Glebe Culottes Hack (Green Essex)

Pattern/Technique: Muna & Broad Glebe pants, size ii/D, view A

Modifications: Reduced leg length to make culottes. (Took the standard Glebe pattern and overlaid the Ninni Culotte at the outer seam to determine optimal length, then used the hemming instructions from the Ninni pattern. Double checked that the marks were aligned at the outside edge of the front & back pattern pieces.)

Used 37” elastic with 1” overlap to get a 36” waistband before topstitching. Topstitched using a zig zag stitch set to width 2.1 and length 2.0, which did cause the waistband to stretch to approx 37”.

Materials: 2.375 yds of Kaufman Essex in Kelly Green

New skills: n/a

Lessons: I didn’t learn any new construction lessons with this project, but I’ve learned quite a bit about outfit color composition & preferences since making these. For example, I tried pairing these with 2 shades of blue & a red accessory and felt too “primary school teacher” (to be clear, I think it’s a cute outfit, but doesn’t quite feel like “me”) so I think my formula going forward is if I wear a bold color, I might want to pair it with neutrals (black, white, grey) so that the effect creates a little bit of drama/fun in a more architectural outfit.

Glebe Pants (aka Fancy Pants)

Pattern/Technique: Muna & Broad Glebe Pants, size ii view A (unlined)

Modifications: Added 5 inches length at bottom hem. Folded a double hem (1” for first fold, then 1.5” for second fold). Used 36” elastic at waist, with 1” overlap.

Materials: 3.25 yds 100% cotton Ankara cloth from House of Mami Wata.

New skills: n/a

Lessons: Make sure to fuse the interfacing to the pants piece, not the pocket piece (I did the latter and when I flipped the pocket bag the interfacing stuck out of the pocket seam, so I had to remove it and fuse it again to the correct piece.

While sewing the folded waistband edge to the interior of the pants, pinning parallel along the seam edge will help it stay in place and overlap the interior stitching line.

I was initially going to also remove 1” from the rise because my Ninni culottes are too long in the rise. But when I compared the crotch shapes of the 2 patterns they were quite different, so I decided to make the Glebe pants as specced with the original rise. The rise is perfect so I’m glad I didn’t make that adjustment.

I experimented with cinching the waistband elastic an extra inch compared to the navy essex Sculthorpe pants I made earlier, and similar to the Sculthorpes I didn’t topstitch the elastic. If I notice any rolling of the elastic I’ll do a zigzag topstitch.

What I'd do differently: I’m stoked about how these turned out and I’d love to make another set in a linen, and a lined view B set in wool suiting.

Care: Machine wash cold, lay flat to dry.