Vintage trousers updated

This was a small alteration really, but this has taken me weeks to do. I decided I just could not handle the Baggy Arse look of the original trousers.

After altering

I had to completely unpick the trousers- waistband facing, top stitching, stitch in the ditch stitching, overlocking, crutch, tops of legs etc.

I gave in when it came to unpicking the leg seams due to the top stitching, overlocking etc and to be honest I had just had enough by then. I just undid what I had to to get the bits appart.

It had already taken days to get that far.


I destroyed the invisible zip getting it out because I hate back zips and intended to have a side zip instead.

In the end I decided to go with the back zip anyway and bought another one to put back in. I had to wait for that to arrive as well, and then it went missing in the post. It did turn up eventually.

The back zip is still not quite straight but will pass I think. I suspect I have stretched the back fabric with all the taking appart and resewing.

I undid both back darts and redid. They are better I think. I think they are now straight anyway so thats fixed.

My baggy arse!

The main alteration to get rid of my baggy arse was to use a different pattern to get the right shape round the crutch. I ended up comparing the pattern from my much loved and worn most working days, trousers made from Burda style 7122.

By using the  pattern pieces I could discover where the Rebecca Page pattern is different and have to say they are very much the same so you only need one or the other pattern. Both have their good points. The RP pattern has fantastic directions on how to make trousers so if you have never done this before its probably worth buying, but the RP pattern does not fit me well.

The Burda pattern has pretty rubbish directions but fits great. RP has a higher waist by about 3 inches so 7.5cm higher. Thats a downside for me because I am not a fan of high waists, but high waists are very popular. I left that alone so I still have the high waist.

Other than waist height the fronts are actually identical ( remembering when measuring to take into account anything cut off by overlocking the insides as well as the seam allowances). The backs though are quite different. The crutch curve is much less on the RP pattern. I decided having got this far to go for it and hack off the extra bit. Even then I was conservative in my hacking and allowed an extra bit for messing around if this did not work. I suppose I could actually ahve taken these in further infact but I decided to stop once they looked reasonable. In the end I cut about 2.75cm off the back crutch on both pieces and graded this to match the rise at the top. I should have taken photos. At the time I was busy working this out and not thinking of expaining it to others. If you can visualise the back crutch and how it curves up to the waist its the largest curve where it goes round the bum and between the legs that needed to lose the fabric. The waist bit of the curve is OK. So where it goes over the top of the buttocks is left alone. You hack off the inner curve. I hope this make sense if anyone needs this explained better please just comment and I will do a drawing.

 I then resewed using my usual method not the RP method because I think I get a better finish and I end up with my seams all aligned which I found impossible using RP method. Thats probably just personal preference though and being used to doing it differently. Practice and all that. I usually sew each leg together, stick one inside the other then do the crutch seams as one long seam. RP sews each front and back crutch then the side seams. This gave me mismatched crutch seams.

Anyway my method works because these now fit much better although really I am still not very happy with them. I will probably not bother with this pattern again because I have better and am upset about not making a good pair of trousers from this fabric which was quite precious. I want perfection these days and usually manage pretty close. They "will do" though. They make a decent work trouser and I am sick to death of fiddling around with these and want to get onto something new and also if I keep fiddling they will probably end up in holes and in the bin. They are wearable, and since I never tuck my tops into my waist no one else is going to see my slightly imperfect waistband / slightly sloping zip are they? Time to stop!

So the end result?



Well to most people my trousers look exactly the same. The front has not changed. They just fit better around my rear.

And they feel better so I will wear them now and thats what its all about.

And I have started my return to work wardrobe which I need asap because I go back on 10th August.

Take care, stay safe

Bracken