Latest Design: Tailored Culottes

Going into 2019, we are still deeply in love with wide pants. Our latest design pushes the limits on how "wide" wide pant legs can be. Do you think there is such a thing as too wide? We believe that if you can imagine it, you can make it. This blog post will give you an insider view of our Tailored Culottes. By the way, the fabric was purchased from Nippori Textile Town in Tokyo, Japan.

Project Specs

• Drafting to final stitch 9.5 hours over 2 weeks
• ​2.2 Meters of a cotton polyester mix fabric
• 0.2 Meters of fusible interfacing
• 1 Back invisible zipper

• ​1 spool of black thread
• Stitched using a JUKI DDL 8300 straight stitch industrial machine
• Raw edges over-locked on a JUKI MO-6816 Industrial  over-lock (serger) machine​

Design Elements

There is nothing super fancy about these pants. The usual elements of a waistband, pocket, zipper, hook closures and darts are present. The following elements are our favorite elements to share with you.

Fully Enclosed Waistband

Getting the waistband to sit cleanly takes a ton of pinning, stitching, pressing, clipping and REPEAT. We wanted to reduce bulk in the waistband, therefore the initial waistband seam was graded (SA's cut at different widths). We also over-locked and exposed the interior waistband edge on the inside of the garment. From the exterior, we 'stitched in the ditch' to maintain a really clean look.

Slash Pockets

A slash pocket is very common in commercially made clothing. BUT if you have ever pattern drafted one, you can easily get confused. When drafting the working pattern, we color co-ordinate each pattern piece nestled on top of each other. By doing this, it makes it easier to extract the final pattern pieces. ​

A slash pocket involves main fabric, lining fabric and interfacing. It can also be comprised of up to five pattern pieces. We recommend creating a color legend on your working pattern like us!

Waist Darts

Damn girl! Not going to lie, the back view is the best view on these culottes. The darts create shaping around the waist and hips, while the slash pocket creates a very slimming line along the side seam.

Wide Legs

Just to give you an idea of how wide these pants are, we had to photograph them in widescreen like this for ya! One leg opening has a circumference of 42". That measurement beats many of the skirt hems we've designed.

​Final Design

​Here's our completed design. In true culotte fashion, it appears like a skirt, but it is not! How would you style these wide leg pants? Let us know below! 

​Happy Sewing!
Designed, photographed and written by Sheila Wong Studios