Moutain View Pull On Jeans – in bengaline

These are the Itch to Stitch Mountain View Pull On Jeans in Minerva’s Bengaline suiting, fabric courtesy of Minerva. They are the classic example of creating something, when you really don’t know if it’s going to go how you hope. There were several times along the way when I had my doubts!

And if you’re using a stretch fabric on a you can’t really toile, without using the exact same fabric.

For many, many years I’ve always had a couple of navy bengaline ready to wear trousers from Robel on the go as an easy pair of pull on cropped slim trousers, for summer, for comfy days, over which to wear mid length floaty pull over shirts for work.

And after my 2 pairs of successful printed bengaline Sasha trousers made earlier this year and seeing the vast array of solid colour bengaline available on the Minerva website, this was the year I was going to make my own to replace my old, now fading pairs.

Fabric composition : 74% Viscose, 22% Polyester, 4% Elastane

The style lines of Itch to Stitch Mountain View Pull On Jeans are incredibly similar to my ready to wear pants. Just with straight legs instead of a tapered leg and a separate waistband instead of a waist facing. They call for a denim with 40% stretch. Minerva’s Bengaline 35% stretch was near enough, remembering to twist the fabric around to 90 degrees to ensure the stretch was placed horizontal across the trousers, not down the legs.

The Mountain View Jeans are described as pull-on jeans with a slightly high mid-rise, wide waistband for some tummy control, straight cut legs (with instructions for making slim legs), four pockets, seams along the back legs for greater shaping and a faux fly with topstitching.

The pattern advises you to size down if in between sizes. During my research I came across quite a lot of pairs made up that looked too big to me. So, I sized down.

My hips called for a size 4 and my waist called for a size 6. So I thought I was safe with the size 4.

The finished garment measurements were 1 to 3 inches less than body measurements to cater for the negative ease in these stretch pants.

I did allow to extend the rear crotch by 1cm to err on the safe side for my cycling thighs.

However once basting them all together and trying them on, they were too tight around my thighs with a mass of horizontal creases across the backs of my thighs. The front, however, looked brilliant and the waist and hips were fine.

So I let out the inner thigh seams and outer leg seams by half the seam allowance (which was only 12mm!) from the hip tapering down to nothing at the knee. Then I took both inner and outer leg seams in from the knee down to the ankle. Nothing at the knee and a full cm at the ankle on both sides.

I also took off the basted yoke and reattached it to the legs with less of a seam allowance at the centre back. My version of a horizontal slashed full bum adjustment.

I left off the rear pockets until I was really happy with them.

I was quite concerned that these were not going to stay up, once I’d sat down in them. With no belt I wasn’t exactly sure how tight I needed the waist elastic to be, without being too tight and without the need to pull them up, every time I sat down. So I unpicked the elastic from my rtw pair and used that!

I also turned the legs up into a cuff like my rtw pair. There was so much length in the legs I easily had enough with more to spare.

The result?

So much better than anticipated!! Having already spent the day in them I can report I’ll be making up another pair very soon.

I’ll probably extend the leg pattern pieces up at the waist and reduce the depth of the ‘yoga pant waistband’. The deep waist band rather limits the tops you can wear with these. Personally, I would not be tucked anything into them.

Any Itch to Stitch pattern comes with fabulous instructions, and these were no exception. I find the styling of many of the garments a little conservative, but there are some absolute gems and they seem to suit my straight figure.