knickerbockers

The project that I made for the Historical Sew Fortnightly "one meter" challenge is a pair of 1910's knickerbockers for my son.  I only needed 3/4 of a yard of wide wale corduroy from my stash to construct them, and I was happy to have an excuse to try out another one of my Edwardian patterns.  As usual, it was both a delight to get to work with a pattern that is around 100 years old, but also a source of much befuddlement trying to figure out how to put them together!

I started these last month and intended to use them for the previous HSF challenge, but I ended up having to make them three times before I got it right so they got bumped back a little.  The first time they were clownishly big, even though the size should have been perfect for him.  Next I tried a different Edwardian pattern for knickerbockers that also should have fit him, but they were a little too tight and way too short.  So then I switched back to the first pattern, but I removed about 4 inches of width while keeping the length the same.  So I guess issues with too much ease isn't just a modern problem!

The pattern has "instructions" - and yes, Edwardian instructions definitely deserve air quotes around them! - for a version with a fly and a version with side buttons.  I tried the fly first, but I had no clue what I was doing and it looked pretty wonky, so I switched back to the side opening, but this caused even more confusion when I tried to insert the pockets.  They didn't bother to include a pattern piece for the pocket, and here are all the instructions that were included:

Seems easy enough, but I had no clue what to do with the top of the pocket since it needed to be left open somehow to make the side closure work.  It was probably totally obvious to Edwardian seamstresses, but I'm pretty sure I did it in the most convoluted way humanly possible.  I finally ended up with something wearable in the end, so I guess that's all that matters.

Ironically, the event that I made these for was canceled due to a nasty ice-storm, so I'm not sure if he'll have a chance to wear them before he grows and changes size again.   But it was still fun to try the pattern if nothing else, and hopefully it'll go much more smoothly if he ever needs knickers again in the future.