I’ve been looking at the Stokx Play pants and the Stokx Square Pants for quite a while and was thrilled to see that Lindy was a sponsor for Designin” December, so was extremely hopeful that I might get lucky and win a pattern. The sewing goddesses were smiling on me, because not only did I win a prize, I was able to choose that prize, my number one choice – a Stokx Pattern! Lindy, being the truly lovely person that she is, and knowing that I liked both patterns to bits, sent them both to me, there was no discussion – she clearly knew I wasn’t going to choose a coat, for example!

I have been so keen to get the Play Pants made and then my sewjo bunked off somewhere. I filled in time doing other things, including cleaning bits of the house – who even am I? and then it all came back and these are my first make since and I am not disappointed.

I was a bit anxious about the sizing. These pants are very size inclusive but I couldn’t really work out what size to make. My waist is 74cm and hips are 90cm, so how much ease did I need?

I went with size zero and the pants are quite big, but I think they are supposed to be. I decided to use some stretchy calico that I had dyed with onion skins scrunched up and sprinkled onto the fabric which was then steamed in sourgrass. I don’t need stretch fabric so the next pair might be from linen and I also have a pair planned from some vintage corduroy my sister gave me. I used recycled elastic for the back waistband. You might be able to tell what it was recycled from, and it worked a treat.

These will be so good in the cooler weather. The slight bagginess makes them extremely comfortable.

Lindy from Stokx patterns has a challenge called “Stokx in the wild” and as a nod to that I made an “in the wild” label. In retrospect it’s a bit small, but I still like it.

I thought you should see the label in action but I didn’t get a great shot of it, so here it is in close up. I used a wild sort of font that didn’t put the spaces in, and I chose green as that always says wilderness to me. The colour on the left is the correct colour of the fabric.

Speaking of being in the wild, I wore these trousers to babysit Miss G, so I have some action shots for you. I teamed the pants with an old top made from a couple of table runners.

You can see that I have a fair bit of excess fabric. I think they’ve stretched a bit as the day has worn on.

In terms of construction, these are fast and easy to make. The waistband is built in and is quite interesting. The pants have a flat front and the elastic is across the back and sides It took me a couple of goes to get the elastic tension correct, but they feel really nice now. The pockets are huge but don’t add a lot of bulk. This was a fit photo and I teamed them with a very old top made from a pillowcase which I naturally dyed. I rather like a bit of double dyeing!

I mentioned that I looked after miss G today, so you clearly deserve a little video for sticking out this post. She’s clearly more interested in cooking than her grandmother and I do love the delighted squeaking! Don’t mind the dummy, she found it and would not give it up. The suction in those little mouths is incredible!