Scrapbusting Trousers

After cutting that Grace Coat from my 3m of navy twill, I had a decent sized, if not a little awkwardly shaped, piece of fabric left over. Early in October I decided, on a whim, to use it up and make a quick pair of trousers using a Burda pattern I used two years ago now. It’s 117 from November 2018. The original pair are too big now, so I traced the 42, but kept the shorter length adjustment I’d made back then.

scrap 2 — Burda trousers being shown off in London

The waistband of the pattern has a piping band through the centre, but I didn’t have enough fabric to cut 4 waistband pieces, so I had to give that a miss this time, not that you get to see it anyway!! I cut the waistband facing and the pocket bags from left over shweshwe from my last Zadie Jumpsuit which also helped with bulk reduction. A bit of pattern tetris was required to get the must-have pieces onto the fabric, including taking 1cm off the hem depth to get the length in!

scrap 1

Making up is quick, I made the same adjustment to the back welt as last time, actually inserting a welt pocket instead of just pretending. I use that pocket for my phone all the time, especially as the hip yoke pockets on these trousers really aren’t suitable for holding a phone. The insides are all overlocked to prevent fraying. I made a few small adjustments to the crotch curve and inside leg seams, changing the angle of the front line, the front curve and dipping a little at the back too. I ended up taking in an extra cm on the front and back inseams from the crotch curve down about 15-20cm. Somehow I aways end up with too much fabric here.

scrap 6

scrap 3

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Whilst I will still be looking at some drag lines, one must be realistic about trousers, you have to move in them! And sit in them. These will do just fine, and I’m glad I’ve used up the remains of the fabric, with the scrappiest of scraps relegated to the scrapbusting pouf. I wanted another pair of casual trousers in my wardrobe, I always end up with too many smart wool pairs in the winter!

scrap 5

It’s so hard to photograph dark trousers! We had a great day in London, and I’m glad I got the chance to get photos, because at home these dark pants would have been impossible to photograph!!