Winter Wonders - Flannel Lined Jeans

OK I admit it - I'm a frog - I'm forever cold and in this country (north east USA) at this time of year, I often feel like I'm never going to be warm again.

This has a definitely impact on my sewing - during summer I love to use beautiful fabrics - bright prints, different type of fabrics etc, but in the winter all my sewing is based around how warm any given fabric is - which makes my wardrobe a lot more drab than I would like.  I try and make nice tops out of beautiful knit fabrics, but just end up covering them up with fleece sweaters etc.

When it comes to pants - I'd happily spend all winter in fleece tracksuit pants - but sometimes I want to look a little more put together.  I've got one pair of woolen pants that are lined with rayon - they're not bad, but sometimes I just want to wear jeans, but then I freeze when I do.

So what's a girl to do but make herself a pair of flannel line, elastic waist jeans. Comfortable, warm and not too mumsy/dowdy.

To make these I used the same pattern I've been using for all my pants lately - the one with the extra seams up the front and the back of the leg for more fitting help.  To create a waistband I cut 2" off the top  of the pattern pieces used those to piece together a 2 part waistband with just a little bit of shaping.  I also increased the rise at center back by 3/4" and lowered the front rise by about 1/2" - just tweaking the fit.

I removed a little bit of the flare from the bottom of the leg, but probably not quite enough - these are very 70's

I added a bit of extra width to this version of the pattern 1/4" at each seam from the waistband to the hips,  since the pattern tends to be a bit tight when made in a fabric with no stretch - as was the flannel.  I cut out and sewed up the flannel first to get the fit right - I wanted it to be fitted through the thigh down to the knee, but not so much I couldn't sit down and lounge in them.  Once I had the pattern right I then cut it out of the denim.

I added pockets in between the center front seam and the side seam and top stitched about 7 rows parallel to the pocket with top stitching thread.

There is no fly and the waistband is threaded with elastic so they're not really jeans as such - but they're close enough for me!

I did a pretty basic design topstitched onto the back pockets as well.

I was in such a hurry to be able to wear them that I didn't bother hemming them before throwing them on - and I've since been told that the whole frayed hem thing is in at the moment - so since I'm lazy these pants are going to be left un hemmed.

Overall I love love love these pants.  They're warm, and they're comfortable enough that I don't have to change out of them when I'm lounging around at home, what more could a girl want?