The best things twice

When I made my fist pair of Milly culottes I was unsure that I would ever wear them. Usually I'm never interested in trendy patterns, I prefer classic styles. When I made them the first time the idea was that if I never ended up wearing them I at least tried to make trousers for the first time. 

Little did I know that I would wear them to dead. I have worn them almost every week during the summer. They are so comfortable and the go with nearly everything. Like an A-line skirt without the impracticality of an actual skirt. The fabric of the first pair started to pill in the back and they where always a bit to large. So it was time for a new and improved pair!

The best improvement that I made was to chose nicer fabric. This is a nice black fabric from the fabric sales. I'm not sure what it is made of but it doesn't wrinkle at all. And it is black so these will go with even more of my clothes. I chose not to use elastic in the back like I did last time and I made them even smaller in the waist. 

The details:

Pattern: Milly Culottes La Maison Victor Jan/Feb 2016

Fabric: €24 The Fabric Sales

zip: €2.65

Milly culottes

It has been already about a month since my last post, I made a lot. I just have not had the time te make photos. You can expect a lot of spring clothes coming up on the blog in the next few weeks. One of them I even started during winter break. 

But the first one to show you all are these cullotes.

I know culottes are supposed to be trendy, but I still had my doubts. I used to wear them as a child when they where just called pant-skirts or skirt-trousers, and I wasn't sure how flattering they would be. The Milly trousers are rather long, a not very flattering length on most people.

But I made them anyway! They just look great in the magazine and I wanted to sew something else, not a dress for once. I wanted to learn how to sew trousers and thought these would be great to begin with. They are trousers but because the fit is so lose getting them to fit properly is not as difficult as 'proper' trousers. I made a size 38 based on my measurements but they ended up way to big. I took them in by 8 cm in total at the waist! The reason for this was probably a combination of a slight stretch in my fabric and the pattern calls for elastic in the back waist band. I didn't feel like elastic, I mean, If I'm going to make my own clothes I can just as well make them fit nicely without. I interfaced the waistband pieces and attached it in the same way as instructed but without the elastic.

With the length as it was designed they cut my calves in half and it was not flattering at all. I got my mum to pin them at different lengths while I stood on the table. The best length for me was just below the knee. It was long enough to make them look like a skirt but short enough to be flattering. 

I have no idea what kind of fabric it is, it is heavy, flowy and doesn't crease at all. It is a woven fabric but it has a bit of give to it. That also means that it doesn't press well. It wasn't a problem with the construction of the pants, the pleats and so. But It was horrible for the waistband. The end result looks nice but not as crisp as they could have been. 

The weather has been way to cold to wear them yet. But I look forward to wearing them. I just don't know which shoes to wear with them. I like the high heels but they are not very practical. What do you think?