How to hack the Malvern culottes into a skirt.

I made two pairs of the Malvern culottes. Second one I shortened. I'm wearing them a lot and love the look but don't like how low the crotch is. I love culottes for the skirt look without the thigh rub.

How can I adjust these to bring the crotch up or make them a skirt??

In our last Q&A we explored why culottes have such a low crotch and how to raise it for a closer fit at the crotch.

But what if we take things a step further? What if we could transform the Malvern Culottes into a skirt?

That question got my patternmaking brain buzzing, and I couldn’t resist giving it a go. In this instalment, I’ll walk you through the process of modifying the Malvern culottes into a skirt, while keeping the same beautiful silhouette.

Let’s dive into some pattern hacking magic!

HOW TO HACK THE MALVERN CULOTTES INTO A SKIRT

Step 1

Take the FRONT - LHS [2] and draw a straight line down from the waist STITCH LINE through to the hem STITCH LINE. It needs to meet the CENTRE FRONT waist at a right angle. (See the red box in the image above.)

Step 2

The line marked in Step 1 will become the new CENTRE FRONT of the pattern. Rotate the pattern piece so that the CENTRE FRONT is vertical. Draw a new hem line that meets CENTRE FRONT at a right angle and meets the STITCH LINE at the bottom of the side seam.

Step 3

Take the FRONT - RHS [1] and flip the FRONT - LHS [2] so that the crotch seam and inner leg seam line up. Transfer the new CENTRE FRONT line and part of the new hem line onto the FRONT - RHS [1] with a tracing wheel.

Step 4

Draw a smooth curve from the bottom of the CENTRE FRONT to the STITCH LINE at the bottom of the side seam. It needs to meet CENTRE FRONT at a right angle.

On both FRONT pieces, add seam allowance to the new CENTRE FRONT and hem line. Cut off excess paper.

Step 5

Move to the BACK and draw a straight line down from the waist STITCH LINE through to the hem STITCH LINE. It needs to meet the CENTRE FRONT waist at a right angle.

Step 6

The line marked in Step 5 will become the new CENTRE BACK of the pattern. Rotate the pattern piece so that the CENTRE BACK is vertical. Draw a new hem line that meets CENTRE BACK at a right angle and meets the STITCH LINE at the bottom of the side seam.

Add seam allowance to the new CENTRE BACK and hem line. Cut off excess paper.

You can now follow the instructions for making the Malvern culottes, but instead of sewing up the front and back inner leg seams and then joining the crotch seam, join the FRONT pieces together at the CENTRE FRONT and the BACK pieces together at the CENTRE BACK.

You can see some photos of my Malvern skirt toile here.