Arden Pants

The fabric featured in this post was kindly gifted to me by Minerva as part of their Brand Ambassadors program. All other supplies and materials were purchased by me. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Please don’t suck! That’s the phrase that’s in my head anytime I cut the nice fabric without making a toile first. I go back and forth on when I dive right in and when I decide to make a toile, but I have an affinity for the color I refer to as “grellow” (the perfect mix of green and yellow) and when this Art Gallery fabric from Minerva arrived, I had no patience. I decided to make my first pair of Arden Pants by Helen’s closet, since I’ve been looking for a woven jogger that was both comfortable and stylish.  

This fabric is the Art Gallery Fabrics squared elements cotton poplin in the color Lemongrass. This fabric is 100% cotton and OEKO-TEX certified, which is great if you prefer to sew with earth friendly natural fibers. This is a woven fabric that is medium weight and has a soft smooth hand. This fabric is mostly opaque, but you can see the pocket linings through the pants I made since they are a light color so that is something to consider depending on what you’re making. One of my favorite parts about this fabric is that it comes in 29 colors. I think it would be really fun to make a garment where you mix and match colors for some fun color blocking. Cotton poplin is also great to have on hand for scraps. You can use small pieces to make pocket bags for denim, scrunchies or head bands, linings, quilts, kid clothes, and of course the accessory we are all wearing, face masks. I made sure to save mine to have on hand for future projects and scrap busters.

For the Arden pants pattern I made view B in a straight size 12. For reference my measurements are bust 36, waist 28, and hip 41 in inches. Since I’m 5’1 I decided to shorten the leg at the lengthen shorten line by three inches. I didn’t make any other adjustments to the pattern, but next time I think I will just shorten them 2 inches to give me a touch more length. This fabric has a crisp hand, so the pants are slightly more structured, but could also make them with a fabric that has more drape to them. I really like the pattern over all. The 3-inch elastic cuffs were a lot of work to do all the top stitching, but I really like the effect and how they turned out.  

Since I had some Fabric left over, I decided to make a matching top to go with these pants. This top is one that I self-drafted, but it’s similar to the Helen’s closet Ashton top, Chamomile Crop by Sarah Kirsten, or a Willow tank by Grainline Studio. I love using a cotton poplin like this because I love a crop top when it’s nice and crisp on the bottom for a dramatic effect. And I always love a Faux jumpsuit since you can do the matching set or mix and match them with the rest of your wardrobe.  

Definitely looking forward to making these pants again since I know they don’t suck! ;) 

Art you team cut into the nice fabric or do you always toile first? Let me know in the comments!