Laura’s Tania Culottes
In March Laura received the Classic box and used her 2.5m of green geometric floral viscose to make a pair of Megan Nielsen Tania Culottes
Something about the fabric this month just reminded me of being on holiday, like the tiled floor of a swimming pool glistening under the refracted sun rays.
Long term subscribers probably know me well enough by now to know that I love Megan Nielsen patterns, and I am also a sucker for culottes. When I went to Italy last year, I lived in a pair of the Tania Culottes that I made up in a blue linen. They were super comfy to wear in warm weather and walk miles in, whilst still looking and feeling cute.
The chance of a sunny getaway is very slim this year, but if you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed that I just got a new puppy! So, I will still be doing lots of walking this summer. And another pair of the Tania culottes in this beautifully floaty and silky viscose was a perfect match.
This will actually be my third iteration of this pattern, so I knew that the fit was going to be good, and I could make them up quickly whilst looking after a furry whirlwind! These will be View D which are knee length with less volume.
The pattern pieces themselves are gigantic! Unless you’ve got a huge cutting space, it isn’t going to fit on one mat; you’re going to need to cut half of it and then move it to cut the other half on your mat. Use lots of pins here to fully attach the pattern piece to your fabric before starting to cut to make sure that you cut as accurately as possible when you move it, especially on the curved hem.
I love the cut of these culottes. There is a pleat down the centre front and back that creates the illusion of a skirt and gives a flattering flat front by reducing the fullness at the top without compromising the full benefit of free-flowing hips and legs that we love from wearing culottes.
I reduced the seam allowance of the crotch down to 1cm as I do find them a little bit uncomfortable in that area! I keep forgetting to do the adjustments on the pattern. Hopefully I’ll remember next time.
The culottes have an invisible zip closure on the side. You could install a regular zipper here if the thought of invisible ones sends a shiver down your spine! I also used to hate them but all I can say is practice makes perfect, so stick with it and take it slow. You can do it!
To help prevent stretching out the waistband with wear, I used a stable cotton poplin for the inner waistband facing – it was actually one of the FQ’s from the December box. Whilst this time it was more for functional purposes, I use the FQ’s for facings in most of my garments for a fun pop. It always makes me smile when I see it. And of course, no garment is complete without a cute label.
I wore these all day and can attest that they are perfect for running around the garden after a cheeky puppy!
I kept it casual and teamed mine with a cute t-shirt and trainers. But they will look equally good paired with some sandals and cami for summer barbeques. I can’t wait!