Um... Pardon me?

Every time we visit my mother in law, she gives me a little (or big) sewing/crafting gift that I am only too happy to take off her hands (she was a home-ec. teacher for many years). This trip, she did not disappoint!

What the hell is going on here? First off, her pants... and matching lace-up T... and does she know her pants don't actually have a pocket? She probably forgot and is now fishing out change for a Dr. Pepper at the vending machine. yikes.

And that's not the only gooder in this 49 cent wonder of 80's styling:

I actually think the purse is cute and the white hat is sort-of cool looking. Everything else is very typical crochet-ugly (in my opinion).

What else... oh yes... I WON A PATTERN PYRAMID!!!!
Thank you to Poldapop for the special addition of the fabric. It's very "me" as my sister would say, though I'm not always sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. In this case, I'm going to say good thing. It's been slated for the Sewaholic Alma blouse, provided I can work out the fit.

I'm not sure what I'm going to keep. I have it narrowed down to these two:

The women's pattern is a size too small for me, but I'm sure I can grade it up and use the blouse/jacket adding a peplum to the bottom. The skirt may come in handy too. The men's pattern is interesting. It's one of those ones that has no markings on the tissue, just holes punched through. I may keep it just to study it a little. The shorts are neat. They include the swim-trunk man-panty lining.

There's a stack of patterns that I'd like to giveaway myself, so please stay tuned in the next week or so for a post about this pyramid as well as the start of my own pyramid giveaway.

Now on to my pattern review:

McCall's 6404

Close-fitting, casing with elastic.

XS to XL. I made the Small, view B, no contrasting fabric.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?yes

Were the instructions easy to follow? yes

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
The style lines are nice. There are a lot of options.

Fabric Used: Denim-look cotton/lycra knit

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
1. First off, my measurements should have dictated that I cut a Med., but after measuring a couple of pairs of work out shorts, I decided to make the small, and I'm glad I did. They would NOT have looked like the image if I had made the larger size.

2. I lowered the front rise by about an inch to 1.5".

3. I found I needed a "muscular-bum-adjustment" and followed the "full bum adjustment in "Fit for Real People", scooping out the seat curve a little (about 3/8") and adding 1/4" to the side seam of the back pieces only.

4. I found I had a little too much fabric in the front so I decreased by about 1/4" on both sides of the front pieces at crotch level grading out to nothing at the waist.

5. The back then needed to be raised significantly (can you say plumber-butt?). I added a yoke to the back to make up the difference (about 2") to get to my waist. It ended up wrapping around the side a little.

6. I didn't think I'd need to add a waist band because I wanted them to be low-rise like my rtw work out pants, but I still needed the width of the elastic band for them to be comfortable.

The length was perfect on me and all I had to do was hem them according to the directions.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Now that I have made my pattern adjustments I will most likely make these again.

Conclusion:
I know others had issues with fit for this one. I can only say that if you have a more muscular frame (ie: not skinny legs) you will probably have more luck with this one. Keep in mind that I also used a smaller size than I was supposed to.

Front:

Back: 

I'm sure there must be a way to get rid of the wrinkles under my bum. Thoughts anyone? Is there such a thing as a sway-ass?

Side: 

You can see here that the waist is now tilted down at the front a little, and where I added the yoke (and where the waist would have been if I hadn't added it).

The yoke wraps around the side seam to the front a bit. It's just how it worked out to get the waist where I wanted it.

Close up of the let inset at the corner.

The yoke at the back:

Inside seam finishing. I used navy thread in three of the spools on my serger and red in one.