A Tale of Pants: The Making of a Vintage Pattern

I’ve always wanted to make my own vintage clothing. I lucked out and have a sister who enjoys things I don’t. Over the last few years she’s been collecting vintage drafting pattern and graciously made a 1942 trousers pattern for me, using my actual measurements as the base math for the pattern. This means, in theory, I will end up with a pair of pants that fit me perfectly.

With practice, they’ll fit better but I was running out of time to make clothes for a WW2 reenactment I was participating in the following week (beginning of June). For the record, although I do quilt and upcycle thrift store clothing, I haven’t made a full-size garment since 7th grade during a (very) short stint with a local 4H club.

I Promise It’s Not A Sheet

I bought some 100% basic cotton to use as a sample pair to make mistakes on and basically figure out my pattern. I liked the red color but it wasn’t until I got it washed and ready to iron that I realized why - it’s the same color as a sheet set I own. I’m working with a portable ironing board and half the kitchen table.

Now It’s Flat and Pretty

I texted one of my sisters and said I was ironing and available to chat while I did so. She finally called back… two hours later when I was done ironing.

Watching YouTube For Advice and Tips

The pattern very descriptively said “add side closure and waistband.”

I wanted French seams for the final product. I needed plackets and a waistband. It’s been close to two decades since I’ve sewn button holes.

Help me, YouTube!

Making Do Without

My sister made the pattern from brown packing paper, which is awesome for tracing around but the pattern kept rolling up on me. I ended up grabbing glass storage containers from the cupboard to hold it in place. Now when old books mention needing “sewing weights”, I know what they’re doing.

First Blood

It was only a matter of time before I stabbed myself with a pin. The first of many, I’m afraid, but the only one that drew blood. I’m a bit rusty in my sewing skills but always more cautious after the first stab.

Who Needs A Fabric Pen?

Best use for bar soap shavings I've ever seen. Rubs out as needed and will wash out nicely. Fair warning, if it’s humid out, the soap will get tacky.

Pleats Please

Almost forgot to put the pleats in. Good thing I noticed. Any further and I would have needed to pull out seams.

Sample Complete

I think I'm done...? Except for the buttons on the side.

Clearly, I didn’t document the whole process.

Successful Test Run

I’m not sure what I expected. They feel a lot like wearing pajama bottoms and I prefer my leg length to be about 2” longer. My friend said they look great and very on-era for the style. I hope so. The pattern said 1942.

After this point, I gave up trying to take progress photos.

Pockets! I almost forgot to mention pocket. I went around feeling out my sisters’ pockets to see the general shape and depth, watched a few tutorials on making pockets, then drafted up something on computer paper. My only guiding factors were “Remember, they’re going to start 6” below the waistband because of the side seam” and “How deep can I make these without it looking awkward to reach the bottom of the pocket?” They were a complete success! They’re gigantic and I could hide my entire phone and hand and still have room for more.

I made the “real” pair in 100% cotton canvas fabric, navy blue. The placket and waistband were just as tricky the second time around, as was the French seams. Obviously I was a glutton for punishment since I was pleased enough with the navy that I took the entire red pair around and resewed them properly. Might as well have two pair, right? The first go-round with the red pair took about four hours (darn French seams) while the “proper” sewing took between six and eight hours. I wasn’t really timing myself and intentionally kept a slow pace, triple checked everything, and re-watched tutorials as needed.

I opted to skip buttons (for fear of ruining the plackets and for lack of time) and instead put hook-and-eye clasps in the red pair and snaps in the blue. Snaps turned out to be a bad idea about an hour in to my three day reenacting event. I did add a few hooks before wearing them to a weekend writer’s conference in July.

All said and done, I would totally make these again. They are easy to sew and comfortable to wear. I’ve been wearing them to work with a nice blouse and either heels, the vintage reproduction brown shoes (above photo), or flats.

Hmm. I should pin down a sister to do a nice photo shoot with my hair done up and everything…