Burdastyle 70's Pants

Front view

I must be feeling a 70's vibe. My first make for 2014 is another pair of high-waisted, wide-legged pants: Burdastyle June, 2012 #109.

My friend Lisa calls them 'elephant leg' pants. Those hems are 24" around. Burda did them in denim, but I was looking to replace a pair of khaki pants, so I used a tan-ish twill. Sadly, it wrinkles like crazy when washed, so I've ended up with jeans that need to be ironed.

I'm at the point in my sewing journey where I'm attracted by patterns that have something a little unusual in their construction. These puppies have side seams that travel to the front as they move up the leg. The seams are top-stitched and include in-seam pockets. After tracing the pattern, I spent a night laying in bed, trying to imagine how I was going to top-stitch those seams without sewing the pockets closed. The Burda instructions were good though. I just had faith and did what they said and it all worked out fine.

In fact, I made the pants up totally according to the instructions, except I swapped out the fly front for a back zip. This was due to my phlyaphobia (fear of inserting fly fronts).

There's a maxim I've heard about fashion: if you wore it the first time around, you probably shouldn't wear it the second time around. I did wear this style of pants in my youth, and so far I'm loving wearing them again. They're bringing back a lot of my favorite memories of pants gone by.

Side view

The high waist means I can tuck in a shirt (like one of my Maria Denmark tee's) or wear a cropped cardigan without worrying about flashing a slice of midriff that should never see the light of day.

Back view

The wide legs are comfy and the pockets give me someplace to tuck my hands, or to carry my keys or a dog treat or two.

And you can stash five-inch platform shoes inside those legs with no one the wiser. I can look like I went from 5' 2" to 5' 7", and the extra inches are all in the leg, baby!

My full review is at PatternReview.com here.