Calyer Pants — Victoria Martinez

Well, it’s been a year, as I anticipated, of little time for sewing and much time devoted to learning. Equally, finding time to write, or even post my work writing here, or stay on top of work and school and kids, has all felt difficult, or big enough that I haven’t bothered. That said, after my second assignment was knocked off and while i was still casting about about aimlessly for my project idea (rather than casting about directionally now) for class, I knocked off a quick project.

Full outfit view: white shirt (second hand), Ked’s (thrifted), black silk pants

Realiztically, I have a bustier project that’s near completion and a shirt whose fit I want to tweak, but it was that mood for the whole process. Plus being back in office, I want more trousers. Soooo I hit up a project I’ve had in mind since May 2020: Calyer Pants made from my dad’s cast off judge’s robes.

I don’t write down my ideas, I don’t largely do croquis. But there are ideas that follow you over years, and I am so grateful for those.

My previous Calyer pants fit well and the only major “do next time” note was that it didn’t need to be quite so long. In lazy sewing style, I eyeballed the reduction of a 1/2 cm at the hem. Cut these out while watching Encanto with the fam, including the time necessary to rip the seams of the robes. And by rip, I mean the satisfying cut a couple threads at the beginning then rrrrrip because silk is strong, especially at a twill weight.

Incidentally, I find it deeply annoying when people describe silk as delicate. It can only be as delicate as it is sometimes made because of its incredible tensile strength, thank you. Like, OK, synthetic fibers can be stronger but… if you sew with any natural fibers, silk has better tensile strength. Annnyway.

Former stitch line visible along with dart at right hip

I did try to get the robe as flat as I could before cutting, but I missed that there were chest darts. There were also the previous folds to contend with, which I more or less ignored, except that they seemed to be perpendicular to the hem/ on grain so I decided to use them as grain lines for better or for worse. Obviously the whole forgetting to remove chest darts then having them somewhat randomly incorporated into the pants means that I’m not at all sure the grain worked as it was supposed to even if that was true.

What’s kind of fun about all of this to me is that there is evidence of this past legal career the trousers led visible in them, if one were to look closely. To this end, also, I took the label from the robes and added it to the back of the pants, but this might have been a mistake bc it was hard to nail the spacing to get it to lie flat when the elastic is extended as its worn, so it’s itchy. Luckily between high underwear and tucked in shirts I’ve been able to mitigate this issue pretty well.

To the point of the grain being off, I was a bit worried about poofing at the thighs when I first put the pants on, but I subsequently thoroughly pressed and steamed the trousers, including a full front crease, and the drape now seems right to me.

I really do love this design; as a hard pant adherent two years into the work-from-home component of pandemic life, the elastic back feels novel and freeing, but not in a way that makes me feel sloppy. Which is not to say that elastic waists actually look sloppy. My brain needs a certain level of dressed to feel like I’m “showing up” - even at home on the weekends, I can feel myself slipping into a grey space if I wear leggings for too long. I still wear nylons with a skirt to work in the summer sometimes. Dressing “up” keeps me mentally healthy!

So these are soft pants that read mostly as hard pants, at least enough to trick my own brain into believing it. And as such, they are an invaluable piece of design.

Plus, they’re shiny silk twill so they’re both incredibly smooth to the touch for my legs and extra and, as indicated earlier, sturdy in the wearing. To that point, the robes themselves had a tag from 2006 and had belonged to another judge before my dad. The wear that got them passed on to me as no longer suitable for court was just at the collar. Taking away the two years they sat in my office waiting for their moment, that’s 14 years of regular wear leading to a damaged collar!

I have more odd cuts leftover from the robe and have been toying with adding invisible knee patches from the back - a partial lining essentially, but just at that high-wear point. I probably will do so, but I haven’t used the machine since hemming these.

Pattern: Calyer Pants by French Navy
Size made: M
Measurements: 30W, 37H
Fabric and notions: Silk judge’s robes, lightweight fusible interfacing, 1.5” elastic
Next time: Measure and check any mods needed for elastic width before cutting.
Worn with: Pleated shirt second hand from friend, glitter Ked’s thrifted