Remember these trousers below? well, they’ve had a little makeover!
These are the tapered trousers from “she has a mannish style” a Japanese pattern book by Yuko Takada. Renamed “She Wears the Pants” for the English version of the book, in spite of the fact that there are very few patterns for pants in there. Bad re-name, imo. Very misleading.
Anyway, this wasn’t a drastic re-vamp, but to my mind they look waaaay better now. I removed a tonne of dropped-crotchedness from these trousers; and I realise that’s not an actual word… and now things are a lot more streamlined and far less, er, nappy-like, perish the thought.
Pre the re-do, I was all happy and “how cool are these?”, and then the second time I reached for them… well an “o my gawwwwd” lightning bolt struck. It was like; I’d had a fun first day, wearing something new and cool and funky and out-there, but now I just wanted some nice pants, thank you very much.
I had to Do Something and just grabbed my unpicker… *inner screaming* JUST DO IT!!!!!!
Capricious is my middle name, don’t you know. Anyway, I capriciously ripped open the crotch and almost the entire of each inside leg seam. Followed by some non-capricous, actually quite careful experiments; pinning/trialling new crotch curves within the constraints of the existing curve. Luckily the legs had enough cloth area that I could get a nice new curve that I decided was reasonably flattering to my be-hind, ahem. I ended up cutting away a big wedge off of each inner leg edge: 5.5cm from each of the front inner leg top edges, and a whopping 8.5cm from each of the back inner leg top edges; in each case tapering all the way down to nothing at the lower hem. And re-sewed it all up again.
And now? I’m satisfied 🙂
Details:
Trousers; tapered trousers 13 from the Japanese pattern book “she has a mannish style” (also known as She wears the Pants) by Yuko Takada, modified, blue cotton corduroy
Top; Nettie bodysuit by Closet Case patterns; burnt orange stretch, details and my review of this pattern here
Scarf; a kit from Ivy and Maude (now Calico and Ivy), knitted by me, details here
Sorry for the slightly blurry side and back view photographs… only upon setting up did I discover that the battery was flat in my remote, meaning I had to set the self timer and sprint out in front of my camera! I think it didn’t know what to focus on! However, consequently I was far more economical in my picture taking; these three are literally the only ones I took. Probably a good thing, and maybe it’s what I should always do!
Oh ! Ordinary I don't like this type of troussers but your si beautiful.
You were obviously in a chopping sort of mood, Sienna is looking very streamlined! These were very cool before, but they are probably more wearable now. I like the bleached photos.
Yes, I like these :). They have all the comfort of the first pair, but so much more flattering.
I did like the first pair. But its no good if they are going to sit in your wardrobe. Glad. You salvaged them they look great and a nice feature on the back.
As you say, cool is fun, but stylish, comfortable and wearable is much better. I think you did a first class job and this will probably be a 'reach for' for a long time!
thank you Maureen! I am very happy with it's new silhouette, and as you say, I think I will be for a very long time 🙂
Love a good refashion. It's part of the reason it's fun to experiment with new styles. Since you can always change your mind.These look great, and the buckle on the back is a nice detail.
I do like them better now! It is always good to change clothes that you don't wear because you found out that they are just not your style! You're setting a great example 🙂
Certainly more wearable! More lovely, less cool maybe? If I'm allowed to put it that way. Iw ould certainly wear them lots and lots more often, but I'm also a bit of a "traditionalista" when it comes to the cut of trousers. I loved the old form, but I think I would have had them in my closet only as a "admire them but don't wear them", too.
The outcome of your chopping is absolutely admirable!
Sometimes you just want a nice pair of pants! I really liked the original look, but can see how they're a bit tricky to wear. I've been dithering over making these but really I have just never suited "trousers" – they tend to visually shorten my proportionately short legs and accentuate my pear shape. Give me skinny jeans anyday. And I've found that sometimes "cool" pieces can stray into making you feel the "clown". Nice refashion 🙂
Although the original design was fun and quirky, your refashion has created a much more wearable pair of pants. I love the back belt feature. Lovely photos too.
Great rescue. I confess to loving the original quirky pants but I'm glad that your dequirkifying will get you more wear from this fantastic garment. I saw this post this morning and when I went out I bought some dropped crotch discounted pants, yes, that diaper-walk effect. Let's hope I don't have to dequirkify – I'll be in trouble!
Haha! yes Melanie I admit I did give some thought to What Would Melanie Do? and I knew it would NOT be to de-quirkify those oh-so-cool pants! I wish I had your cool factor!
I loved the look of the trousers on you, but agree, these look better. I am glad you kept the back detail because it is awesome and I'm planning to incorporate just that bit into a pair of trousers for me.
Lovely upgrade. I find I have to go back and 'upgrade' quite a few of my things and I'm usually so much happier with them!
Your original version was quite cool and unique and I liked the view of you wearing it. But I totally can see that you wouldn't want to dress it because of its strangeness. So your refashion has resulted in totally wearable and beautiful trousers that you can wear a lot without any feeling of costume or similar thoughts. The colour still is great and the lovely details of garçonne-style have been safed!
I do like the slimmer version of these pants. And the photos are fabulous….the fog adds an ambience of mystery somehow.
The slimmer fit definitely looks much better and is more an everyday pant, the original was fun.
Your post made me laugh because I think we all do this kind of thing….love something new and trendy and then regret it. I know I have! You did a great job salvaging them!
What a brilliant makeover. The less voluminous trousers are so chic and balanced.