One Hour Slops Mini-tutorial

Recently, I found myself invited to a local SCA event and I needed a pair of pants to go with my blue doublet (as my trunkhose and hose needed some repairs and I needed pants by the next day).

So I needed a pair that I could make in one night, from material I had in my stash and in a relatively period style to go with my simple doublet. So I decided on slops (also called Venetians, and are a type of loose breeches that fall just below the knee) to go with the middle class look.

Simplicity 3677

I had a bit more than a yard of black lynsey-woolsey fabric (technically it was cotton and wool, but woven the same way) from making my highwayman's cloak and Simplicity pattern 3677 for the lady pirate breeches (Pants style  H). I just added 10-15 inches in the middle of the leg pattern piece (the pattern is made with only has one pattern piece per leg) then gathered the lower leg into a fitted cuff and turned over the top into a casing where I ran a super long shoe lace through to tie it.

 

Waghenaer's Mariner's Mirror, 1586.
 Engraved frontispiece by Theodor de Bry.

The end result was a very comfortable pair of loose breeches that only took an hour to make which looked pretty good tucked into my knee high leather pirate boots (and looked like the slops in the engraving to the right).

After that the event was over when I finally had some spare time, I took off the waistband and added 6 darts around the waist to fit it closer to my hips. I placed the darts with one over each hip then two on the front and back (a third of the way in from my hip on each side). Each dart was only about 2 inches deep and 3-4 inches long, still giving them the full leg look.

So there you go, an easy way to make pants in a hurry before an SCA event!