I’ve always loved linen trousers, especially on the hot days of summer. I’ve had several RTW pairs over the years and I always wore them to destruction. I’ve been meaning to make a pair for ages, but because I wanted to draft my own, it’s taken a while.

I’ve also had a piece of beautiful red shot linen which I got from my favourite bricks-and-mortar store Ditto, here in Brighton and that has also been waiting for the moment to be turned into something wonderful.

We were just about to set off for Greece, with the promise of temperatures that warrant lovely soft linen trousers and I finally made the decision to cut into this beautiful linen.

I used the Pattern lab trouser block as a template. While I was getting my things ready I came across a pair of trousers in my wardrobe which sadly I’ve grown out of but I’ve been hanging on to them because they have a beautiful detail on the waistband and I decided to try to recreate it.

The waistband is quite deep, about 8 centimetres in total and it’s actually made in 2 tiers: a top section of about 6 centimetres and a bottom tier of a further 2 centimetres it has double belt loops and a lovely applique tab detail which I want to try to remake.

I used the rubbing-off method tracing around the waistband and using my awl to mark points on my tracing paper. I then added about 5 centimetres to the length of the waistband and a centimetre for seam allowance.

I also opted to use a lining fabric to back the waistband so when cutting out I had to make sure to cut the correct number of pieces in each fabric.

The shape of the waistband means that while the back waist pieces can be cut double as you would usually, the front pieces have to be cut separately as they’re not symmetrical.

Creating the details of this piece was such a pleasure. I became immersed in the process of cutting matching and applying the embellishments to the waistband. The topstitching in red and some bold shell buttons from the stash added the final pizzazz. Even though I know I’ll be the only one to see much of these details, making them was so satisfying.

Combined with the lovely pocket detail of the PatternLab trousers, I’m delighted with the finished article which has been worn and worn many times already this summer.

What’s one of your long-time dream makes?

Thanks for dropping by,