Designing The Culottes

When I was designing The Pleated Skirt it occurred to me that a pair of pleated culottes would have great attitude and so the idea evolved.

I started with the premise of a divided skirt and imagined three pleats at back and front as The Pleated Skirt. However the central pleat would not work with the shaping I wanted and with a front fastening zip.

The finished design for the pleated culottes has a central pleat on each pattern piece; a pleat down the left leg front and back and the same on the right leg. The shaping between hip and waist is integrated into the top of the pleat seam.

Alongside the pleated culottes I also wanted a simpler flat front pair of culottes. These are cut differently around the crotch area and the shaping to the waist is executed with more typical darts at the back. The leg on the flat front style is splayed to create culottes rather than a cropped trouser look and I have included an optional back pocket.

On the pleated style divide the difference between the pattern measurement and your own across the four pleats and adjust the line in or out as shown in the illustration above. You may find you prefer to make the adjustment just on the back two pleats if this suits your shape better. 

On the flat front style increase or decrease the back darts. When you are fitting the toile try the culottes on before adding the waistband. Put the garment on inside out, it makes it easier to mark the changes required.

Both styles suit a variety of woven fabrics from cotton drills and denims to dressier woollen suiting or crepe constructions for a softer look.