1950's men's trousers — Victoria Martinez

I am writing about this project more than a month after wrapping it up so let’s ee what I remember from the process. Probably less of use than ideal, certainly. The main thing is, this is a brand new look for my husband’s style with the high waist and volume and it looks good!

The pattern I have for these is for a 32” waist and I graded up to a 34”.

They fit well at the waist and my husband liked the rise (which was the whole purpose of this sewing outing! woo!) but that 50’s width… too much for a guy who once wore skinnies. We took out quite a bit, and I would estimate it at 3.5/4” from each leg, a bit from inseam and outseam. The muslin for these pants was a wool viscose blend that I am still toying with using for something else, like trousers for me. I was considering using the fabric as fashion fabric here, but my husband wasn’t feeling it so I switched it out for mystery thrifted fabric with a woolish vibe. It presses quite well but it doesn’t burn like wool and went through a prewash and dry machine cycle with no issues.

I tried to follow the vintage instructions but truly was so confused by how to put the fly together (stay tuned i think i figured out a better way thanks to RTW and some online vids). I did it entirely wrong and only realized when they were assembled and i went to unpick the front to let the zip open and realized i’d stitched it down so it couldn’t open. I unpicked and sewed it back in by hand, and have now lined up some videos to watch on how to do a trouser fly properly…

Also that zip is a whopping 11” as per the instructions. My husband has requested that next time i use something a little less huge, maybe like a normal 7” zip. Extremely noted! Not only does it feel weird for him to zip/wear, I think it interferes slightly with the drape of the pants.

The fabric frays quite a bit so for a seam finish I opted to bias bind everything, in a rainbow of thrifted stash bindings. I truly love it. Plus hem tape on the hems, with a machine blind stitch because it’s been awhile since I’ve done them. Also this sort of thing is precisely why i am a slow sewer, these blasted seam finishes I insist upon and handwork etc, but it’s still all messy??

The welt pockets I did as per Fashion Incubator’s instructions, and after one sample I did the real deal. I’m quite happy with them. My quibble being that I didn’t center them over the dart because I forgot that I’d changed the size of them from the pattern. Oh and on the next trousers I’ll anchor the top of the pockets into the waistband for a cleaner look & more stability.

The front pockets I did according to pattern instructions and here I am extremely pleased with having done so, they are easily the nicest inseam pockets I’ve ever produced. I finished the bottoms of these and the front pleats with hand bar tacks according to the instructions in this video.

My nemesis remains the front button/clasp on pants, which I struggle with placing exactly right. I’m tempted to remove the hook of the clasp on these and move it a bit. In future I may also add internal buttons for suspenders, if we get suspenders for the look.

In the photos you can see why 50’s ties were so short and stumpy, but I don’t mind the look of a modern tie with these pants anyway.

Pattern: Butterick 5545 circa 1950
Fabric and notions: Wool synthetic blend from someone’s garage, bias tape thrifted, ban rol, new zipper from Century Fabric, hem tape thrifted, clasp thrifted, waistband facing cotton woven scavenged from a muslin
Size made: W32 graded to W34, several inches removed from leg