Dream trousers (Embroidered cotton trousers)

About a year and a half ago I moved from buying fabric for a specific project in mind, to buying fabrics I loved at the shops and then decide later what I make with it. Sometimes I had a vague idea of what to make, sometimes not at all. Some months ago though I started feeling bad about all the fabrics in my stash and decided not to buy anything without a predefined project and to start stash busting, although I did develop a new habit of buying one piece of fabric from any new land I travel to, then it carries a nice memory. And that I don't feel bad about.

This embroidered cotton piece is from said stash, it became a stash member during a visit to my family in Egypt and going on one of my "let's go look at fabrics" rounds with my mom. The guy at the shop described it as Indian embroidered cotton, but I strongly believe there's an amount of viscose involved here.

This was a bit different than the rest of my stash items in that I knew exactly what I'll do with it the moment I saw it. I even knew which pattern I'll use. And about a year after the fact, I actually did exactly that.

I wanted wide but not super wide legs. I already had Burda Style 6/2015 #119 jumpsuit pattern in my pattern stash and I just knew that the bottom half of that is exactly how I want this to look.

Pattern wise, I drafted a simple waistband that was the correct length and 8 cm wide without the seam allowances (so 4cm when finished), as the pattern went straight into the bodice and didn't have a waistband.

The one moment of trepidation was deciding the length of these trousers. The pattern is tall, meaning it's meant for women 176 cm tall. That's 10 cm taller than me. Measuring myself, then the pattern pieces, then myself again then the pattern pieces again, then one more time just to be sure, 10 cm turned out to be the correct amount to remove from the bottom of the legs 😂 (doh! right?) But it was important! Get that embroidery in the wrong place and it'll not look good, so better safe than sorry.

As for the instructions, I technically followed those provided, but...not in the same order. The order they have is necessary for the bodice to come into the picture but I thought would be excessive for just trousers, so I went the standard trousers way: darts ➜ right side seam and in-seam pocket ➜ inside seams on both legs ➜ left side in-seam pocket (as there's also an invisible zip there) ➜ crotch seam ➜ outer half of the waistband ➜ invisible zip and left side seam ➜ finish waistband ➜ hem.

I was surprised when I started sewing that I didn't have navy blue thread (😲 what?!). I had royal blue and used that, then when it came time to use the overlocker I just picked up two that were close in color to the embroidery. I liked one of the so much with the navy blue, that I decided to use it to stitch in place the inner waistband, do the bar tacks for the pockets and hem the trousers.

So the verdict in the end? I LOVE THEM! It is not often a project of mine turns out exactly like I imagined it in my head. This did exactly that. Met and exceeded my expectations and I'm in love with them. I was so excited about them, they went out to dinner at a nice restaurant celebrating my husband's birthday the day I finished them.

Pattern: Burda Style 6/2015 #119
Fabric: Indian embroidered cotton (blend) from Mira Class in Cairo.
Photos taken at Asker Marina, Leangen, Asker.