No, they are Fashion Pants

Yes, these pants look a lot like sweatpants. The resemblance is uncanny. In fact, I was trying them on during construction and my 5 year old asked if I was making pajamas. “No”, I replied, “these are legitimate pants. Real pants. I swear it”. I’ve seen quite a few fashion bloggers pull it off. But can I pull it off?

The problem is that I live in the suburbs, and people wear sweatpants all the time, and it is not meant as a fashion statement. So, as a mom running around town, it can be very easy to be mistaken for someone wearing their pajamas out. I did what I could do to glam it up. It is easy to throw on a sequined tank top! And a jacket, of course.

This is the Papercut Anima pant made out of a lovely, thick double knit I found at Value Village. I had just 1 yard of the stuff so I had to construct the waistband, pant cuffs and packet facing out of a cotton jersey. Luckily I had just enough of that exact match left from my daughter’s twin sweatshirt and I didn’t have to purchase a single thing besides the pattern! I always think it is funny to say that so triumphantly when what that really means is I have so much stash I could sew day and night for a year and not need any more fabric. Shameful. And I just bought 3 more pieces this week!

These pants are very similar to the recently revealed Suzy pants, I can now see. Like the Suzy pants, I again had to slim the legs down a bit so that the “relaxed” fit didn’t fall into “sloppy.” The addition of the cuffs aided the fit, but also made it look more like sweatpants. What do you think?

Yes, I did happen to have the exact color of shoes. What can I say? I love blue! Maybe I should have named my blog “Blue All Day.”

I’ve been admiring Papercut patterns for quite a while now, but they are so expensive! I hadn’t felt good about spending that kind of money– see my above confession of fabric buying. But with the release of the less-expensive PDF patterns, I felt it was a great opportunity to finally try them out. And now I see I do like them. Oh no! I’m going to want more! There are several that I really like. The jackets and pants in particular. I really like their modern style!

I don’t look convinced, do I?

And I must admit that even if I am ambivalent about this pants style working on me, I’ll still wear the heck out of them. The double knit is warm, they are super comfy, and they are my favorite color. What’s wrong with sweatpants anyway?