The Tamiko pants feature a lantern shaping and ⅞ length that’s super stylish and almost sporty!  The full elastic waistband is easy to fit and feels like pajamas - yay!

Here are some tips and tricks for the Tamiko:

Prepping, Layout and Cutting:

• Always prep your linen for cutting properly.  It’s totally worth your time as it creates a much better result and it’s easier to sew!  Here’s a video to help you prepare your linen to cut it on-grain: Part 1 and Part 2.  Think too about whether you want to wash and dry your fabric before cutting, and prep appropriately - I have tips in my Caring for Linen video.
• Because you’ll be doing a lot of single-layer staystitching, edgestitching, and other detail work, it’s especially important to make sure the thread tension is balanced on your sewing machine, and that you’re using the best feet and footplates you have for sewing linen!  So check out those videos for sure! For most sewing machines it will also be important to start your stitching lines a little away from the edge of your fabric, so your linen doesn’t get tangled in your footplate.  These quick checks and knowledge will make this a very fun sew. 

Construction Notes:

• Carefully watch the seam allowance lengths advised in the instructions - while Tessuti generally uses a ½ inch seam allowance, they use a variety of allowances in this pattern.  
• When the instructions ask you to overlock, if you don’t have a serger or an overlock capability on your sewing machine a zig zag stitch works great.  I like to use a length of 2 and a width of 2.
• IMPORTANT: When you go to fit the waistband, I recommend you cut a length of elastic that is the same as your natural waist measurement, rather than the length suggested in the instructions.  You’ll use a ½ seam allowance to sew the elastic together, and you may not WANT your pants any tighter than that.  You can try out the amount of stretch and shorten the length based on your preference.  But if you cut short to start with you won’t have many options : ).
• When you get to the pockets, I did a video to show what it looks like to sew the pocket bags to the front of the pants if you’d like the reassurance before starting!  Overall tip:  Stitch slowly when staystitching and edgestitching and you will be just fine : ).

Hope you have a wonderful time making your Tamiko pants!!  Keep in mind that we sell Refill Kits of our boxes (no pattern but all the other goodies) if you want to make more than one!  Also please share your experience with us - we are a new business and all feedback is a gift!  Last but not least, share your make on Instagram by tagging #waxwingsewingkit and #tessutipatterns!