Eight Wears PANTS!
been thinking about pants lately, and have come to the conclusion that i'm in favor of them.
but seriously, i've cobbled together my observations about Eight's pants (and how to make them) into a kinda-sorta mini-breakdown...
in discussing the making of the Eight pants, i'll be proceeding using the #106 California Pants pattern from Laughing Moon Mercantile ( http://www.lafnmoon.com/california_pants.htm ) as a base.
from Laughing Moon's website "Men's sizes 28 - 60 and Women's sizes 4-26 all included in the pattern"
the California Pants look to be a good base, although several alterations will be necessary to more closely duplicate Eight's trou.
1) first off - NO CUFFS (not that the California Pants have them, but just in case anybody was getting any ideas...)
2) instead of the slanted horizontal front pockets on the California Pants, you'll have to replace them with vertical in-seam (side-seam) pockets. for those interested, David Page Coffin (former editor of 'Threads' magazine) has an excellent tutorial on how to make such a pocket in his book 'Making Trousers for Men & Women' ( http://www.amazon.com/Making-Trousers-Men-Women-Multimedia/dp/1589234499/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318971358&sr=8-1 ) ( also available for Kindle).
3) (with apologies for the complete lack of dignity in this photo) while we clearly see the rear belt of the waistcoat, what we also see is a lack of belt and rear pockets on the Eight trousers, so these would need to be omitted from the Laughing Moon pattern.
we can also see that the Eight trousers do not feature the rear split waistband featured in the California Pants pattern, but the double peaked style of rear waistband. courtesy of R.I.Davis's "Men's Garments 1830-1900: A Guide to Pattern Cutting and Tailoring" ( http://www.amazon.com/Mens-Garments-1830-1900-Pattern-Tailoring/dp/0887346480/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318972468&sr=1-1 ) this is an easy alteration to accomplish:
i) square center seam of (2") waistband to form a continuous band.
ii) draw top of new peak 1-3/4" out from center-line and 1" above top of waistband.
iii) blend peak into top of waistband with gentle curve meeting the waistband top at the side-seam.
iv) suspender buttons should be centered on the original waistband top and directly below the top point of the peak.
(note: some styles have the center point actually dipping below the original top of the waistband by around 1/4" - as seen below. to my eye, this is how Eight's trousers are configured, but it's difficult to say with any degree of certainty.)
4) in the above 2 TVM pictures you'll notice that the ends of the braces actually tuck inside the waistband, so unlike the California Pants pattern, the suspender buttons should be attached to the inside of the waistband.
but seriously, i've cobbled together my observations about Eight's pants (and how to make them) into a kinda-sorta mini-breakdown...
in discussing the making of the Eight pants, i'll be proceeding using the #106 California Pants pattern from Laughing Moon Mercantile ( http://www.lafnmoon.com/california_pants.htm ) as a base.
from Laughing Moon's website "Men's sizes 28 - 60 and Women's sizes 4-26 all included in the pattern"
the California Pants look to be a good base, although several alterations will be necessary to more closely duplicate Eight's trou.
1) first off - NO CUFFS (not that the California Pants have them, but just in case anybody was getting any ideas...)
2) instead of the slanted horizontal front pockets on the California Pants, you'll have to replace them with vertical in-seam (side-seam) pockets. for those interested, David Page Coffin (former editor of 'Threads' magazine) has an excellent tutorial on how to make such a pocket in his book 'Making Trousers for Men & Women' ( http://www.amazon.com/Making-Trousers-Men-Women-Multimedia/dp/1589234499/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318971358&sr=8-1 ) ( also available for Kindle).
3) (with apologies for the complete lack of dignity in this photo) while we clearly see the rear belt of the waistcoat, what we also see is a lack of belt and rear pockets on the Eight trousers, so these would need to be omitted from the Laughing Moon pattern.
we can also see that the Eight trousers do not feature the rear split waistband featured in the California Pants pattern, but the double peaked style of rear waistband. courtesy of R.I.Davis's "Men's Garments 1830-1900: A Guide to Pattern Cutting and Tailoring" ( http://www.amazon.com/Mens-Garments-1830-1900-Pattern-Tailoring/dp/0887346480/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318972468&sr=1-1 ) this is an easy alteration to accomplish:
i) square center seam of (2") waistband to form a continuous band.
ii) draw top of new peak 1-3/4" out from center-line and 1" above top of waistband.
iii) blend peak into top of waistband with gentle curve meeting the waistband top at the side-seam.
iv) suspender buttons should be centered on the original waistband top and directly below the top point of the peak.
(note: some styles have the center point actually dipping below the original top of the waistband by around 1/4" - as seen below. to my eye, this is how Eight's trousers are configured, but it's difficult to say with any degree of certainty.)
4) in the above 2 TVM pictures you'll notice that the ends of the braces actually tuck inside the waistband, so unlike the California Pants pattern, the suspender buttons should be attached to the inside of the waistband.