Today I’m sharing with you the culottes from Deer and Doe’s Dressed book.

By way of complete transparency, Deer and Doe sent me a copy of the English language version of the Dressed eBook as a gift, with no obligation to share it, sew from it or review it.

The Dressed eBook itself is partly a very extensive wardrobe analysis and planning tool, in a similar vein to the Curated Closet and it then also includes 9 sewing patterns for the creation of a well thought out capsule wardrobe for you to download. The illustrated sewing instructions for these patterns are included in the book itself. It’s available as an eBook in French or English, or in hardcopy in French only (at time of posting).

Although I was initially skeptical, I think that an eBook is quite a useful format for a sewing book.

Let’s face it, I have quite a few sewing books with hard copy patterns included and I very rarely end up making more than a couple from each book. Tracing from a big collection of pattern sheets is really not fun and can sometimes even be a disincentive for me to actually start a project. So, for me, being able to download and print the pattern you are actually ready to sew without needing to engage in any sewing book pattern sheet tracing horror is a plus.

I have to confess that, due to time constraints and the fact that I already did a Curated Closet deep dive last year, I haven’t read the capsule wardrobe planning parts of Dressed yet. These parts of the eBook do seem thorough and interesting as I flipped through them and, if I hadn’t already done a Curated Closet adventure, I would definitely have been up for exploring it in detail.

I will definitely have a look at them eventually, as it seems that there is a lot to learn, even if your immediate objective is not creating a capsule wardrobe or engaging in wardrobe planning. The chapter providing insight into colour theory and its role in wardrobe planning seemed particularly interesting – going way beyond the typical “what’s the palette of colours you like to wear best?”.

The Dressed eBook also contains a lot of really useful general sewing information that I think beginner sewists would love, such as a deep dive into different types of fabric. I think that the book would make an ideal introduction to the world of sewing for a beginner sewist, between the information and the patterns.

Because, 6 years into my own sewing journey, I definitely wish I had thought of being a beginner sewist as being less about learning a new set of skills (let’s face it, there are a million places online that can teach you how to sew a seam) but more about embarking on a thoughtful journey designed to help you make garments that suit your life and needs. That’s just the kind of approach the Deer and Doe Dressed eBook takes.

But, upon flipping through Dressed, the garment that gave me those “I need to make this right now vibes” was these lovely culottes!

Textured Tencel

These Dressed Culottes are made out of tencel grain jacquard from Meter Meter in mustard. It’s nice and weighty with a beautiful texture.

I’ve been feeling a real affinity for mustard, ochre, caramel, rust type tones lately and feel that it really is the perfect colour scheme for creating versatile bottoms that can be work with all of the navy, pink and stripes that dominate my wardrobe.

Seriously, when I reached into my wardrobe to try to choose a top that I could wear with my new culottes for these blog photos, there were at least 20 solid contenders!

Wardrobe intergration won’t be a problem with these ones!

I was attracted to the lovely texture of this tencel when I was fortunate enough to visit Meter Meter in person, so I bought this in person during that visit. In the course of preparing this blog post, I’ve only just seen the warning on their website that the fabric can be a bit fragile on wear surfaces, so I’m hoping I won’t regret the choice to make a bottom-weight garment!

My Deer and Doe Dressed Culottes

My Dressed Culottes are a size 48 at the waist, graded to a size 46 at the hip.

I made a few minor modifications to my version of the Dressed Culottes.

First, let’s talk about elastic.

Those who follow this blog regularly will have seen my recently developed affinity for elastic – these guys are a good example.

Not only is it perfect for my present work-from-home lifestyle, but it’s also appropriate in view of my always fluctuating body weight. You know, I love high quality fabrics and when purchasing fabrics, I very often think of it in terms of having a garment I can wear for years to come.

But do I wear my garments for years and years?

Generally not.

Not for a lack of desire but because my body changes a lot. It does not remain stagnant for years and years. Which has lead me to realise that if I want to own garments that can be worn for years, I need to ensure I am chosing patterns and styles with the flexibility to adapt to changes in my body.

Which is why I decided it was essential to add elastic to the back waist of these Deer and Doe Dressed Culottes.

So I kept the front waistband with a flat finish, but added the elastic just at the back (Pietra pants inspired!).

To ensure that the Dressed Culottes had sufficient space at the back to be “gathered” by elastic, I cut the back pieces as was, except that I didn’t sew the back darts. I smoothed out the curve where the darts resulted in a “peak” on the pattern piece and then extended the length of my back waistband to ensure that it was long enough to accommodate my wider back leg pieces.

I’m really happy with the way these very simple modifications have worked and these Deer and Doe Culottes are really hitting my “I can wear elastic but still look put together” moment! I often find that elastic waisted pants can be too wide, resulting in too many bulky gathers when you install the elastic. But, for these, the simple step of just skipping the darts has given me enough space to make the elastic work without becoming too loose and baggy at the back side.

Doing this, also required that I moved the invisible zip opening to the side. This worked out well because my zip finished just before reaching the pocket, so I didn’t have any issues trying to install the zip in the bulky part where the pocket itself is located.

Oh and speaking of pockets, the slash pockets in these Deer and Doe Culottes are lovely and deep, not to mention smart looking.

Pretty much pocket perfection.

The only other change I made was that the back and front waistbands were two separate pieces – the waistband and the waistband facing, to be stitched together. Noting that they were simple rectangles, however, I doubled them and then folded over, to avoid having to sew two pieces together.

I’ve seen this before, so there must be a technical reason why, even for rectangles cut on a straight grain, it is preferable to have a back and front which you attach, rather than a singe piece of fabric folded over.

If anyone knows, please enlighten me. Until I know, however, I’m going to go with simplicity and favour the fold over technique!

So that this waistband didn’t become too bulky at the fold line, I interfaced only the outside half of the front waistband. (Also, I obviously skipped the interfacing entirely for the back waistband due to the elastic!).

I also couldn’t be bothered removing the seam allowance when I did this, which means that the waistband you see here is 5/8ths of an inch wider than it would be if you followed the pattern exactly.

Due to these little modifications and the fact that it is a really simple design, I didn’t follow the instructions in any degree of detail, but from what I did see, they seemed straightforward and accessible.

Not much more to say except that I love these Deer and Doe Dressed culottes! Those deep pleats – you had me from the start! In fact, although I already have something of an affinity with culottes and have quite a few pairs, these may just be my favourite culottes ever – I’m hoping they’ll turn out to be a new “go to” pattern!

I think they will make a great Autumn wardrobe item and I will wear them with tights throughout winter, making them extra versatile.

Oh and, finally, a little P.S! If you like to get your blog hits through Bloglovin’, feel free to follow me over there: you can find me here. And you can find me on Instagram here.