These are my top three wide leg pants & shorts pattern for spring and summer for babywale cord (yes! even shorts! read on), but also twill, linen and chambray.
I’m showing three, all in corduroy, and in the video I explain why I love corduroy for these – even into summer sewn into shorts.
If you are familiar with the clothing brand Carve designs, it’s coastal surf cool women’s wear. They have corduroy all year long, made into several different styles including a jeans-style pant, their famous Oahu corduroy shorts and new this year a wide leg cord ankle pant.
The Carve Designs pants I reference – photo from Carve Designs.
These three patterns come in all the lengths you’ll want to recreate these looks.
The Emerson pant from True Bias
- has a back elastic and flat front waistband
- Comes in a mid (below belly button) and high rise
- Comes with cropped wide pants and shorts versions
- Front slash pockets
The Rose pant from Made by Rae
- has back elastic and flat front waistband
- Comes in a high rise
- Comes with cropped pants, full length pants, shorts versions
- Pleats or gathers in the front (you choose)
- Front slash pockets
The Pietra pant from Closet Core
- Has back elastic and flat front waistband
- Ultra high rise
- Cropped wide pants, cropped skinny pants, shorts and full length pants
- No pleats or gathers in the front
- Inset pockets and front seaming details
My three fabrics from stash (one is new) are mint green stretch cord, watermelon stretch cord (been in stash about 15 years) and dark teal babywale cord (no stretch).
If I have enough (and I should), I will make one pair of pants and one pair of shorts from EACH of these fabrics.
Let’s talk corduroy for a minute! It’s 100% cotton (or 97/3% lycra), it’s soft, durable, plush and it is both warm in winter and cooler in summer. What? Corduroy shorts? Yes! It’s lighter weight and softer than denim, so if you wear denim shorts, these are better.
My video shows you the three corduroy fabrics I’m making for spring (and summer!) as well as helpful tips for sewing these wide leg pants.
Prewash and dry your corduroy fabric!
Cord is cotton, you want to preshrink it the same way you’ll care for your pants (which should be in your washer and dryer.)
Before you cut your wide leg pants out – decide on leg length
The cropped “ankle” length popular in the stores and in the Carve example above is considerably longer than the cropped version on ALL these patterns, so measure to your ankle bone, add the recommended hem allowance to get the finished cut length for your pants. Measure your favorite shorts inseams to get a finished inseam for shorts versions and calculate it the same as for the pant length. These are all more lower calf cropped (and my Emerson’s are all 1″ longer than the pattern calls for already.)
All of these are straight-to-the-hem pants so adding length is as simple as a ruler and a pen and some tracing paper. No complex pattern hacking here!
None of these pants patterns has back pockets but I like a pocket on the back and you can use my pocket template here for FREE on your corduroy pants and shorts. They look like the Carve example.
Add the pockets to the back
Do this before you sew the pants sideseams or inner leg seams together.
You can either fully line the pocket (quilting cotton in a print is fine) or you can sew it the traditional way.
Start by edge finishing all the edges of the pocket with a serger, pinking shears or zigzag. Fold the top down 1″ and press. Turn in each of the remaining sides by 1/4″ and press, folding in the bottom angled corners. Unfold the top, flip it back along the fold mark and stitch the short 1″ side. Flip the top of the pocket back to the right side and press. Now, you’re ready to apply the pockets to the back pieces. I recommend that you pin the pockets and then “try on” the pants (pin the sideseams and CB/CF seams together with safety pins). This will help you position the pockets. Fold down the waistband to it’s finished size too so you can see where the pockets should go.
Style your cropped corduroy pants for winter
Booties and tall boots work great under these pants. Wear them with a slouchy sweater, an oversized blazer and a long coat. Even though they’re cropped, wear taller socks you can scrunch over your booties and you’ll be just fine – even by Midwestern/GreatLakes winter standards.
Style cropped corduroy pants for spring and corduroy shorts for summer
For spring / fall, these look great with sneakers or ballet flats, or try making your own espadrilles!. For summer, ballet flats and sandals. You can wear these with a trench coat or even a casual parka in colder weather.
For summer, these look great with your favorite tee shirt and sandals. I pack them instead of jeans when I travel. More stylish, more comfortable and cooler to wear.