Tailoring is my skill enhancer and a blazer is my take your time project for 2025. If you read the Holiday Reader (you should, it’s pretty great) you’ll know I’m starting an 11 week tailoring course taught by a professional working on Savile Row. This course is focused on blazers but it definitely has me diving into pants because when am I not. Welt pockets, buttoned fly extensions, blind hemming, waistband canvas, hand stitching. (I’m essentially looking to dress like the creative director that I am, right?) The Monty is a sort of take on or comfort fit version of this. It’s more relaxed in the waist with the elastic back while still retaining those tailored details like welt pockets, pleats and topstitching with a bit of downtown frosting in the exposed zipper. alex is wearing a size 2X from the JJ range in laundered linen twill There was not much ideation or questioning design details on this pant. It had been in my future patterns folder since day 1. The more involved portion was in the grading to factor in the elasticated back. Grading has been a much asked about topic by many people dipping their toe into sewing pattern design since there’s very limited information out there. If you’ve ever hit “see translation” on pattern_maker_tamaki’s posts you’ll see him speak consistently about how we put so much time and effort into getting the base pattern perfect to then allow these vague grading rules to throw off all our hard work. I still have no answer or resource, more just a thought to consider and why building multiple blocks and fitting across sizes is important. Rachel is wearing a size S from the DD range in a striped plain cotton Normally I’d go into fabric suggestions, trim thoughts, etc. but ya’ll asked so many good questions that these topics all get talked about in the Ask Judy section below! But before we get into those questions, we’re running a 20% discount on annual subscriptions to the Bulletin Board making them $40 instead of $50. If you’ve been wanting to upgrade so you can make the new Niles Slipper, now’s the time! Get 20% off for 1 year Discount runs til 12/31/2024. What are good fabric weights and types? Even though I’m an advocate of making things in whatever you want, for these I would go with heavy poplin, linen, or tropical weight wool with the sweet spot between 2.5 - 6.5 ounces / 90 - 220 gsm. What’s this I hear about tropical wool???! Can we talk more about that please?! I think I need to go deeper into tropical weight wool so for now I’ll leave you with this video from Jenna Lyons. Grace (wzrdreams) asked deeper questions in the comments from yarn spinners. Take a look at those answers as well! Any unexpected fabric pairing recs? Ooo LOVE this questions! As I said, you can make anything out of anything but I’d love to see these in texture. Things like seersucker, bengaline moire, hammered silk or crushed habotai. I see a suiting set in my future…. Could these be made with thicker material like wool coating or quilted fabric? I wouldn’t. The pleats and gathering would be really bulky in the waist and you probably wouldn’t like the outcome. If you chose to push ahead I would advise cutting the facing in something light and stable, similar to quilting cotton. What type of fabric was used to make the drapey navy pair on the website? The navy sample on Alex is the Laundered Linen Twill in Navy from Blackbird Fabrics and for those of you interested in the stripe (there were many) it’s the Wide Stripe Shot Cotton in Fjord from Kaffe Fassett. Is there a fly shield behind the exposed zipper? Yes! No one likes cold zipper teeth on their skin. from tester @alexandria_arnold How would you adjust if an exposed front zip isn’t your look? Side zip? Fly? There are 2 options here, one easier and one harder. The easiest way is to move the zipper to the side seam and fill in the center front. The harder way would be to convert it to a fly front but with the waistband facing there’s some trickery and considerations. My recommendation is EMBRACE THE EXPOSED FLY! Zippers are like jewelry. Invest in the YKK or Riri brands. If you’re US based, Pacific Trimming does customization. OR consider tonal vislon zippers if metal is too harsh. What’s the best way to swap out the elastic waist for a fixed waistband? Why’s everyone trying to change this STUNNING design?! I kid, I kid. You’d want to play around with balancing by removing the excess from the center back, side seam and adding a dart. Once you’ve reduced down to your desired waist measurement you’ll need to redraft the waist facing to match. Lots of elastic backs I make have drag lines where the elastic meets flat waistband. Tips? It may be trying to gather too much. Most elastic styles are pull-on so there has to be a certain amount of circumference to get over the hips. Since the Monty is a zip front, if you are seeing drag lines you can try to redistribute the waist by adding more elastic (less to gather) and remove from the side seams. The exposed zip looks incredibly but tricky. Tips to get that looking super neat? There is a trick to get super clean corners if you’re not confident in your clipping where you basically add tiny facings. This is a good reference video that shows you how to do it. Skip to around 7 minutes in. What do you think of lengthening the pant? Would pooling by the foot disturb the intentional drape from the waist pleat? No, lengthen away! The pleat end, which is hidden in the drafting, doesn’t go past the knee so by the time you get down to the leg opening they are not interacting with each other. How long do you think it would take an intermediate to cut and sew them? My guess would be around 10 - 12 hours. This would include the cutting time, sewing slowly and methodically, pressing, trying on to test elastic and hem length, minor adjustments and maybe a bit of unpicking. Those back pockets look very intimidating, quick tutorial for those of us that need it? I’m not doing tutorials yet, video production is very involved and expensive. BUT we spent a loooooot of time working through the written instructions of which the testers said were VERY easy to understand and may be their favorite written welt instructions yet. So why not trust your fellow sewing constituents? Do you have specific advise about elastic? Type, supplier, etc. I tend to go with Wawak because they are consistent but now that I’m back in NY I plan to seek some more sources. (Sorry if you’re outside the US!) Is it ok as a 1st pants pattern?! Lots of other sewing experience but pants scare me! I would not start with these. They have welt pockets, an exposed zipper, waist facings, elastic tunneling, so it’s very much an advanced intermediate pattern. If you’ve never ever done pants before it’d be good to start with a super simple elastic waist woven style. Daughter Judy doesn’t have one (yet) but I’d recommend; Sew House 7 Free Range Slacks, Merchant and Mills 101 Trouser, or Friday Pattern Company Saguro Set. And last but not least, we’ve put together a reader survey to cull some insights on what you all would like to see here. 2025 will introduce some new columns both free and paid so I’d love to hear what would make you keep scrolling. Bulletin Board Survey Happy Holidays from this tiny team at Daughter Judy! We are so grateful to all you readers and commenters and sharers and makers. Thank you for being a part of what we do! Til next year!