Today I’m sharing my review of the Tania Culottes by Megan Nielsen. In double!!

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The Tania Culottes are a repeat pattern for me. It was actually one of the very first patterns I sewed, many years before this blog or instagram (the version on the right below is the first every version of the Tania Culottes I made many, many years ago). I think it would have been about the 4th or 5th garment I ever made.

Since I reached the point of actually documenting my sewing, I’ve made it a couple of times – there’s this one from a few years ago and this one from the #sewfrosting challenge.

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So, going into this, I knew that this was a pattern I adored and that, in my humble opinion, just works.

At least for me.

So let me walk you through these next couple of versions.

My Tania Culottes

I actually could not find my old version of the Tania Culottes pattern, which I knew, in any event, was too small so would need to be reprinted in a different size.

In addition, since I originally purchased the pattern, it has been reissued with new variations and pockets included. So after a bit of electronic and hard copy searching, I actually decided to re-purchase the pattern, just to move the process forward. In my most recent versions of the Tania Culottes, I had actually kind of messed up trying to add pockets myself so it just seemed safer to repurchase and start from scratch on the pockets.

My Tania Culottes are a size 16, although I made these slightly longer by cutting them to the length of size 20. As I had seen in my earlier versions that the Tania Culottes can sometimes give me a slight wedgie, I also added 2cm length to the rise. Scooping out the butt seam would also probably work to address this, but I’d tried the “adding to the rise” approach before so I knew it would work and just stuck with it.

The Tania Culottes are available in Megan Nielsen’s Curve range, so it caters for a waist of up to 122cm (48″) and hip 147cm (58″). For my version, I used the 0-20 size range.

My only other modification to the Tania Culottes for these two versions was the addition of belt loops.

Can we pause for a brief moment to marvel at the wonder of belts?

Somehow I’ve made it through nearly 40 years of my life without realising how perfect belts can be for someone with a fluctuating waistline like myself.

I think I went about ten years owning just a single belt and have recently had a bit of a belt shopping spree. And I’m loving both the more polished look such a simple accessory can create and the fact that it can be very useful if my waist measurements aren’t the exact same as they were when I made a garment.

Which, let’s face it, basically applies all the time except for the first ever time I wear a garment!

Why didn’t anyone tell me belts are essential?

Starting points…

Where do your sewing projects start?

For me, this was an unusual one.

I purchased the pink and green sweater in these photos a few months ago from Sezane but I’ve been struggling to style it. It just didn’t go with what was in my wardrobe.

So I had this idea of a bright pink fuchsia pair of Tania Culottes to be the perfect match.

It’s actually a tough colour to purchase online.

I actually ordered samples of all different kinds of fabrics from about 5 different places until I stumbled across this perfect colour match. I had originally wanted wool, but didn’t find anything the right tone.

This fabric, which came from textielstad, is actually something completely unexpected – it’s a scuba crepe.

That’s right, the pink ones are the Tania Culottes in a knit, so these are totally in the secret pyjama zone!

Since scuba is not a stretchy knit and behaves basically like a woven, it was a very good match for the Tania Culottes.

And the best part of sewing it in scuba crepe – look Mum no hem!

Yep, since it’s not going to fray, I cut it nice and neatly and left this hem raw. The fabric is way too thick to have been able to do a baby hem neatly.

And if I can save myself from hemming two circle skirts. Well, why the hell wouldn’t I?

The lack of hem also made the Tania Culottes a pretty speedy sew.

Tania Culottes No. 2

When I put on this pink pair, I had one of those “damn, I just really love this pattern” moments.

And so, I asked myself, why don’t I have a plain classic navy wear-forever pair?

The navy version is identical to the pink one so nothing much to add (well, except I actually had to hem this one!).

The fabric is a wool crepe I got from The Fabric Sales. It was so gorgeous, I bought it in both navy and caramel.

It’s the first time I’ve ever used wool crepe and it is totally delightful. This is thick and warm (395 gsm) and it has this lovely playful squishiness to it. The texture is wonderful and more-ish. The quality feels great. I just can’t imagine a better fabric for a classic garment like this.

So, yeah, I kind of love the navy Megan Nielsen Tania Culottes too!

These garments really reminded me that, while sewing new patterns is, of course, exciting, sometimes making patterns you know well in great quality fabrics can be a very satisfying form of sewing.

The kind that reinforces for you just why sewing is wonderful.

The navy pair is me being able to make my own classic garment which I can wear for a decade. The pink represents me being able to create the perfect garment to coordinate with something that I love.

And both of those are different forms of the same sewing super power.

What’s your sewing super power?

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If you want to see more of my sewing adventures, you can find me on Instagram here.