Free Range Slacks: Wide Leg vs. Tapered Leg

Earlier this year, in the spring, I saw one of the other moms at school pick up wearing a really cute pair of linen pants. They were rust colored, wide legged and cropped, and she wore them with a knotted graphic tee. I thought it was a super cute look and I also thought, “I could make those!”

So I ordered myself some Brussels washer linen and got to work.

As you may know, I’ve had a bit of a year with wide leg pants. I’ve tried the wide leg look in denim, linen and techno cupro and still don’t have a pair I absolutely LOVE wearing. But at this point in my making process, I was still blaming the individual patterns and not the look as a whole. Obviously, I just hadn’t found the right cut for me! I needed to try, try again!

So I decided to try the Free Range Slacks.

Now, I have made the Free Range Slacks, but I made them using the tapered view (and I tapered them even further, pretty significantly). I still occasionally wear those pants but they are not my favorite. I never loved the fabric and since they were made before kiddo #3, the fit leaves something to be desired.

For this version I made a size 12 and I used the wide leg view.

The construction of the Free Range Slacks is very interesting to me, with a side panel and, essentially, a grown on waist that has a facing. I like that the construction keeps things fresh and unique but it does, in my opinion, make it a little more difficult to alter for fit/length. Not impossible, by any means, just a little trickier is all.

I also don’t think I love that the pockets have an edge facing. I don’t know, that’s mostly just me being picky because once it’s sewn on I don’t think about it at all, it’s just not my favorite. But I do like how the back pockets sew right into the side seam and I have got to say that the placement for the back pockets is spot on for me. No adjusting necessary, which is almost never the case in my pants-making experience.

All of that aside, when I tried on these pants I just didn’t love them. I am painfully low on soft, graphic tees (as in, I have none), and maybe with the right shirt I’d really love these pants, who knows?

Of course, I still had my tenacious death grip on the idea of some loose linen pants and so I decided to try again. Free Range Slacks still but this time in the tapered view, and this time without additional tapering.

A science project of sorts, I suppose.

For science!

At least that’s what I can say to make myself feel better for buying even more linen (a blend! So not as expensive!).

So I did it. I bought some more linen-this time in “Kelp,”- traced yet another Free Range Slacks pattern (size 12, tapered view), and got to work.

Considering that these are kind of meant to be styled folded for length, and the fact that I almost never match my bobbin or serger thread to my projects, I decided to use French seams for finishing the leg seams. This, of course, takes more time, but has a nice, clean finish for when I want to roll up the legs of my pants.

Here’s the look when the pants are not rolled up.

I also chose to tweak the waistband of the pants rather than go to the store for more elastic. I only had 2 inch elastic on hand and the pattern calls for 1 1/2 inch. I’ve used 2 inch elastic many times and I thought it would be okay here, but I think, for me, it edges the rise into the “too much” category for me. I think I have a very specific range of comfort for the rise of my pants and that extra 1/2 inch pushes me too far into the range of discomfort-that and it eats into my limited torso space, which isn’t ideal.

If you didn’t gather from the above commentary, these pants weren’t really a win either. They are a little more wearable for me, but they also have way too much rise going on. I don’t know what I was expecting from fit in the leg area, but they seem to be somewhere in between tapered and straight, maybe even going back and forth between the two depending on the spot you point to on my leg.

I did add a cute tag where the pocket meets the side seam that I didn’t even bother to get a good picture of.

So for anyone running a tally, we’re at 3 pairs of Free Range Slacks that proudly sit in my Don’t Love It pile in my closet.

I guess, to be totally and completely fair to these pants, they also sit in the Don’t Hate It pile, and there’s something to be said for that too. I am to a point in my casual linen pants making, though, that I have really had to put some thought into whether or not I actually like this style of pants. I think in the case of all these pants, there is something that is just off enough about each of them that turn me off from wearing them. In my first pair it was the fabric, but in the two pairs featured here it is definitely the fit. And it took me two pairs of pants to realize that! Whoops!

I may or may not tweak the rust pair (I may just need to buy a tee and see if that feels more wearable), but I do think I’m going to do a little altering to the green pair, starting with swapping out for the correct elastic! That’ll take off that extra 1/2 inch of rise which I think will be a marked improvement. I also might play around with the inseam. That’s always such a headache to do with French seams, but I think it’ll be worth it to not have a wasted pair of pants! I do think I could make these wearable.

As for the wide-leg look though…I may just have to wash my hands of it.

Pattern: Free Range Slacks in wide leg and tapered views
Size: 12
Alterations: Altering the waistband to fit a 2 inch elastic (green pair) because that’s all I had on hand
Fabrics: both fabrics are Robert Kaufman Brussels washer linen (“pink clay” from Surge Fabrics and “kelp” from Harmony Provo)
Cost: I purchased 2 yards of each fabric, both yardages costing about $25; elastic and thread from stash
Would I make this pattern again?: Jury’s still out on this one. Further altering the pattern might make these pants more wearable to me, but I might just have to admit that the style isn’t my favorite. We’ll see! I’ll definitely start by tweaking the pairs I already have! In any case, it’s a solid pattern that’s been made by tons of people!