The Rachel elastic waist culottes are a free pattern available from Tiana’s closet. These were my first attempt at making a pair of pants and they are surprisingly easy to make. I made them in a light-weight viscose remnant (0.7 m long) which was just under what was needed for the pattern. I managed cut out all of the pieces except for the waistband from the fabric, and just used some leftover black viscose I had stashed from an old project for the waistband.
The instructions provided are fairly straightforward and there was nothing confusing about it. I went with a size M, which is what I usually wear in pants, and I didn’t need to make any adjustments at all, despite having rather large hips and thighs. But then again, culottes are designed to be roomy…
Unfortunately– it turns out that I am one of those few people on the planet who were not meant to wear culottes! The aforementioned large hips and thighs, in combination with my long body/short legs looked 3 times larger and my shins looked like they were 5 cm long. I considered turning them into “at-home” pants, but the light fabric was perfect for the hot summer weather and it had in-seam pockets, so instead I turned them into an A-line skirt!
The conversion was super simple. I turned the culottes inside out and cut a straight line parallel to the inseam until it reached nearly the waistband. Then, I simply sewed together the two front pieces and the two back pieces to form the skirt. I also shortened the length a little so it was just at the knees and not mid-calf (but that’s because I’m 1.5 m high). And thus we have the elastic waist culotte-skirt.
Man(sa)-made goods 
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