Can These Pants Be Saved?

Before

Sometimes I overwork a piece. The Sewing Workshop Quincy pants pattern is my latest example.

I made and like the Quincy top. It is loose fitting and so I'll use it more as a jacket than a top, though I had intended it as a top. I'll make the top/jacket again.

Not so with the pants. Though I made them with my usual (for TSW) large, they were HUGE on me. I'd like to think I've lost weight, but alas, the scales indicate otherwise.

And so, innocently, the (over)work began.

First I removed the elastic inserted at the waistline in order to take in the side seams. Then I unsewed the side seams and resewed with an extra one-half-inch of seam allowance - that is, a total reduction of 2 inches in the hips! I slipped them on without the elastic - still pretty loose.

So then I thought - how about a vertical tuck down the front and back of the pants. Yeah, those vertical lines are always nice.

After

After

I'm fairly certain the vertical tucks threw off the grain, even though I thought I was very, very careful to keep it on grain. Too bad I didn't get a rear-view picture BEFORE. But pictures don't lie anymore than my scales do. There are drag lines across the butt. Gotta be a grain problem.

Perhaps I need a new seam ripper. Or is this a wadder?