Finally, I’ve managed to get out in the daylight and get some half decent photos of these. They were taken after work on Thursday and it was bitterly cold - see how red my hands are? These have been a pleasant surprise and are comfier than I thought they would be. I have worn them twice now, once with a t-shirt and once with this blouse - I think they work well with both. I need the braces as I made the waist a touch too big and the braces help keep these up.

I have had these trousers in mind to make for well over a year. It’s Burda Young 6856 I’ve had the pattern for about 18 months, with the intention of making view B. However after a rather unsuccessful toile this time last year I ended up making view A in heavyweight wool fabric. I really did want to make view B and set about doing some research. I’d made a toile in size 36, due to the excessive volume at the hips, but it was too small on the waist. I’d also heard that a lot of people found the fronts too voluminous. I knew I needed to make the size 38, which is my usual Burda size.

When Minerva sent me this plaid fabric I just knew what I’d make. The plaid is a small enough repeat to make pattern matching not too much of an issue (it’s still not perfect); the fabric had enough drape to pull off the pleat without it being too bulky and the fabric washed and dried rather quickly so I could get started on it.

This is a great fabric, both sides of this fabric are good, which means you do need to be very careful with pattern pieces and make sure you get them the correct way around. I did a lot of labelling, especially for the corset style waistband on the trousers. It presses well but is prone to shine so I suggest using a press cloth to protect the fabric. I also found it frayed rather a lot as I was working with it so you might want to neaten the edges soon after cutting.

I decided to reduce the width of the front pleat by a couple of inches, by folding and pinning out the excess in the pattern piece. This was a good move as the fronts now look a lot more like the model photo and are not too poofy. The only other change I made was to cut the centre back waistband with a seam to allow for adjustment if needed.

I basted the waistband together. I had interfaced with a thick, stable sew-in interfacing, which helps with the shape, but it does add thickness. I sewed the seams accurately and tried the waistband on. It fitted perfectly - too perfectly. I knew that once the lining was added (self-fabric) I would struggle to fasten it comfortably. I also knew that it could be a little uncomfortable when sitting if it was too tight.

I let out the top of the waistband by a couple of mm on each seam and then topstitched. I think I went a bit too far the other way as it’s a little too loose now, but I’m not going to change it. The waistband is very high. It hits my ribs and I like this, but as I have quite a small waist but straight torso it needed an adjustment to fit.

The legs are also very long. I love the tapered look and the model photo is styled with turn-ups. I often end up cutting legs on trousers too short, so I resisted the urge to shorten these and have hemmed them as is. I’m going to see how they feel after a few wears before I change the length.

While this is not a tricky make, it does require precision and patience. I used the stitch ripper A LOT to adjust those waistband seams by such a small amount. I’m about 90% happy with it. I am quite pleased with the volume on the legs and love that I have some tartan trousers at last.

If I made view B of this pattern again I would consider using a fabric with just a little bit of stretch. It would make fitting that waistband so much easier.

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