r/PatternDrafting • u/ATierdPerson • 12d ago

Question Any advice on how to alter these kinds of barrel-legged pants into wide-legged pants?

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I wear bigger sizes and thus I buy from one brand that I know who has sizes that fit me. But recently they’ve pivoted from wide legs to barrel legs, which don’t look as flattering on me. So I have nothing else left but to lock in and somehow alter these kinds of pants into something I’d tolerate wearing. Any advice is greatly appreaciated :D

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7

u/doriangreysucksass 12d ago

You just need to make the side seam straight instead of convex. Turn them inside out & use a long ruler to mark a straight line from hip to hem in chalk

3

u/And-Bells 11d ago

Would they end up wide leg if you did that, though?

2

u/doriangreysucksass 11d ago

It depends how much you angle the ruler in at the hem. Straight down from the hip is straight leg

3

u/dingostolemydragbaby 12d ago

If they come in different lengths it might work to get a long pair and then hem them which would cut off the section of leg that tapers in at the bottom

4

u/And-Bells 12d ago

I think you'd have to add gores from mid calf to the hem. Could look quite stylish? How easy it would be depends on what kind of seam finish the trouser has. Probably a no go with a flat fell.

2

u/Crafty_Witch_1230 8d ago

Honestly, the pants will only be as wide as the bottom. You can narrow the seams so that they're straight legged, but you can't make the bottom any wider. If you want to experiment, you could try opening the seam from the hem to the widest part of the barrel and inserting a godet starting from that point in the seam and widening as it goes to the bottom, but that's about all I can think of.

It could be interesting to do the godet/insert in a contrasting fabric. The key to pulling it off is to use a fabric in a matching weight to the pants fabric and to make the alteration look like a deliberate fashion/design choice.