A plan for pants

Is it safe to post again?  LOL Most of y'all have probably read about Blogger's little problem this week ... but that isn't my only excuse.  Along with another flareup of sinuses and back, I was struck by indecision ... more than usual this time!  I started out with a fabric, a pattern, and a plan ... I have some mostly-black silk/linen suiting that I (still) intend to make into Butterick 5221, view C ... the midcalf pants with the cuffs.

Ahhh, but then Thursday evening, my salt-n-pepper linen started talking to me from near the bottom of my want-to-sew pile ... you remember this one surely!

the salt-n-pepper linen

Yes ... the one that made me want to cry last month because I didn't buy enough to make a blazer from it.  I had decided that this linen would make some lovely culottes or gaucho pants ... but it has piped up and wants to be view A of Butterick 5221!  I then wiffle-waffled over adding side seam pockets, but this morning it occurred to me I want to conserve my scraps and make a matching hat, since this linen is beefy enough to pull it off with style.  While moving the charmeuse scraps ... I am now thinking if I can get pants and hat done by Tuesday evening I can use the charmeuse as a hatband or trim ... it's probably a bit too ambitious but I tend to shoot for the moon.

Pattern prep is done, and I am embarking on a bit of a fitting adventure: last year's gaucho pattern fits very nicely through the hips and crotch, but the waistband has seemed a bit loose since I made them so I will try to cut a size 18 waist and grade out to the size 20 hips.  Without pockets, it's only 3 pattern pieces, one mock fly (which I did twice last year with success), a few seams and a blind hem this time.