Named Clothing Marie Blouse and StyleArc Lola pants hack

 

A couple of months ago, Lauren of Baste and Gather made some gorgeous Hudson pants in stretch woven fabric with added patch pockets. I had to have some. Immediately. Determined not to buy any new patterns and not owning the Hudson pattern, I searched through my collection. I emerged with the StyleArc Lola pants pattern. I have made this pattern numerous times in knit and woven fabrics, but never in a stretch woven. I set about drafting front and back pockets and an elasticated cuff so they looked just like Lauren's. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

I used a fairly lightweight stretch fabric, nabbed for $2/m at a local designer closing down sale. You should see how much I bought at that sale. Everything was $2/m. OMG!

I made the front pockets quite large, maybe a bit too large at the opening, but I love hanging out with my hands in them! The side seams were taken in a bit until they seemed about right, then I added some bar tacks to strengthen the lower pocket opening. Yeah, I ran out of topstitching thread and changed colour halfway. I tell myself it's hardly noticeable. It bugs me every time I notice it.

The back pockets are rectangles with the bottom corner folded in. I pinned them here and there on my rear end until they looked ok in the mirror, then sewed them in place.

The lower cuffs were made the same width as the waistband and with the same construction method - insert elastic, stretch elastic to match cuff, sew two parallel lines of stitching through elastic and cuff, attach to pants.

HOT TIP: don't make the elastic fit your ankle as you would fit your waist. It will be too tight! The ankle elastic should be a bit loose-fitting. Mine could be slightly looser.

On to the blouse. This is the Marie blouse by Named Clothing. You may have seen the Marie dress I made with the same pattern. I bought some floaty silk/cotton fabric for this at Potter Textiles. It is beautiful to wear.

I deviated slightly from the instructions by adding elastic to the sleeves above the elbows, as in the dress, and by leaving off the elastic at the waistline. This resulted in a comfy and relaxed top that suits my lifestyle. 

I love both these pieces and the pants have been worn constantly since I made them. Thank you to Lauren for the inspiration. I'm already planning my next pair!