Miss Celie

Pattern Review: HP 1016 Riviera Hello, Sailor! Pants

Guys. I think I’ve found my holy grail pants. For *real*. I’ve wanted a pair of sailor pants forever. Seriously. At least 10 years. When I made my big Hot Patterns purchase two years ago, this pattern was the first I put in my cart. I even muslined it a few years ago, liked the fit, but just never got around to sewing it.

I love these pants.  They are everything I wanted in sailor pants. Plus, they are a really really good cut for me. I only have glowing remarks about the draft and pattern itself. I did make two muslins, but that was to check fit.  I’ve taken lots of photos because I would have found some more helpful in construction / picturing final product.

Fabric: Super heavy, cotton / linen blend from A Fabric Place /Michaels about three years ago. They kind of wrinkle when you look at them. I used the khaki version for the Burda trench/ safari jacket and skirt. I am nervous that there was NO stretch in the material. These pants are snug on me and I’m worried that I’m one potato  chip away from splitting them. Hence, my desire for some stretch. They did not feel this snug in my two muslins! I swear!

Pattern Alterations: I made a swayback adjustment by extending the back curve and adding about a one inch wedge through the hip. I cut a size 12 and these fit nicely.

There is some fabric folding at my crotch, but consensus at the office is if the waist was snugger and stayed up higher, those go away. That being said, I think they are slim fit.

There’s loads of chatter about HP directions. I sew with Burda! The directions overall were fine. Yes, a little sparse in comparison to Big 4. But, inline with Jalie and Burda. And, I think that chatter is from the early days when there were directions and no diagrams. This pattern has diagrams — without which I do not think I could have sewn these!  **ETA: Trudy at Hot Patterns reminded me that they now post tutorials on YouTube.

For this pattern, the main thing to remember is that the front ‘dart’ is not a dart. Those two lines are in fact the stitchlines. Erica has a helpful diagram.

Because the fabric is all natural, I expect it grow like my linen pants. So, I used twill tape in the upper waistband to prevent stretching. But, I would like it to stretch everywhere else! I’m reminding myself that jeans used to not have lycra and they stretched…

I wish I had used twill tape and re-shaped the flap a bit. The upper edge follows the curve of pants / waistband, but I would like like it more straight across the top and the upper edge stabilised with twill tape too. Especially because I used cream topstitching, I feel like the flap is smiling against my stomach.

I serged my finishes. These are unlined and would have looked gorgeous with bias binding for the finish. Next time, that’s what I’ll do.

The facing is seersucker left over from a vest project.

I struggled with buttons. I was afraid if they were too bold, I’d limit myself from wearing ‘statement’ pants. If they were too subtle, what a waste all the details would have been. I also couldn’t decide on top stitching or not. I am terrible at making these kind of choices.

I did make the buttonholes 1/2 inch from the edge. I think I could have done 3/8 or so and been happier. My buttons are 1/2 inch as recommended by the pattern. I think they are a little small. Not terribly. That being said, I FREAKIN’ LOVE these black buttons with gold anchors. There is no button placement guide on the pattern. Which I kind of like because you may not always want the same button size recommended.

The design is based on a Marc Jacobs sailor pants.

Last thing, the vent in the back. So, I was going to leave this off b/c I wasn’t sure it was ‘classy’ enough for work.

But, it’s such an interesting detail (and straight from the inspiration) I couldn’t resist. I’m also happy to report that my underwear don’t show.

But, I HATE EYELETS. These inserted like crap and don’t look good from the back. There is so much fray check on these holes I think they are emitting toxic fumes.

Note the graveyard of badly applied eyelets.

I’m hoping to take them to NYC with me soon and have them done professionally. Or, take them out and use my eyelet template on my automatic buttonholer. The pattern directions don’t have a suggestion on where to place the eyelets.

Overall, I’m THRILLED. I’ll have these in time for Baltimore’s Navy Week / Star-Spangled Sailabration in June.  I have serious stunt / theme dressing planned for June 🙂

My pattern review is here

Notes on construction details (these are just some notes I made to myself while sewing that I was unclear about upon first approach. Nothing is ‘wrong’  — just more detail for me.

First, I my preferred method of pant construction is to sew the waist band on to each leg piece. Then assemble to pants at the side and front seams. Personally, I find it much easier to take in the waist (common for me) this way. I haven’t quite worked out how I would do that with these pants. Luckily, I muslined first and they fit fine at the waist. But, could be 1/2 inch to 1 inch snugger.

Step 2: My stand is not finished at the bottom as I missed the step on sewing the short ends.

Step 4: You want to use the non-intefaced pieces

Step 5: If you are serging, I recommend you finish all the front button. See my photo below for which edges are left exposed

Step 6: When joining the facings, you’ll do so right sides together

Step 8: ‘Join the fabric layer’ means right sides together and as noted above, that’s not a dart. One is your ‘stitchline’

Topstitching back: the line drawing for pattern has topstitching only going up to the waistline. I thought it looked ‘short’ and extended onto and through the waistband.

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39 comments

  1. I lOVE LOVE LOVE these pants!! Fantastic job – the buttons are fantastic! I love them!
    I too have issues with eyelets and other type of devices – even though I have a fancy type of stapler looking equipment to install them! Congrats again – just in time for the 4th of July!!

    • Great job Renee, one point I’d like to add though is that HotPatterns instructions/ directions have changed a lot from when we released this pattern back in the day. We also often offer Yutube tutorials with our newwer releases. These Pants look fantastic!

  3. These look fabulous on you and I can’t wait to see the additional variations you make….hey, can you make these in seersucker?

  4. These look great :)! Re: the eyelets on the back my vote = get them done in NY sometime.
    Plus, if I had a nice feature like the eyelets at the back I too would worry re: underwear show through – but I guess a nicely placed/sewn patch of lining (or fahsion fabric) behind could mask anything from showing?

  5. These are amazing! The details are perfect and I think the fit is spot on. You will look very chic for Navy Week! I am jealous and would love to follow in your footsteps, but I don’t think my skills are up to it. Maybe someday!

  6. These are the best sailor pants I’ve seen yet. What a perfect fit. I stared at that HP pattern for sooo many hours when I was trying to decide, but reviews warned that the waist was very low! Yet your waist looks so perfect!
    I ended up drafting my own, but they are nowhere near as professional and gorgeous as yours. Beautifully done!

  7. These are gorgeous on you!! You did an incredibly detailed and helpful review. I so appreciate you posting the link to the swayback adjustment. My DD has a similar body type as you. I’ve just made a duct tape dummy of her and am anxious to work to fit her.

  8. Hello sailor! What great pants on you. I do love HP’s crotch shape. Enjoy these lovely pants and wear them proudly! When are you coming to NY?

  9. I ❤ these pants, and I think they will get a LOT of wear. The details are just amazing, those buttons are too cute!! And I'm a bit of a sucker for the lacing detail in the back. My favorite jeans back in the day had a lace-up fly and little lacings on the bottom flares which I adored.

  11. Total Cuteness! They look great and I love the buttons! So glad you did the back detail I think that is one of the best features of these pants! I have only ordered once from HP and this pattern was also the first one in my cart! Just cuteness I tell ya :O)…Good job and thanks for the great pictures and review.

  13. Wow – those pants are fabulous! So many fun details… And the cut is great on you. I don’t have any Hot Patterns, but something I might need to look into in the future.

  14. Great looking pants. The fit is perfection and I love the back eyelet detail. I am seriously thinking about digging this pattern out of the bottom of the stack and making it myself.

  16. Fantastic pants which fit you amazingly well, I must dig out my selection of woefully underused Hot Patterns. Great post & review too – I thought your eyelet graveyard photo was hilarious!

  18. Yeah, these are Miss Celie’s Pants, alright. They look terrific on you, and you did an excellent job of sewing them. I love the buttons – just perfect. The only thing I’m wondering is how much longer are your ladie’s room visits, with all of those buttons to deal with?!

  19. Love them! And great news about the fit! (also happy to read I’m not the only eyelet-challenged one around here, LOL)

  21. They turned out great and look wonderful on you! I LOVE the lace up back. You must whip up a red/white stripe shirt to go with this.

  22. WOW I love these pants on you!!! I’ve never made one Hot Pattern creation…that’s going to change now! and I really like Bonnie’s idea too!

  24. Excellent job as usual! I’m most impressed that you used white stitching on blue fabric – I hate when I have to do that. It show’s every mistake and as far as I can see, you have none. *Jealous*! 😉

  25. Wow, excellent knock-off! Is your love of military-inspired clothing because of your family background?

  31. As soon as I read this, I headed straight over to the Hot Patterns website. I’ve been wanting a pair of sailor pants for YEARS! I just haven’t had it in me to draft them. I didn’t know that the patterne was still available, thanks for making me search again. You got an awesome fit!

  34. Love, love these trousers. I’ve had this pattern since the beginning and still really want to make them. Such beautiful finishing!

    • I spent five years enlisted in the US Navy, and so knew a fair number of guys who had to wear Sailor Pants on a regular basis. Virtually every one of them altered the trousers so that the buttons weren’t fuctional, except for the corner ones, so they could get in and out of them quickly for, er, bodily functions.

  36. […] HP 1016 Sailor Pants. These pants are not the most beloved garment I’ve sewn, but they are something I’ve wanted to make for *years* and I’m always excited when I get a pair of well fitting pants in my wardrobe. The cut of the pants are really good for my frame and worked well for my nautical themed stunt dressing this summer. […]

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