Lately I’ve been feeling the need for some clothes that are appropriate for fighting good guys. Yes, hard core villains will tell you that you don’t need special clothes to make you a bad guy, and I’m perfectly capable of fighting good guys in jeans or sheath dresses or whatever. But sometimes I just want some pro gear, you know?
Naturally, I fell for Helmut Lang’s combo pants, which I believe retail for about $800 and are likely built for women whose legs can double as lamp posts.
Fortunately the chance discovery of some perfect black stretch leather at Gorgeous Fabrics and the terrific McCall’s 6173 basic leggings pattern as a block made a little do-it-yourself villainy into a nice evening project. A little drafting here a little grading there, and ta-da, a perfect replica in Selfish Seamstress size:
Oh, haha, that’s the muslin, in some pea green ponte and some leftover graphic ponte from my wrap dress. Fortunately the McCall’s legging was a great fit from the start, and it was off to slice into my precious stretch leather and some leftover black wool doubleknit, a remnant from another wrap dress. And, ta-da! Homemade Helmut-inspired badass.
The details are a little difficult to see in my wannabe-model shots. Here are better lit pictures of the pants while on a break from evildoing (a little wrinkled and stretched from wear):
You can see that there are faux welt pockets and a doubleknit insert on the inner thigh. The doubleknit above the welt actually wraps around from the back- there’s no side seam there. This was quite a puzzler to draft and it took me a while to engineer how it would all fit together with the welt, but I figured it out. True to the Helmut Lang original, the back is all done in the knit:
The one thing I didn’t try to copy from the original is the doubleknit faux welt pockets on the rear. After twisting my brain to figure out how the side wrap front welt pocket thingy was going to come together, I really wasn’t keen on slashing through my scarce materials in attempt to make a welt on knit fabric. Plus, I imagine I’ll usually wear this with a longer top (leggings make my ass feel vulnerable) so the welts would likely have been hidden from sight most of the time anyway.
As you can see, mine aren’t as bandage tight as the originals are on the model, but I like that as I prefer a skinny pant to leggings anyway.
And it’s really just the leather that wrinkles- as you can see, the wool doubleknit is pretty snug. I had actually planned to use a black rayon/poly/lycra ponte knit thinking that it would be better for leggings, but upon playing with both fabrics, I found that the doubleknit actually seemed to have better stretch and recovery. Plus it feels so luxurious- wool doubleknit and super soft stretch leather. The doubleknit is also great in that it conforms to your shape but doesn’t do that sausage casing clingy thing where you can see every fold and underwear line through it.
The leather was a dream to work with. I hadn’t worked with leather before, but the stretch leather, with its knit backing, behaves very nicely. I used a teflon foot and meant to switch to a leather needle but forgot to. It wasn’t a problem. I used the stretch stitch on my machine, and a rotary cutter and scissors to cut, and it all went off without a hitch. I wish stretch leather weren’t so hard to find- after this experience I wouldn’t mind a couple more pieces of gear for battling good guys.
Or at least to wear around the house, posing like this.
72 comments
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April 6, 2012 at 11:11 am
oonaballoona
ACK. LOOK AT YOUR CUTE BOOTY. you can’t cover that up, that’s a very important weapon in your arsenal.
(get it? arsenal?)
April 6, 2012 at 11:49 am
selfishseamstress
Damn, that was AWESOME. I love butt puns!!!
April 6, 2012 at 11:16 am
prttynpnk
‘Leggings make my ass feel vulnerable’ will be embroidered on a pillow very soon.
September 12, 2012 at 5:24 pm
Demented Seamstress
Why not embroider it on a skirt? It would make total sense if it was the butt covering type.
April 6, 2012 at 11:18 am
Karen Kelly
What a GREAT copy and they look stunning on you! Hey by the way I just got back from Rome and my Euro-dropping trip to Bassetti Tessuti. Turns out it is near or in the old Jewish Quarter, which is jammed with hidden little button trim shops and other fabric places but most of my moola was spent at Bass-Tess (my new nickname for the place). I bought some Italian print silk with an ironic ancient Rome theme (could not resist), a Missoni like jersey and plain woven cotton I let my son pick out (because at 4 he was pretty happy to go to a fabric store) with giant purple and yellow Italian (I assume) butterflies on it, which will make perfect napkin squares, because, well, I just don’t wear butterflies. So THANKS for the hot tip Selfish!
April 6, 2012 at 11:50 am
selfishseamstress
Oooh- we spent a lot of time in the Jewish quarter too, though I somehow didn’t notice the other fabric shops. Maybe because I was too distracted by the fried artichokes. Ohhhh fried artichokes. Glad you had a good trip!
April 6, 2012 at 3:45 pm
Karen Kelly
Oh yeah fried artichokes. I know. We chowed down on them too. Scary good. like potato chips only a million times better. xxx
April 27, 2012 at 9:22 pm
Beth
hahaha “Bass Tess”… kinda like BassProShop for seamstresses. thanks for sharing the BUTTerfly shopping adventure… and the BOOTYful pants along with the f-abulous shoes!
April 6, 2012 at 11:19 am
Debi
VA VOOM. Watch out evil doers or good doers…we’re all in trouble with these pants! I don’t even know where to begin in explaining how brilliant and fabulously you created this knock-off! Great job!
April 6, 2012 at 11:26 am
Elizabeth
Absolutely amazing! Beautiful work!!!
April 6, 2012 at 11:26 am
Karen Kelly
oh one more thing – you cannot wear a long top with these pants because the front detail won’t show. gotta show it off. don’t worry about your ass – can I say that? your ass looks great. Is that okay for me to say?
April 6, 2012 at 11:33 am
Samina
The pants look fantastic! If my ass looked like, especially in pants like that, I’d let it hang out for the world to envy. Speaking of envy, how can you even stand in shoes like that, let alone walk? I’d fall over in anything higher than half an inch. Yup, that’s my superpower – putting people in hysterics over my clumsiness.
April 6, 2012 at 11:34 am
Erica B
Those are fabulous. I would tuck a top in front and leave the back out if you don’t want you ass on display. I’m seeing that look a lot lately.
April 6, 2012 at 11:52 am
selfishseamstress
I remember doing that in junior high! I hope those stretchy cummerbunds from Units come back too. Those things were awesome.
April 6, 2012 at 1:54 pm
katiedmd
I’m having a flashback to Junior High! Units!!! OMG!!
April 6, 2012 at 11:34 am
Cynthia
These pants make you the queen of badassery!
April 6, 2012 at 11:37 am
Rosie
Work it! You look great. Girl, show off the booteeh! Well done!
April 6, 2012 at 11:47 am
Aura
I’m not a fan of leather pants–but these pants would be the reason to change my mind! Great job!
April 6, 2012 at 11:51 am
Funnygrrl
Umm…wow…
Can I be one of your henchmen?
April 6, 2012 at 12:08 pm
robindenning
Wow, what great pants and part of the appeal is there is only some leather, not 100% leather. It seems practical that the back is not leather, so sitting will be comfortable, and leather stretchage won’t happen. I need to alter a leather skirt for my daughter because the butt stretched out.
ANyway, was that stretch leather, for real? Or a leather-like product?
Clearly I am not keeping up with Ann’s inventory. Off to search her website.
April 6, 2012 at 12:25 pm
selfishseamstress
It’s stretch leather- real leather that has a stretch knit backing applied to it which gives it quite a lot of stretch in one direction (maybe 20-25%)? I don’t know of Ann has any left. There is one French website for it, but they don’t appear to have online ordering, and I’m not sure if they sell retail by the piece or just to manufacturers. It’s amazing stuff though, so I hope to have access to it again sometime.
April 6, 2012 at 12:18 pm
Gorgeous Things
OMG, those are beyond fabulous!!!!!!
April 6, 2012 at 12:20 pm
Nicole
I hope you were dragged of to the bedroom after these pictures were taken – you look very hot in those pants! Well done!
April 6, 2012 at 12:59 pm
kristinm100
Really awesome result!
April 6, 2012 at 1:03 pm
Susan - KnittersDelight
Sizzle sizzle! I have purchased 2 leather pelts now but would love some stretch leather!
April 6, 2012 at 1:04 pm
gail
These are amazing!!
April 6, 2012 at 1:05 pm
Amanda S.
You are looking FIERCE, girl! LOVE these leggings. The one thing that stops me from making leather pants in the laundering issues. Although these are so awesome they are totally worth the dry cleaning bills. Great drafting job, too.
April 6, 2012 at 1:55 pm
katiedmd
They are amazing. Goody-goodies everywhere beware.
April 6, 2012 at 2:16 pm
Janimal
Awesome pants. Yeow!
April 6, 2012 at 2:21 pm
Yzobela
Selfish, your bravery and skill in copying these pants so perfectly will surely be enough to intimidate any evildoers into behaving themselves! They look amazing!
April 6, 2012 at 2:35 pm
Claire (aka Seemane)
One word – FIERCE! :)
April 6, 2012 at 2:49 pm
T. Sedai
The good guys should just give up and all other evil-doers look like amateurs. Those pants are HOT!
April 6, 2012 at 3:34 pm
Kyleigh
Super hot!! I think the not-so-tight fit is a better look for non lamppost legs anyway!
April 6, 2012 at 3:44 pm
Clio
Totally bad-a$$!!
April 6, 2012 at 3:51 pm
Amy
I had no idea I needed leggings with leather on them until now. You rock those pants. And those shoes.
April 6, 2012 at 4:15 pm
woolcat
Blimey! I envy you your skillz and the figure to wear those. They would totally let you into the league of super villains if you wore those to the interview. Dr Horrible beware.
Also you have a totally different secret identity at which you are also v talented – I mean if you were a pro seamstress with training and junk, then I would not be quite so envious – but you do that whole mad scientist thing too – just to make us poor run of the mill amateurs (amatrices? amateuses?) feel like small puddles of brownish nothing.
April 6, 2012 at 4:29 pm
Carolyn
Awesome! What a great interpretation!
April 6, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Lisa Estrada
My 13-year-old daughter has lamppost legs and would look great in those leather skinnies! Too bad her mother is a terrible seamstress. (Besides she is too young to look that fierce!)
April 6, 2012 at 7:41 pm
Laeh J
Good grief! These pants are out of control. I hope that you get a lot of wear out of them. They look great on you. Makes me wish I’d run another mile today.
April 6, 2012 at 9:05 pm
Sassy T
Show off that derriere with pride. Puts me in mind of the Avengers (UK) with Emma Peel played by a young Diana Rigg in the 60’s. Now that woman kicked A*se.
April 6, 2012 at 9:37 pm
kathyh
Tremendously curious about the stretch leather. Do you wash it normally and does it magically recover?
I love all the details and the pants are gorgeous on you.
Ironic, as my legs are a lot further from the lamppost than yours.
I’m not even sure I could lean over to put those kick-ass shoes on.
April 6, 2012 at 10:18 pm
Melanie
OMG these pants are hot!!! and so are you! This is such a different look from your usual “good girl” dresses ( and I don’t mean it in a bad way at all) .Have you tried wearing these under your scientist blouse yet? Maybe not lab-appropriate…
You’re proof that you don’t need 4-feet long legs to pull off leather pants. Good for you! Now I want these too…
BTW – did you receive your Marc Jacobs bird fabric yet? I haven’t but based on the shipping fee, It’s probably LITTERALLY on the slow boat from China….
April 6, 2012 at 11:52 pm
timesha
nice!
April 7, 2012 at 12:41 am
Gail
Uber cool pants. I wish I had your skinny legs.
April 7, 2012 at 12:47 am
blingaway
Goodness those leggings make you look tall! Not sure I should even say that, given that you punched me and my sistren in the knees recently.
April 7, 2012 at 3:50 am
Part Time Homemaker
I love these!!! They look SO great on you!
April 7, 2012 at 11:15 am
charityshopchic
Completely fabulous, as usual, and they have a great likeness to the originals. Great job :)
April 7, 2012 at 1:59 pm
BeccaA
Wow! I am in awe of your Helmut Lang pants! They are fabulous!
April 8, 2012 at 1:22 am
MySummerTouch@gmail.com
I totally want to steal this idea from you! And it is a shame to cover this ass! Don’t cover it!
April 8, 2012 at 1:26 am
Anne
So Baaaaaaddd the’re awesome! Love your work SS!!
April 8, 2012 at 5:11 am
catherinedaze
Awesome! They look great on you and I bet the knit back makes them pretty practical too.
April 8, 2012 at 12:20 pm
Another Elaine
That’s it! I’m busting out my secret weapon. I have lamppost legs that I’ve hidden in moderate amounts of adipose tissue to keep my super power hidden. But no. More. I’m dusting them off and polishing them in awesome. Beware.
April 8, 2012 at 4:13 pm
Susannah
Hot look for a scientist!
April 8, 2012 at 4:17 pm
meli88a
Wow. If these aren’t awesome, I don’t know what is!
April 9, 2012 at 12:19 am
Amy
I heart Helmut Lang and these are amazing! Wow. I’d love to find stretch leather. Or that other badass fabric–coated denim that looks like leather.
April 9, 2012 at 11:21 am
The Slapdash Sewist
Fantabulous! I would never even consider trying those pants on, much less wearing, them, but you are totally working it.
April 9, 2012 at 11:28 pm
PatternVault
Ooh, very envious of your stretch leather and Helmut-Lang-knocking-off skills! I’ve been meaning to make leggings for a while, so I’ll definitely be checking out that McCall’s pattern..
April 11, 2012 at 4:41 pm
Laurel
Hi Selfish Seamstress! I just stumbled across your site and I’m so impressed! I’ve been sewing for 25 years, and love anybody with the creativity and ability to make their own Helmut Lang trousers at a fraction of the cost. :) I also share your “selfish” sensibility, and appreciate you letting me live vicariously through your fabric store photos. I’m a New Yorker now, and, geez, there’s some expensive fabric here! Oh, how I miss my old Michael Levine stomping grounds in LA (don’t miss much else about LA, though! :D)! Keep doing your thing and inspiring me! :)
April 12, 2012 at 11:25 pm
monika
SS, those are some fab pants and they house a nice arse! While your legs may not serve as lamp posts please remember that rela men like real women–with a real ass. Nice job on the pants and rock on! You look great. I’ve just bought some lovely bright blue leather and was wondering how I’ll ever sew it… nice tip on the teflon foot as I’m entirely self-taught and had no clue they even made those.
April 13, 2012 at 3:07 pm
Janice
It looks totally awesome!! Definitely have inspired me to make a pair.
April 15, 2012 at 8:01 am
danvillegirl
Wow, great looking pants. I am always so impressed with your sewing skills.
April 21, 2012 at 5:25 pm
Coco
You are sick. Not only can you sew these gorgeous pants, you can WEAR them!!!!! Sick. Sick. Sick. You look fabulous. Dis.Gust.Ing.
April 23, 2012 at 10:51 am
theperfectnose
Those pants are awesome. Fabulous work. Wrt your patterns being stolen woes you should read regretsy (if you haven’t already). April Winchell covers a lot of pattern stealers/ copyright breakers and other pilferers (among other things). Obviously the focus is on Etsy but she does cover Ebay and other things too from time to time. Plus she’s funny XD. See you around.
May 30, 2012 at 7:09 pm
Lilly Willy
This looks exactly like the original! I can’t wait till I can get to your level of sewing, where you like it, see it, then make it. Good job, the leggings look awesome!
July 16, 2012 at 12:57 pm
Anne-Marie
Those pants are out of this world. The outfit is perfect for fighting awesome guys. Bravo !
August 27, 2012 at 12:26 pm
Anna Dorthea Aasbjerg
These are fantastic and OMG! I love the fit! Must agree with Oona! I might have to try something similar! Thanks for the great inspiration!
September 12, 2012 at 5:30 pm
Demented Seamstress
Awesome! These would work so well with the top part of your Bellatrix costume.
September 27, 2012 at 3:52 pm
Demented Seamstress
Oh crap! You never made a Bellatrix costume, I’m getting you mixed up with another blogger, stupid me.
May I present the following excuses in a futile attempt to lessen my embarrassment:
Staring at a computer screen can make the eyes sore and the brain fuzzy.
I was momentarily stunned by the awesomeness and therefore not thinking clearly.
They really would go with the top part of a Bellatrix costume.
I am likely to get dementia one day since it runs in my family, this brain slip up could be a sort of preview.(The fact that I’m 17 and dementia doesn’t set in until you’re in your 70s or 80s is not important.)
There are my excuses, please don’t think of me as one of those idiots on the internet.
December 20, 2012 at 3:23 pm
sally
I’m not gonna lie I love the muslin just as much as the final piece!
July 25, 2013 at 9:06 am
Ocyla
Funny enough I saw pants almost JUST like this in a Victoria Secret catalog I received the other day.
September 25, 2013 at 8:47 pm
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