As I mentioned last week, I got gifted some wonderful grey flannel from Claire (however did she know I like grey? ha!). It’s so soft and lovely that initially I thought it should become a dress, but then realised I’m likely to get much more wear out of a really chic, comfortable pair of dress trousers.
I had just received the January edition of Burda magazine and so these jumped out at me – #122 (also now available as a pdf download if you missed this issue).
There’s nothing particularly earth-shattering about this design, but I just thought it looked nicely versatile, and something I could wear to business meetings as well as just team with a teeshirt if I fancied it. These also have the illustrated instructions for this issue, but I could sew trousers blindfolded by this point, so the instructions didn’t make much difference to me.
I did notice, however, that they do the particularly dumb construction technique of tucking one leg inside the other and sewing the crotch seam last – this makes NO SENSE to me, as it means you can’t check the fit until you’re 95% done. Whereas if you do the outer seams last, you can pin and adjust the fit in the thighs and hip before you sew it up…
These photos were taken after sitting in a car, then sitting through a big Sunday roast so there are more wrinkles here than I usually have! The fit on these feels a bit closer than with most Burda trouser patterns I’ve sewn, but it also might just be because I haven’t sewn trousers in a non-stretch fabric in a while.
The silk blouse is a favourite I made for my birthday last year! I only tucked it in so severely so you could see the waistband – I had it pulled out in real life…
The only real change I made was to add 11+ cm onto the hem so they’re full length rather than the awkward “ankle length” of the original pattern… The finished length feels just about right to me.
The back is really plain, just with two darts. I thought about adding back welt pockets, then realised I was highly unlikely to ever put anything in them, and so I took the lazy option.
There’s a fly-front here, and the waistband fastens with a trouser hook so there’s no exposed button or buttonhole. I always think this makes the trousers a bit dressier than those with a button…
And, as I said before, the pockets, fly underlap, and waistband lining are all done in the pale green silk leftover from my Ruby Slip.
The pockets feel wonderful to slip my hands into!
I was hoping to pair these with the Manequim sweater in this photoshoot, but we did too much work on the boat this weekend (we built a wall, plumbed in a new water tank, fixed a sink, plus going to dinner at the inlaws, a rare trip to the supermarket, and I ran 12km in there, too) so I’ve only just finished the Manequim sweater now. You’ll have to wait for a weekend photoshoot to see them together…