In the Folds Wide Leg Pants

If you follow me on Instagram, you will know my excitement over In The Folds’ latest pattern release for Peppermint Sewing School: the Wide Leg Pants. Wide leg, high waist pants seem to be the latest trend in the online sewing community, and I think In The Folds’ version is the best executed pattern so far. Given my previous positive experiences with their pattern drafting, sewing their latest release was an easy decision.

I mean, really.

I already had the ideal fabric on hand – a stretch woven cotton/spandex twill I’d bought from Aliexpress. Like my other Aliexpress orders, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality. The fabric is very smooth and stretchy, so much so that I doubted its fabric content. A quick burn test proved that the fabric was composed as advertised.

It was a cold, windy day, so you’ll have to forgive the slightly blurry action shots. Most photos had the pants taking off with the wind!

As the fabric had so much give (think bengaline or ponte level stretchy) and the pattern was drafted for non-stretch wovens, I went down a size. Construction was otherwise non-eventful, bar some confusion over the fly front. The fly front is drafted right-over-left as is usual in mens’ clothing, but as I’d only ever worn and sewn left-over-right fly fronts I changed the orientation. I also cut the pocket facings from self-fabric to maintain the stretch, and finished the waistband with a hook and bar/snap combo rather than a button to reduce bulk.

I’m really happy with how the pants turned out. With some extra length added by want of a hem facing rather than the turned-up hem, they are just the right length for a cropped pant. The stretchy fabric made fitting easy, and the pattern itself is well-drafted with thoughtful style elements.

I’m still not sure high waist/wide leg pants are for me, particularly on days when I feel especially bloated. But it’s fun to play around with different styles, shapes and colours to see what works and what doesn’t. I’m consistently impressed with the quality of In the Folds’ patterns, and would recommend this pattern to anyone wanting to try the culottes trend. (It’s free!)

The deets:
Pattern: In the Folds Wide Leg Pants
Pattern details: “The Wide Leg Pant is a high waisted pant with fly front and button closure, shaped waistband, back darts and curved pocket. The pants are drafted to be fitted around the waist and hips, before dropping into a wide legged, slightly cropped pant.” Available as a free PDF download from Peppermint Sewing School in sizes A-J (hip 84-139cm).
Fabric: 3m x 132cm wide cotton/spandex stretch twill. Colour 18 Red. Weight 220g. 95% cotton, 5% spandex. From Aliexpress.
Other materials: Tessuti lightweight interfacing, for waistband area and fly. Vilene fusible bias tape, for pocket insertion area
Mods: Size C
– Used very stretchy fabric instead of non-stretch so went down a size to compensate
– Fused waistband and fly; Vilene bias tape to stabilise pocket opening
– Switched fly opening to left-over-right (traditional women’s style)
– Finished waistband with hook and bar, then snap for underlap, instead of button
– Hemmed with 3.5cm facing to preserve length (6mm seam allowance)
Errata: fly and fly shield cutting instructions mixed up (should cut 1 pair shield, only 1 fly, rather than the other way around)