pants feature a slim silhouette with a beautifully finished flat front/elastic back waistband. I have never sewn a waistband with this method before and it is so neat and tidy I will use it on other patterns with a similar design! They have a flat or pleated front and the back seam is twisted towards the front. Due to the twisted seam, it is much simpler to shorten or lengthen the pattern pieces before sewing rather than simply trimming at the bottom before hemming. All of the instructions for lengthening/shortening and measurements are included, as well as notches to line everything up as designed. I also really love the pocket placement because they don't gape or pop out! A pleasant surprise was the lovely technical drawings throughout the pattern instructions! The pattern comes in seven sizes and while it doesn't have layered capabilities it is very convenient for grading between sizes and it is also easy to cut out in one size (not a lot of overlapping parts where it's difficult to determine which size is which).



I sewed a bedsheet muslin in size M for my hips. I shortened about an inch or so based on my inseam and the pattern's inseam. While the medium fit I knew I'd be more comfortable with ease for chasing my busy three year old so I sized up to a large for my final version. I also discovered that I needed more room in the calves (this seems to be common for me and I'm not really surprised because I've always had relatively larger calves) so I graded to the next size from the knee down.



The Calyer Pants are designed for light to medium weight fabrics with excellent drape. I found some peachskin at Walmart and loved the color and it had good drape so I decided it was worth trying. I've never sewn with peachskin before and while it is barely fuzzy like peach skin it does shift around and is kind of a pain to sew with. I used a new needle and my walking foot and used extra weights when cutting. I can't remember if I cut it in a single layer so I probably didn't but that's certainly an option.



You may notice there is more drapiness at the twisted seams on my pair versus the other tester pairs. I am guessing this is due to fabric choice and the parts of the pattern that are cut more on the bias. I would like to try these secret pajamas with a slightly less drapey fabric.

By far the biggest challenge was STATIC. Oh my goodness it was ridiculous. I think it also may have affected how it was sewn on my machine even though I used extra wonder clips. It doesn't help that I live in a high desert and it was winter when I sewed these. I sprayed with static guard so many times and they still like to stick. I think I need a trip to somewhere humid so I can look like a fancy tourist with non staticky pants! Do you have any static beating tips?

Ansley (my almost nine year old daughter photographer) said I looked weird with my top tucked in but I wanted to show the sleek waistband. All of these pictures are paired with a sized down Simplicity 1690 blouse.







Thanks for stopping by!