Culottes are found almost everywhere. They are worn on summer days and combined with business style. Such a thing can be adjusted to any type of figure, fashion designers often experimented with styles (slanted lines, wrap-around trousers, etc.). And most importantly, culottes can be easily sewn at home.
What are culottes?
Women's culottes, the pattern of which can be simple even for beginners, begin their history in the 17th-18th centuries. Before that time, the concept of "trousers" for women did not exist. The only exceptions were miners and oyster divers. However, their work was difficult, and doing it in dresses would have been absurd.
It was only after the French Revolution of 1789-1799 that women began to wear trousers in everyday life. One of these were shortened culottes (from the French - culottes) - midi trousers, above the ankle, but below the knee. Initially, they were considered men's pantaloons, they were worn in aristocratic circles together with stockings, fastened under the knees.
Later, trousers became literally necessary. For example, for horse riding. Before that, women were allowed to ride only on "women's" saddles, but due to the increased mortality and injury risk, it was decided to use only "men's" saddles. At first, riding clothes included a divided skirt, then skirt-pants appeared.
The emerging fashion for cycling (19th century) completely pushed the need for skirts into the background. They were simply uncomfortable. In the 20th century, culottes became a necessary wardrobe item. They were created for both walking and sports.
Today, culottes are still in fashion. They are used to create a business and evening look, some models are suitable for sports training. Based on the material, culottes can be worn in different weather conditions. A thing made of light fabric will resemble a straight skirt more, and is well suited for warm weather. Thick fabric makes culottes more like trousers and is recommended for the cool season.
Before purchasing such a wardrobe item, you should consider the following:
- This type of trousers can visually shorten the length of your legs.
- They are also capable of reducing growth externally.
- Short girls should wear culottes with heels.
Please note! However, in urban and sporty styles, culottes can look good with flat shoes too. For example, a combination of a crop top and these trousers.
Age is not important for wearing culottes - they can be worn by both teenagers and older women. They are comfortable, and can be worn with tights of any thickness or stockings (depending on the weather).
And yet, most people treat such things with caution, because the horizontal lines of the model and the classic length can distort the proportions of the figure and "cut" it in length. But there are different options and methods of sewing skirts-pants that can be adjusted to a certain figure.
Pattern
Culottes, the pattern of which is quite easy to construct, should be imagined on the person for whom they are being sewn before sewing. Preferences are also taken into account - with folds or straight, with an elastic band or a zipper, whether they should cover the knees or not. Depending on the desired style, the fabric is selected. Trousers with draping are made of light and flowing fabric, straight ones - of dense.
Before you begin the construction and sewing process, you need to prepare the following tools:
- Sewing machine.
- Needles for machine and hand sewing.
- Scissors.
- Pins.
- Centimeter.
- A piece of old wallpaper or a large roll of paper, tracing paper.
- Pencil, felt-tip pen.
- A bar of soap.
Before constructing, it is necessary to take measurements to determine the size of future culottes. The advantage of such things is that you need to measure a little, the waist circumference (depending on the height of the garment) and hips is enough. You will also need the length of the product itself and the desired size of the legs - wide or slightly narrow.
There are several options for constructing patterns. The first and quite simple one is to use patterns from magazines about cutting and sewing. The most famous one is "Burda" - it always contained many interesting styles, which can now be found on the Internet or in old issues.
A faster way is to use a straight skirt pattern or use it as a base. To do this, it is enough to slightly correct it and get trousers. Construction using this method will cost only a few minutes.
The very last option is to build a pattern "from start to finish", observing your own figure parameters and preferences. Of course, this will take a little more time, but culottes are quite easy to build. Step-by-step instructions will help with this.
Classic
How to sew classic culottes? There is an option to create a universal pattern, which can then be applied to other models of culottes, if they do not involve significant changes (for example, a slightly different pattern can be used for wrap-around trousers). In order to create a pattern for classic culottes, you can use the following step-by-step instructions:
- On the base (wallpaper or paper) put aside the desired length of the culottes. A skirt of the desired length will do as an example.
- From the top line (waist line), put aside half the hip circumference and draw a vertical line. This is the seat height. The seat height (SH) can also be measured from a sitting position by drawing a centimeter from the waist to the seat.
- For the front part: make an indentation from the hip line to the bottom. This will be a flare that should not exceed 2-4 cm.
- Along line BC, perpendicular to the side seam, draw a line equal to 1/10 of the hip circumference.
- From the resulting straight line, a perpendicular line is drawn downwards.
- Moving 1/3 from the waist to the level of the BC, make a mark.
- In the resulting angle, draw a bisector and measure another 4 cm on it.
- A smooth line (along this bisector) connects the mark at 1/3 BC and 1/10 of the hip circumference.
- For the back: repeat all the same steps, but when constructing the bisector, set aside 5 cm instead of 4.
- All dots are connected.
Next, the pattern is laid out on the fabric, cut out and sewn. Later, the same drawing can be used as a basis. Culottes have one advantage - even if the legs turn out wider during sewing, you can always attribute this defect to the peculiarity of the model. It is believed that the wider the culottes, the better and more fashionable they look.
You can sew a skirt-pants for children using the same pattern. The pattern of culottes for a girl will differ only in measurements.
Business
Culottes are a great option for a business style, in which a woman will feel confident and stylish. As already mentioned, the pattern for sewing a business option is not much different from the classic one. But there is still one difference. Skirt-pants for the office are more focused on the waist. Therefore, a belt should be added to them, which is cut out separately. Thanks to this detail, blouses and shirts can be tucked into the pants. Also, in this version, it is better to make such pants longer, and use thick fabric when sewing. The color of the material depends on the image that a person has chosen for himself.
Strict suits with culottes are perfect for business women, in them you can be sure that the image will turn out perfect.
Shortened
Shortened culottes are suitable for various summer and early autumn recreation. This is a good option for warm and hot weather, such trousers are sewn from lightweight fabric. They are comfortable and will appeal to those who like loose and non-restrictive clothing. You can wear them to the countryside or go to the park, listen to music (the pattern for such culottes implies the presence of pockets).
It is advisable to take light material, this is especially relevant for regions with hot summers. Pockets can be made in any style - embroider them with beads, decorate them with an acrylic pattern, or use an existing blank (for example, knitted in an ethnic style). Most often, shortened culottes are made with an elastic band or a constriction tape.
The pattern used for sewing is the same as for classic ones, but you need to take into account the length of the product (LI).
Sports
Culottes are not only a festive and business wardrobe item. Loose trousers made of light, breathable fabric are suitable for sports. But it is worth considering that they are not suitable for every type of activity - they are well suited for Zumba, beach volleyball, etc.
Sewing technology
To work on the skirt-pants you will need an overlock. If you don’t have one, you can use a zigzag stitch on a sewing machine. Special needles and threads will be needed for thick fabrics.
Sewing is performed as follows:
- Sew the darts on the front and back sides.
- Next, the side and crotch seams are sewn, and the edges are overcast.
- At this stage, you can sew in the zipper.
- The left half is turned inside out, and the right half is turned inside out. The front side (left) should cover the other front side (right), thereby aligning the seat seams.
- The seat seam is processed - 2 lines 1 mm apart.
- You can sew the belt here.
- If a button was used for trousers, a loop is made for it.
- The bottom of the trousers is processed.
If elastic was used for the pants, it is inserted into the waistband. The insertion point is then sewn up with a blind stitch.
How to sew culottes if you don't have enough fabric
If a situation arises where there is not enough fabric for culottes during work, you can fix the situation by sewing trousers with stripes. Additional information about this can be found by searching for "sewing culottes" - there may be several other ways to do it online when there is not enough material.
The same measurements are required to sew the stripes. For the stripes, you can take a fabric that matches the color, plain, or with a pattern that will become an interesting accent in the suit. To determine the length of the stripe, measure the height of the side cut on the culottes. The width is determined by the amount of missing fabric. Then the stripes are simply attached to the halves of the trousers (along the side seams) and sewn together.
Culottes are a versatile and comfortable item that is recommended to be in your wardrobe. Trousers suit any taste, they can be worn both to an important meeting and to a picnic with friends. And a thing sewn with your own hands will definitely be unique and inimitable.
