Black True Bias Lander Pants

I've finally made a pair of Lander Pants! I can't believe how long it's taken me to make these but I'm so happy I finally have. I bought this pattern just over a year ago and have been wanting to make it for longer still. I wanted to start by making a classic black denim pair, and now that I've made these I'm looking forward to making more in different colours.

To me, these trousers all came down to finding the right fabric. The pattern is a really simple shape and I think  the details such as the pockets and visible button fly call for a plain fabric. I really love how the black shows off all of these details, and it's also a really useful colour for trousers. I had black non-stretch denim at the back of my mind for months (I was actually hoping to find some in Tomato) but I don't go to fabric shops that often so it took me a while to find the perfect fabric. I actually pretty much stumbled across this one accidentally. On a trip to my local Fabric Land I saw that they had a lot of really lovely denims in stock. I immediately wanted to find something to make a pair of Landers out of and their black non-stretch denim was perfect. Oh, and it was only £4 a metre! £4! I should have bought the entire roll but at least I got enough to make the perfect pair of Landers.

My favourite detail is definitely the exposed button fly. It was actually a feature that I wasn't so sure about when I first bought the pattern, but over time it's something that I've come to like more and more. I've never sewn a button fly before but the instructions were very simple to follow and I love the result. I used brass jeans buttons which I think give a lovely contrast to the black. I definitely think I'll sew an exposed button fly again but probably never a hidden button fly, to me it just seems like an unnecessary annoyance compared to a zip fly if it doesn't add a anything to the design.

The great thing about this pattern is the pockets. I love them! I think trapezium pockets look great and I would love to make these with contrast topstitching around the pockets.

Fit wise I actually found this pattern to be really good. I was really surprised at how few adjustments I needed to make, I usually have to take a large wedge out of the centre back seam to account for having a sway back but these fit fine. The only thing I would say is that the waistband isn't curved, so I knew from the start that I would have to make the waistband smaller. I tend to do this by sewing a triangle at the side seams of the waistband, the seam is then covered by a belt loop. I took out about 1" at either side of the waistband when I was making them but still found them to be much too big at the waist so I had to take out about the same again. I think that was probably due to not taking any fabric out of the centre back seam but I was keen to keep that seam as it was seeing as it fit so well.

I'm so pleased to have finally made the Landers, it's such a brilliant pattern and I love mine. A final detail that I added is a Kylie and the Machine 'you can't buy this' label into the side seam. I got some for Christmas and they are just perfect!