The Avid Makers: Marcela’s City Trousers

Welcome to the first post from our blogging team The Avid Makers! Marcela made not one, not two, but three versions of The City Trousers. Here’s how she got on with the pattern…

Over the years I’ve come to understand how important it is to know my body and its needs, and thanks to sewing, my clothes finally fit perfectly!

When it comes to sewing, I have always felt an urge to ‘wing it’ and do a lot by myself. I have obviously made A LOT of mistakes and do you know what, that’s ok because I’ve learnt a lot from those mistakes. I highly encourage you to make mistakes and document them. This will give you both the confidence and ability to do so much with this new knowledge. In my case, this new found confidence led me to ‘hack’ patterns. I love and appreciate all the hard work that is put into a sewing pattern and I love that I know my body well enough to adapt these patterns to make them more suited to me.

As part of the Avid Makers blogging team, I was given The City Trousers for my first make. At first glance, I probably wasn’t drawn to the pattern because of the low waist, but after a few simple adjustments to make them more “me”, I can honestly say what a great pair of trousers they are! The fit was perfect, and I managed to sew one pair in 3.5 hours. I loved them so much I made 3 pairs!

For my first pair I made some simple adjustments.

Raised the waist by 3 inches

Made the pockets deeper

Closed the legs side slit

Tapered the bottom of the legs by 0.5 inch on both sides and did this to both my front and back pattern piece.

For my first adjustment I measured my waist and adjusted the top of my pattern pieces accordingly. I also extended the back darts and widened them on the top by 0.5 inch on both sides to fit my waist and hip. These changes work for my body and may differ for others.

For my second adjustment I made the pockets 3 inches deeper. This is a personal preference as I like to carry my phone and every other little thing I pick up on the way! Remember to adjust the height to match the front trouser leg pattern piece.

For my third adjustment, I straightened the trouser leg to take out the side slit. A simple but effective twist on the original pattern.

For my final adjustment, tapering the legs, I cut out the pattern pieces, set my machine to the widest stitch and basted them together. I put them on inside out and pinned them evenly on both sides to work out how tapered I wanted them. Once I measured how much I wanted to remove I took the adjustment up to the knee and blended the line in. In the picture you can see the original pattern piece underneath my fabric cut out piece.

For my second pair I hacked two patterns together: The City Trousers and the Milton Pinafore, a free pattern from Peppermint Magazine.

I made the same adjustments as my previous pair but this time I attached the bodice piece of the pinafore to my City Trousers. I did make a few adjustments to the bodice piece which you can see in the below picture. I added an extra 2 inches to offer more coverage to the bust and added an inch to the length to accommodate the fit. I also added a wide elastic to the back as straps; this allows me to move freely while still giving a nice fit.

For my final hack, I used The City Trousers and a self-drafted bib plus straps. Again, I made the same adjustments as my first pair but this time I used a slightly bigger seam allowance, and this gave me a more fitted pair.

Here is the shape and size of the bib; it is about 2 inches wider than half my waist measurement.

Ta-dah! I filled a gap in my wardrobe with these 3 new beautiful pieces.

Overall, I only have genuinely positive feedback for The City Trousers sewing pattern: easy and clear instructions, great for hacking, beautiful simple design, fits perfectly on me and the shape is very flattering. I’m happy to add this to my collection as it is an ideal everyday pair of trousers. Thank you to The Avid Seamstress for introducing me to this pattern!

Both fabrics for my first pairs are from Fabrics Galore London and the floral ones were some old curtains my mum no longer wanted.

Click here to find out more about Marcela and the rest of The Avid Makers team.