Welcome to the Culottes Pattern Instructions. Here you’ll be able to find a step by step guide on how to draft your first pair of culottes. I have good news for you, trousers are normally a difficult pattern to master, but culottes are the easiest version out of them all! So get your pen and paper and let’s get started!!
Measurements
The first step of this culottes pattern instructions is to look at what measurements are needed. Make sure to write them down on a piece of paper, and that the tape is not too tight around your body. It’s also important to understand that it’s okay not to be super precise, as you’ll be able to modify the pattern during the prototyping phase. One final thing, it is better to take the measurements wearing what you would normally wear under the garment.
WAIST CIRCUMFERENCE
Measure the circumference of the thinest part of your body. If you want to be more precise, you can measure the front and back waist curve instead of the whole circumference.
HIP CIRCUMFERENCE
Measure the circumference of the widest part of your body. If you want to be more precise, you can measure the front and back hip curve instead of the whole circumference.
TROUSERS LENGTH
Measure the vertical line from the waist to how long you want your trousers to be. Best results are when you measure until your ankle bone. They can be made longer or shorter later on.
HIP DEPTH
Measure the vertical line from the waist until where you measured the hip circumference. This measurement is taken on the side.
CROTCH DEPTH
Sit down on a flat surface and measure the vertical line at the side of your body, from the waist until the flat surface.
CROTCH LENGTH
This measurement is used to check the pattern and is measured from your front waist and following the crotch area until the back waist.
Instructions
Step 1 – Structure
Step number one is to build the structure of our culotte foundation. We start at the top left and mark 0.
- 0 – 1: Trousers length measurement
- 1 – 2: Half the hip circumference plus 1.5cm
- Finish drawing the rectangle
- Divide the structure: From the line 0-1 half way to 1-2 plus 0.75cm. The front is on the right and the back is on the left.
Step 2 – Main Lines
Once the main structure is ready, let’s draw the main lines that will define the shape of the culottes.
- The line 0 – 3 is the Waist Line
- 0 – 4: Waist to hip measurement. This is the Hip Line. Mark 4,7 and 10
- 0 – 5: Crotch depth + 2cm. This is the Crotch Line. Mark 5, 8 and 11
- The line 1 – 2 is the Ankle Line
- 1 – 6: Half the distance between the crotch line and ankle line + 2.5cm. This is the Knee Line. Mark 6, 9 and 12.
Step 3 – Crotch Curve
Let’s start drawing the actual culottes. We’re going to start by shaping the crotch curve.
- 5 – 13: One quarter of the hip plus 2cm. This is the back crotch extension.
- 11 – 14: One quarter of the hip measurement. This is the front crotch extension
- 0 – 15: Draw a line half way between the waist line and the crotch line minus 1.25cm. Mark where this line crosses the main rectangle.
- Back curve: Draw a curve from 13 that goes 4.5cm outside of 5, through 15 and to 0.
- Front curve: Draw a curve from 14 that goes 3.75cm outside of 11, through 16 and to 3.
Step 4 – Waist
Next step is to draw the Waist. For that we’ll need to make some assumptions about darts.
- 0 – 17: 1/4 of the waist circumference + total dart measurement, and optional + 0.5 cm ease if you prefer a snug fit
- 3 – 18: 1/4 of the waist circumference + total dart measurement + the optional 0.5 cm ease
Darts are our way to create rounder shapes in the pattern. Every body will need different measurements. The rules are:
- Darts should be maximum 3 cm wide. After that they should be divided by 2.
- 2 darts are used for larger hips/small waist and 1 dart for more rectangular bodies.
- The same stands for the belly
As a standard dart measurement you can use:
- Front: 1 dart of 2.5cm each. This is a total of 2.5cm.
- Back: 2 darts of 2cm each. This is a total of 4cm.
Step 5 – Darts
As explained before, darts will depend on your body. This is the standard way of drawing them but use the ones that suit you best.
- To position the darts, divide both front and back waistlines in 3 parts.
- On the back side (left on the drawing) we’ll draw 2 darts of 2cm each, one on each division. The first one is 14cm long and the second one is 13cm long.
- On the front side (right on the drawing) we’ll draw 1 dart on the first division of 2.5cm wide and 12cm long.
Step 6 – The Trousers
The culottes foundation is known for having a straight or an A-line leg line. To draft the legs just draw perpendicular lines from the main lines from the crotch points and the sides.
To finish the pattern, draw the final lines
- Back: Draw a curve from 17 to 7.
- Front: Draw a curve from 18 to 7.
And there you go, with this culottes pattern instructions you should have completed your first pants block! There are a couple of checks you can do to make sure the fit will be good enough:
- Compare the crotch length in the pattern and the real measurement. The pattern should be the same or longer than the actual length.
- Measure the side seam for both front and back patterns. They should be the same measurement.
For more information on how to modify this pattern, click here
I also made a video with all these explanations: