My high-waisted Patrones grey wool trousers are now finished! You may remember from last week that I was so excited to have made my first ever welt pockets and also working with curpro fabric for the lining for the first time, too, but now you can see the finished article, too.
To refresh your memory, these are a pair of high waisted, wool trousers from the fabulous Patrones 272, by the Jucca brand:
And here are mine!
These are made with a fantastic grey stretch wool I bought off eBay, and I love that they’ve got a subtle pinstripe running through them that isn’t OTT “Wall Street” but just adds a tiny bit of elongation. I’ve found in the past that, much to my chagrin, wide-legged trousers make my 5’7” frame look really short, so I was chuffed to find these trousers that were high-waisted, but with a slim leg (though really, there’s so many high waisted trousers and skirts in this issue that you’re bound to find something with the perfect silhouette for you!). Unfortunately I only had barely enough fabric to make these (one waistband facing piece had to be made up from smaller fabric pieces, it was that tight!) so there was no way I could match up the pinstripes…
Since these were the first Patrones trousers I’ve ever made, I wisely made the decision to create a muslin first. I’m not one for “wearable muslins” – if I do one, it’s really just bedsheets and basting stitches! But it was enough to see that the front pieces were way too small on me, so I had to add nearly two inches to the front overall, tapering that down again on the waistband piece (not shown here).
Strangely enough, the back fitted fine in size 44 (I’m a very standard Burda 42, for comparison), so the alterations were only done to the front pieces. You may have noticed that I also moved the welt pockets from the front waistband to the back, as having tiny pockets on the waistband just seemed like a strange location! And as these were high waisted, I also added sew-in boning to the waistband facing merely to keep the front from wrinkling when I sit down. I do this for everything with a high waist, and it’s really not uncomfortable in the slightest – I honestly can’t even feel it’s there, but it makes such a difference in appearance.
I also did a bit of recycling here – the four buttons on the waistband are actually from an old blue velvet waistcoat of James’s – they looked horrible and stuffy on there so we replaced them with aged sterling silver buttons a few months ago, but they were the perfect fit for this fabric and pattern here!
I made this top to coordinate with my purple KnipMode twist top (as seen in the photos above!), black yoga tee, and also my purple wool sweater as part of Pattern Review’s Endless Combinations contest. I’m still working on the last top for it using the leftover purple silk charmeuse from Pip’s pyjamas…
But for now, here’s my composite photo (click to enbiggen!):
