Cornflower Crepe Holly Trousers

I haven't had a lot of time for sewing recently, which (aside from being incredibly frustrating!) means I'm running low on finished projects to share with you. However, I have had these beauties finished and photographed but as yet un-posted since last summer! Now actually seems like a better time to share them with you though as they didn't get much wear last year and I've fallen back in love with them recently. Luckily I keep a pretty detailed notebook of alterations and my sewing experiences so I'm still able to tell you a bit about the sewing process too!

I really wanted a pair of solid wide legged trousers back when they were starting to creep into fashion  early last year. There's something so effortlessly elegant in the breezy flowing cut. This however was before the influx of patterns for wide legged trousers and culottes happened this spring so I turned to to my stash and happened upon just the thing in the form of the By Hand London Holly Jumpsuit. Unfortunately this is the only one of their pattern collection still waiting to be released as a PDF and the paper run is all sold out so if you're inspired to make your own pair you'll have to beg the BHL ladies or beg/borrow/steal a copy from a sewing pal!

The pattern does come with a waistband piece for making as separates but the line drawings in fact only suggest shorts. I opted to use it for trousers as I was after something simple with a wide leg and I loved the way the shorts fit me when I tested the playsuit a few years back now. The waist hits just where I like a high waisted garment to sit, there is the perfect amount of ease around the bum and depth in the crotch and I like the way they're cut to skim my lower back. I think the key to a great pair of wide legged trousers is to balance that width with a great slim fit around the waist and hips.

The inspiration from my fabric choice came direct from Lisa Comfort at Sew Over It. Just when I was mulling over this project she posted a very similar pair of trousers on their YouTube channel made from their triple crepe. I adored the way these moved and flowed on her and the gorgeous range of colours it comes in sold it for me. In the end I went with the blue violet which unfortunately isn't stocked any more (such a long time ago!) but there are still a lovely range of blues on offer. I had these trousers in mind for wearing on my trip to Antibes, perfect for long summer evenings sipping wine by the sea. Therefore I wanted a fresh, summery colour but nothing too bright or shocking as the style was already quite a departure from the norm for me! This soft cornflower blue has worked out perfectly. Blues always feel quite timeless and classic to me.

I'm not going to lie, the crepe was a bit of a nightmare to work with. Which probably explains why I'm getting so much more enjoyment out of them now. The not so pleasant sewing experience is a distant memory and I can enjoy them for the beautiful trousers that they are! It has a lovely weight and drape which is great to wear; I'd definitely call it a bottom weight and it's one of the heavier crepes I've worked with. If you made a dress with it it would move beautifully but you wouldn't get a lightweight, floppy little dress from it. I've just thought that the red colour would make an amazing bias cut evening gown! I wouldn't have thought that I'd see a plain poly crepe fabric as an option for evening wear but actually in the case of these trousers it's the fabric that makes them feel a little too dressy for everyday.

The poly content was what I had trouble working with. First of all it seems to be made up of lots of tiny little fibres which when cut into go EVERYWHERE. It's not the usually kind of fraying with fluffy threads but lots of little shards. I decided to overlock the raw edges of all my pieces before starting to sew so I didn't have to deal with all the mess! Next I had real a real problem with skipping stitches. I was using a universal size 80 needle and changing it didn't help. As often seems to be the case with a troublesome poly it was actually changing the thread that made all the difference. I started out with Gutermann Sew All but got the best results with a cheap and cheerful Moon polyester spool. Lastly it was difficult to get a nice flat seam as the poly content means you can't turn the iron up too high and steam makes little to no difference as that kind of crepe just bounces right back!

As usual with By Hand London Patterns I cut the US6/UK10. The fit is exactly as I'd hoped and nice and snug around the waist. Their patterns always tend to come up really long on me. I'm 5ft3" so am used to having to shorten things a bit but do find BHL to be quite exceptionally long, particularly their earlier designs. I measured the pattern pieces and compared them to my inside and outside leg measurements before cutting to save wasting fabric. I took 9cm off the hem and this turned out to be pretty much right, although once made up I decided such a glamorous style required floor sweeping length rather than my usual ankle grazing style so I'd not left myself much to play with! I ended up hemming by overlocking the raw edge and just turning the stitching up to save all the length I could. On their eyebrows as they say in the business!

The sewing and fitting process sure makes us discover those little individual quirks about our bodies that I think I wouldn't otherwise notice! It was in the process of making these that I realised that I have one leg longer than the other, or actually more like one hip slightly higher than the other after years of carrying about bags on one shoulder. Lesson learned to always pin the hem on both legs and measure from the floor up rather than the waist down! Another thing to bear in mind when making flowing trousers like these is to be sure you've cut your fabric on grain. Anything off grain will start to make those legs twist and hang funny which will feel mighty uncomfortable as well as looking odd.

Once you've got the fit right (which luckily for me I knew was spot on straight out of the envelope) they are super fast to cut and sew as it's basically three pattern pieces and lots of lovely long seams. The most challenging aspect is putting in the side zip which I've done a lot of now so aside from the fabric issues this was a lovely, mindless, satisfying sew. I definitely recommend sticking with the invisible zip the pattern suggests. It helps maintain the classy clean lines of this style. The skinny waistband is another thing I love about this pattern as it doesn't sag and wrinkle throughout the day as a wider waistband tends to. I interfaced mine with a mid-weight fusible. As I did when I made shorts from this pattern I omitted the waistband overlap with hook and eye fastening in favour of running the zip right up to the top of the waistband. This is just a personal preference of mine as I've never been able to get a neat and tidy finish on the overlap but have had quite a lot of practice inserting invisible zips!

It's been quite fun reviewing a project so long after making it as I can look at it with fresh eyes and properly review the fit and quality. It is kind of weird to look back at photos I took a year ago though! Look how tanned and healthy looking I was! Definitely been working too much this year. I used to live in my skinny jeans while I was working but after a bout of lovely summer weather over the last couple of months it felt really weird to put them on for the first time the other day. Wide legs seem to be taking over my wardrobe!