The Persephone Pants

I have been doing a lot of reflection around fear lately and in particular the fear of failure. I have missed so many opportunities due to my fear of not being enough, not knowing enough and the fear of failing. It’s taken me a few years and a ton of self reflection but I am slowly changing my relationship with fear. Unless a situation is truly life threatening I am learning to embrace fear and seeing it as a catalyst to change. Fear is my friend. It means I am on the cusp of learning something new, even if it doesn’t go right first time around. Step into fear….. It’s where the magic happens ✨

Now for my thoughts on the Persephone Pants. Every time I see a pair of these pants in my Insta feed I go Gaga! And they didn’t disappoint. They have been a little bit of a roller coaster sew and I don’t think I have them quite right yet but they are edging closer to being a great fit.

For my toile, I cut a straight size 6 in a 10oz stretch denim from The Fabric Store in a yummy cream colour. I omitted the front pockets, replaced the button fly with a zipper fly front and after reading a few comments I changed the waistband to a curved waistband. I was able to use the waistband and fly front pattern pieces from The Dawn Jean.

The Persephone Pants are a high waisted pant, however, I found them to be sky high in the waist. I reduced the rise by 1.5cm through the lengthen and shorten line and then took an additional 0.5cm from the centre back rise at the waist to accommodate my flat seat. I really don’t like when pants buckle a centre back before the waistband and this small adjustment solves that problem for me.

I also found the size 6 to be a little big on my toile. This was the adjustment that cause me the most concern. I have read many blog posts on these pants where makers have sized down and then their pant was too tight. Against my better judgment, I made a rookie error and graded down a full size for my final version. And my final version was made in a beautiful black rigid 10oz Cotton Twill from A+R Fabrics.

That right there was my rookie error and I absolutely should know better. From a toile with some stretch to a rigid final, what was I thinking! Even as I was cutting the pattern down to the size 4 I was questioning every snip. In hindsight I should have graded down a half size and graded the waist up ever so slightly given the waistband would now be sitting down lower on my waist.

Anyway……. after a long Friday night of sewing I finished my second version of the pant at around 11.30pm. I tried them on and they were tight! Particularly in the waist. I would not have been able to eat a single pea without popping them! But I had to rescue them because the rigid 10oz Cotton Drill fabrication was amazing.

I decide to sleep on a solution and when I woke I had a plan of action. I unpicked the waistband and tried on the pant without the waistband and hallelujah they fit. I measured the top of the pant while they were on my body to work out the waistband length required so that the pant would fit comfortably.

I recut the waistband adding 4cm to its length, let out the back darts and centre back rise a smidge gaining an extra 1.5cm to the waist of the main pant. With these adjustments I now have a Persephone Pant in a 10oz Rigid Cotton Drill that fit beautiful.

My learnings from this project for my next pair are only grade down a half size, keep the rise adjustment and grade the waistband up a half size. If you are reducing the length of the rise so the pant will finish lower on your waist it’s important to increase the length of the waistband as it will sit on a slightly wider part of your waist. It’s going to be third time lucky with this pattern.