I made a pair of Pattern Emporium Urban tapered pants last winter out of some grey cotton Lycra fabric. They fit ok, but the fabric gave them somewhat of an athletic look. I’ve worn them a lot for casual wear, and I’ve used the wide-leg version of the same pattern to make a couple of pairs of pants in a ponte fabric, with a dressier look. I decided to try the tapered version again, this time with black ponte fabric and some additional modifications. It’s easier to get a good fit with wide-leg pants, but I’m getting the hang of tapered pants too.

I started with the size 10 tapered pattern with the low-rise waist, and graded down from the hips to the waist and altered the pockets to have a deeper pocket bag and straight opening as I had done in one of the wide-leg Urban pants I made. Then I added an extra-high contoured waistband lined in athletic knit and reinforced with half-inch elastic as I had done in my orange Urban boldly pants. I also extended the bottom of the crotch seam about half an inch in both the front and back. When I initially basted on the waistband and tried on the pants they seemed too wide in the thigh so I extended the grading on the outer leg seam down to the knee and resewed the side seam, using my serger to trim off the excess as I sewed.

The pants fit well and are super comfortable to wear. They have a slim fit but they are not skinny pants. Except for the waist, they have plenty of ease. However, even in the ponte fabric, I think the look is still somewhat casual, maybe a bit baggy — the wide-leg versions look dressier to me, perhaps because they fall in a straight line down the leg without folds. For a dressier look, I may try a pattern for slimmer fitting pants.

For a casual look, the Urban tapered pants are great, and they are awesome for travel — comfy and plenty of room in the pockets (especially after I cut the pocket bags a little bigger to make sure my phone would fit below my hip crease for maximum comfort). While wide-leg pants are cool and breezy in the summer, a cool breeze up your legs is not optimal in the winter. For travel, less fabric to trip over or pool around your feet can be advantageous. I have already taken these black tapered pants on two trips and wore them for two days straight each time, including wearing them overnight on a red-eye flight (if I have to take an overnight flight I definitely want comfortable pants!).

I decided to go ahead and make another pair out of Urban tapered pants, this time with the intention of using them for comfy athletic pants. I used a charcoal grey super cozy 250 gsm Polartech stretch sweatshirt fleece made from 51% Polyester/38% Nylon/11% Spandex. The fabric is smooth on the outside and fluffy on the inside. I made these with the same modifications I used for the black pants, except I made both the inner and outer contour waistband from the fleece, I made the waistband a half an inch shorter, and I used stitched pockets (borrowing from the PE Just Peachy Shorts pattern but with a straight pocket opening) instead of pocket bags to reduce bulk from the fleece. I especially love the way the pockets came out!

These pants are also super comfy and the contour yoga waistband feels great. The back darts really add to the waist and rear shaping and in combination with a graded-in waist and contoured waistband mean that there is no extra fabric gathered beneath the waistband.

These are very comfy and warm — they will be great winter pants to wear with a warm sweater all winter (pictured here with my Sinclair Soho cozy quilted tunic). In fact, this is what I wore this evening (with a coat) when I ventured out into the 26 degree chill and I can confirm that they kept my legs pretty warm.