Days are becoming shorter and shorter, leaves are brown on the trees and mornings are a bit cold. No doubt, fall is here.
I decided to sew culottes for a little cheer-me-up sewing. I chose the Orlando pattern by pm-patterns in a very soft tweed by Minerva.
Orlando can be sewn as wide-legs (palazzo?) trousers or culottes. I preferred culottes because ground-touching hem are a big no-no when leaving in the countryside!
Orlando (the character, not the city!)
This pattern refers to Virginia Woolf’s character, and not to the Florida city. Obviously, because of our trips there, I thought it was the home of Walt Disney World…
I couldn’t test Orlando when Karine asked for a bunch of testers because my machine was on time-out, but I translated it into English. So I knew what is was about.
When I was in college during the last century, I had pants that were between the culottes and the 7/8 length. I adored them. It was great to see a pattern that immediatly brought me down memory lane.
This pattern goes from a FR size 34 to 52.
The front and back pocket flaps are fake pockets. The only real pockets are the ones on the side.
My culottes
I chose that beautiful woollen fabric from Minerva. For the past few months, I have been collaborating with Minerva. Each month, I benefit from free fabrics in exchange from publications on their website. Have a look at it, it has been redesigned and it’s really great). Once published there, I can write an article about my make here, providing that I don’t copy-and-paste my publication on Minerva’s own site. This collaboration enables me to test fabrics that are new to me and to get out of my comfort zone.
Let’s get back to that fabric. It’s cute, but a real nightmare under the rotary cutter. It frays a lot (like in “A LOT”). I had to serge the raw edges instantly and even had to fuse some strips of interfacing along the edges. So be aware of that if you’re interested..
I cut a size 46, but it’s a bit too wide at the waist, even if I followed the size chart. Is it because the fabric is loose or did I take my measurements wrong? I don’t know.
I had to borrow one of my husband’s belts for this shooting…
I didn’t want the low crotch so I followed Karine’s instructions to raise it up by 3 cm and to shorten the leg.
All in all, I like that pattern even if my fabric choice wasn’t the best. endroit.
Pattern: Orlando (pm-patterns)
Fabric: tweed or wool suiting/coating (1, 2, or 3)
#pmpatterns #pmorlando #minervamakers
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