Lace-Up Trousers

Mission accomplished!

Lace-up trousers: high-waisted straight-leg trousers in plaid wool flannel, with notched waistband, belt loops, front pocket, and laces!

They came out looking distinctly more seventies than I expected, but I love 'em anyway.  I've really said most of what I have to say about these trousers--they were a pain in the ass, but I finished them anyway, in a mad burst of speed less than an hour before the Christmas party I wanted to wear them to.  Their dominant feature is probably the laces:

which, as you all know, were never supposed to exist in the first place--I accidentally pared down too much ease over the hip in the pattern, so I had to scramble to find a closure that would still work.  They've held up so far!  The only issue is the amount of time it takes to get in and out of them (feels like centuries) and the fact that I can't always get them relaced without a bobby pin to thread the laces through.  I'll just have to make sure I always have my hair up when I'm wearing these pants, I guess.

The obligatory weird picture:

(Check out how long my hair is getting!  For reference, this is how I wore it in college:

And yes, that is young Iggy Pop on my t-shirt.  I stenciled that in high school--I wish I still had it around somewhere.  Or that I remembered how to stencil.)

I intended to have the notch in the back waistband, but then I was all shifting things around and letting out seam allowances and I had to flip the whole thing around, so now it's at the front.  Judge not lest ye be judged.  And hey, the plaids match at the inseam!

No lie--that is really a pocket.  Check it out!  I drafted this myself with some help from this tutorial, which I think comes from a sewing blog for wheelchair users.  Awesome!  I keep bobby pins in it so I can relace my pants (TMI).

In conclusion, this is our Christmas tree.  Instead of presents, we have stacks of books from the book sale at Dear Fiancée's library.  Happy holidays y'all!