The Secret Life of Trousers

A while ago I posted about my first pair of self-drafted trousers. I thought I’d show you not only the outside but also the inside life of these trousers, as these were the first pair of trousers I made focusing on the details that go into constructing a proper pair of trousers. For this purpose I bought David Page Coffin's book Making Trousers. I wanted to challenge myself to different and possibly more sophisticated ways of constructing a pair of trousers.

The first thing I leanred is a new way of construcing a waistband. Coffin suggests lining your waistband in lining fabric or using petersham ribbon instead of just doubling up on fashion fabric (which I always used to do and most patterns tell you to do).  So I cut one waistband out of fashion fabric and one out of lining fabric and added some cloth allowance to the outer waistband so that when turning the waistband over you have the lining neatly tucked away and it doesn't show on the outside. At the front extension where the lining could be seen even on the inside I used a piece of fashion fabric.

I really liked this method because this way the more comfortable lining material lies against your skin. Most importantly, however, to Coffin is that this method reduces bulk. And reducing bulk is all Coffin is about. He believes that in order to create a well-constructed garment the “transitions from thick to thin” should be “as imperceptible as possible”,  even if that means that the inside of your garment does not look as nice as the outside. In fact, this is his whole philosophy:

"The main goals for inner construction are, simply, to keep the outside looking great and the overall thickness as minimal and supple as possible-- even, if necessary, at the expense of what the garment looks like on the inside."(13) 

Now that's a crazy idea, eh? I always believed that a well-constructed garment should look as nice from the inside as it does from the outside. And here Coffin suggests that it does not matter what the garment looks like from the inside as long as the garment looks its best from the outside. Now what do you think about that?

The same philosophy is followed thorugh in Coffin’s construction of pockets. I followed his video on the accompanying DVD on how to construct slant pockets.

Outside

Inside

I like the way the pocket turned out and have already used some of these techniques in another project I made. However, I have also modified his method to suit me better because as so many of his methods in the book this method too seems overly complicated and finicky. Watching his videos is like watching an artist at work. He treats fabric with so much precision and love you can really see how he enjoys sewing.

I, on the other hand, am all about stream-lining my techniques. The best techniques I think are those that are fast and efficient and still leave you with beautiful results. I don’t like toying around with a pocket until it is absolutely perfect if that means that it is also way too complicated to do. I believe there are methods out there that simplify while still not losing sight of good quality construction and these are the kind of techniques I’m looking for.

a belt loop

Making Trousers is definitely a good companion if you are planning on exploring different ways of constructing classic trousers. However, it is a highly eccentric and idiosyncratic book, as Coffin himself is aware of, in that he only presents the methods useful to him and the projects he is interested in. Looking to make yourself some jeans, fitted trousers, stretchy trousers, trousers with funky waistband designs? This book will not help you make them. Nevertheless I find some of the chapters in this book very fascinating and useful, and Coffin’s enthusiasm for the intricacies of construction techniques is unmatched.

So, overall, I learnt quite a bit from making these trousers and am more confident to go on to doing more trouser projects. Also I’m still baffled by Coffin’s bulk-reducing philosophy. What do you think? Should a garment look as beautiful from the inside as it does from the outside or is it more important to make your garment look the very best from the outside even at the cost of a nice inside finish? And what type of techniques do you like most? The efficient, stream-lined ones? Or are you more of a David Page Coffin type? Please share!