These cargo trousers are Burda 121 02/2018. It’s an unpromising looking pattern if you go by the model photo, where it’s made up in a rather unlikely silk satin – the notes say it is an ‘evening style’ – but then photographed and styled to look like the model is camping or hiking. But the line drawing is much more appetising.

The project came about after I saw a picture on a Reddit street style group where the poster was wearing an all grey outfit with loose trousers tucked into boots and thought it was a great look: very comfortable and practical but a bit different. What makes it work in my opinion is the shape of the trousers. The Burda pattern with its gathered ankles and utility styling was the closest thing to it I could find in my pattern stash, and as a bonus it’s a Tall pattern so I didn’t need to make many adjustments. I added 2.5cm length and traced my usual size. The fit is about right. They are by no means low rise though, despite what Burda says in the pattern description. Maybe low rise in the current decade means something less extreme than it did in the 1990s?

These trousers have so much detail and require an amazing number of notions. Five zips, a buckle, loads of top stitching thread, petersham ribbon (not elastic despite what the pattern description says) for the ankles, and a button. I substituted a snap from stash for the button, and cotton herringbone weave tape for the petersham because I wasn’t convinced petersham ribbon would knot nicely.

I’m pleased with the zips I found; they have slightly fancy pullers and the grey tape is less harsh against the grey fabric than black would have been. The fabric is a lightish weight grey denim from Sherwood’s Fabrics. I sewed it with a size 90 denim needle and did the top stitching with a size 100 denim needle. I interfaced the waistband, fly underlap, and belt with Vilene F220. The top stitching thread is various shades of grey Coats Double Duty and Gutermann Topstitch I found in my stash so it doesn’t all match if you look too closely.

Here’s a shot of the ankle ties. I probably should have substituted elastic because I suspect they’re going to be annoying to tie and untie, but they do look nice. I guess I could always replace them with elastic later.

I am really pleased with how the trousers came out, but I have to say the pattern isn’t up to Burda’s usual high standards. Burda never provides pattern pieces for any piece that’s a rectangle, just a table of dimensions which confusingly usually include seam allowances although the pieces that are traced don’t. However the dimensions given for the waistband piece in this pattern don’t seem to include seam allowances or even the waistband underlap, so if you cut it according to the table it would be much too short. The fly front underlap piece dimensions are also wrong unless the piece was intended to be cut on the fold, but I couldn’t see that mentioned anywhere, nor is it shown on the fold in the layout. I’m very glad I checked everything before cutting.

I’m also unconvinced by the instruction to make the belt by sewing a long thin tube and turning it out. It would work in the original silk satin, but not in denim. Instead I pressed the seam allowances on the long edge of the belt to the wrong side, folded the belt right sides together, sewed across only the short ends, turned it out, pressed, and then top stitched around the whole thing to close the long edge. No awkward tube turning required.

Another thing I did to make the sewing easier was to make a template for the zip pocket opening markings. It’s just a piece of cardboard with a slot cut out the right size for the zip, but it made it much easier and faster to mark the four pocket openings accurately.

It is of course still distinctly cool in the UK so this is how I actually wore these most of Bank Holiday Monday; with a thick cardigan on top.

I don’t think I’ll make these again in a hurry because they are so very time consuming, but I’ll definitely hang onto the pattern in case the right piece of black denim should come my way. I think I’m going to wear these a lot. Thanks as ever to my husband for taking the photos!

I really ought to have pressed these trousers before we took pictures of them. But I’m calling it realism because when we took the pictures they’d been worn a few days in a row, so please just ignore the creases. They are Burda 118-09-2015 made up in a browny-greyish wool suiting from Croft Mill. Right now the fabric is still available here, but even if it’s not by the time you read this Croft Mill’s site is well worth a browse for the delightfully fanciful fabric descriptions.

This pattern was the one chosen for the Burda “sewing course” feature in the September 2015 issue: ie there are detailed instructions and diagrams for it in the sewing supplement part of the magazine, rather than the usual accurate-but-minimal  directions. However if you’ve sewn fly front trousers before they’re not needed; there is nothing unusual here at all. The order of construction is classic menswear style: the back crotch and centre back waistband seams are sewn up last to allow tweaking the fit. I departed from the suggested order of construction slightly. I find it easier to sew the front crotch and fly before the side seams and inside leg seams, whereas Burda does it the other way around. But I did leave the back crotch to last and that was a good thing because I found I needed to take it in a bit.

The pattern is for Tall sizes and for once I didn’t add any length. As you can see, they are if anything a little on the long side despite that. I am standing on quite a steep uphill slope here though, which makes them look longer. I made my usual Burda size. I did have a bit of a panic half way through making them as I hadn’t noticed that the side seams are drafted a long way forward of the normal position, and so the front pieces seemed far too small once I’d folded the pleats in. It all worked out in the end though and I think the pattern is fairly true to size; my waist and hips are different sizes in Burda which is why I had to take them in a bit at the waist.

There are single welt pockets on the back. I made a couple of small pattern alterations to try to get a good finish on those: I made the back pocket welt piece wider and I extended the back pocket bag piece upwards so I could catch it in the waistband seam to try to prevent the pockets from gapping. They’ve come out nicely but spending time on the many, many steps involved seems a bit pointless as I never use back pockets on trousers. There are very roomy hip pockets on these anyway – I can fit a paperback book into them – so there’s absolutely no need to use the back ones.

Here’s a shot showing the waistband. It’s very plain. There are no belt loops and it is closed with a trouser hook. I should have taken the centre back in a little more than I did as they are supposed to sit at the natural waistline. Maybe I need to get a pair of braces! I finished the inside waistband with black satin bias binding. Burda just says to ‘neaten’ it. Simply overlocking the edge seemed a bit slapdash for such a lovely fabric so for once I made a bit of an effort with the insides of a garment.

The wide legs are wonderfully swishy: action shot below. They’re also a fabric hog. The pattern took 2.5m of wide fabric what with the deep pleats at the front and the turnups, but I don’t regret it as I have already worn them a lot. They’re warm and very comfortable, and surprisingly practical for chasing around after small children.

Although they are an exaggerated style they seem fairly versatile. I generally wear them with a slouchy jumper but they also look good with a close fitting top that is tucked in, and I think a cropped boxy top would look good too. I think I’m going to be wearing these a lot as the summer ends here and the weather cools down.