My recent bellbottomy pants turned out fantastic. So excited. I would post pictures but there’s not any possible way to get a good picture of your own pants. It cannot be done. *sigh* Turns out flattening the front and putting the vast majority of the crotch curve on the back pants piece does wonders for the camel toe/monobutt fitting problem. So for my next source of frustration/bafflement I want to make THESE (please excuse the awkward bathtub scene…Gah. Or maybe that’s just my sexual repression speaking):
This is Hillary Swank in Iron Jawed Angels rocking some glorious, glorious pink culottes. I love the way they look when she’s in motion, and I *love* the waistline fit. I think there’s a subtle difference to the look of split skirts/culottes vs palazzo pants, so my goal is to get that right. There is a nice pair of 40s culottes on etsy (here) where the skirt is cut in two pieces, with the crotch division sort of grown on the pieces.
If you wanna see something crazy, watch this tutorial video where a braver sewist than me freehands it (no pattern!) (here). Not quite the tailored look I want, but interesting stuff!
There’s another 70s style pattern with more pieces to cut available on etsy (here)
I’m thinking these might be better for the skirt illusion, but the last sort of piece of the puzzle for me is the is the box pleat…there is an incredible tutorial to draft a pair to one’s own size with the box pleats (here) at Petit Main Sauvage but the box pleat discussion isn’t quite for-dummies enough for my current sewing level, so I had to try it origami style to get the mechanics of it through my head. And now I’m ready! I swiped some screenshots from the above video to fangirl about the details a bit.
I love how flow-ey this is, so to preserve that I should probably use a fabric that isn’t too heavy or too stiff. It has a nice way of falling and draping the curves of the leg.
It looks like the hem might be a bit higher on the outside of the leg than in the center, but it’s hard to tell. It might just be the way it’s falling with her movement.
Not sure if this fit would be so flattering on someone with more of a potbelly (moi) than Hillary Swank, but I do love it here. Very fitted at the waist and through the hip and butt, and then it begins to flare at high mid thigh.
Definitely box pleated!
a word is elegy to what it signifies 