It’s been a while since my last post! I’ve been feeling alarmingly uninspired to blog of late – it’s very unlike me! I’ve still been sewing and making (slowly) though!

Today’s post is one I actually made a few weeks back. It’s the Winslow Culottes from Helen’s Closet!

If I’m being honest, I’ve never been particularly fussed with these culottes. The patterns been out for quite a long time now and I’ve seen countless iterations of them before but I always felt a bit “meh” towards them. However my little sister made a pair of the short version and it looked so good that I had to give it a go!

I dipped into my stash of black cupro from Rainbow Fabrics for this make as I wanted them to be classic and super swishy. I figured that’ll be the most versatile look!

The pattern itself is super simple. It’s a very wide loose fitting pant leg which has pleats at the waist, a fitted waistband, in seam pockets and finished with an invisible zipper in the centre back.

I borrowed my sister’s copy of the pattern and as she’d lost the instructions, I just used my general sewing knowledge to construct them! I don’t think there were really many way to make these so I reckon what I came up with was pretty close to the original!

My measurements fell right between a 12 and 14 and I decided to size down instead of up. I made view C for the mid calf length though I chopped off about 15cm off the ends so it wasn’t full length on me!

The only bugbear I have with this pattern is the waistband. I think a curved waistband would sit and fit a little better on the body. If I made this again I would definitely change this!

The cupro is an odd fabric to work with. It’s made from the regeneration of cellulose from recycled cotton linter which means it’s relatively eco friendly (maybe? I’d have to deep dive on the manufacturing process to confirm this) and it’s made of natural fibres. It’s got a sheen to it which makes it difficult to press as it can mark easily and it’s got a real bounce to it too! I love how it’s flows and that it’s perfectly opaque.