That’s a lot of alliteration! I guess Papercut Patterns must have realized this when they came up with the name. I bought this pattern when the collection first came out as they reminded me a little of the Named Alexandria pants, which I loved and have been wearing tons since I made them (hence the second pair at the end of this post).
I have quite a few Papercut patterns in my stash as I very much like their style, but haven’t actually made too many of them yet. In fact I think I’ve only used the Anima pants pattern for my mother, and the Kyoto tee for myself, which I adored. Another pattern that’s on the “I REALLY must make another” TNT list. Oh yes. Anyway, this pair of pants has everything I was after for a comfortable spring wardrobe staple: an elasticated back for some comfort, but a flat front for shape, interesting details, such as the pocket shape, the front leg centre seam and, overall, a style that’s somewhere between casual and more formal, thanks to details like the faux fly.
As I posted a while back, these are part of a spring/summer capsule wardrobe I’m trying to make, so I decided that I needed the Palisades, as well as another pair of Alexandrias, in some shade of blue or grey to make sure they coordinated with a decent number of the other garments. I happened to be in Joann looking for some thread and noticed this blue stretch twill, as well as a dark blue bengaline. I don’t buy fabric from Joann very often these days, but the twill seemed pretty nice – and then I noticed they had 60% off sportswear fabrics. I couldn’t not really with that kind of savings enticement – so I got enough of both for a pair of pants each for $20 or something. Bargain.
I decided to make the largest size in the Palisades – XL – but I would size down to L next time, which is my main comment about these trousers – as you can see they’re pretty roomy. There is a little stretch in the twill to be fair, but I think even in another fabric the L would be a better fit. Having said that, these are still very wearable – I might just try and take the waist in a little (no, I won’t – who am I kidding) and I feel like they have a real “all-American sportswear” feel in the powder blue. That might just be the perception coming from a non-American, but I’m not sure. What do you think? 1940s golfer anyone?
I’ve read a few reviews of various Papercut patterns where the sewists felt the construction and/or instructions were a little confusing, so I was prepared for a little guesswork, but I must say I thought the Palisade construction was super-straightforward and the instructions very good indeed. It’s quite a simple project, so a beginner shouldn’t have any problems I don’t think.
I was considering not using interfacing because the twill has some thickness, but it also has a modicum of stretch, so in the end I figured the interfacing was probably useful in keeping those parts stable, which is, after all the point. And, now that I’ve made them, I think I made the right decision. Oh yes, and this twill crushes like a bugger too, so I’m doubly glad I did that. I don’t care really, but you can see how quickly it wrinkles from the picture above.
I wore them during Me Made May with my Perkins shirt too!
The pockets were fun to put together and I thought the waistband construction was really neat, with just a short flat front. I ended up with a very tidy pair of trousers, both inside and out, so no complaints here. All, in all, a pleasing project, particularly since I made it straight from the packet. I’d really only make a few tiny little tweaks next time.
As I mentioned at the top, I also made a second pair of Named Alexandria pants. My first time I used a cotton lawn as a kind of wearable muslin and this time I picked up some bengaline from Joann. I am a little heavier than when I made these last year, but the bengaline has some stretch, so I figured I’d roll with the same pattern pieces. Unfortunately, the stretch on the bengaline went the opposite way to most stretch fabrics and I managed to cut the pattern out with the stretch going up and down, which is no use to man nor beast!
Therefore, this pair is slightly tight around the hips/tummy region, but I still really like them. I did make a few tweaks from last time: added an inch back in length and doubled the width of the waistband and it worked out well. All in all, they’ll get lots of wear – they go with tons of items in my wardrobe and that was the idea!
And that’s about it for this post! Another great pattern to add to my trousers repertoire and a new pair of favourite TNT Alexandrias. I’ll be back soon with my first project (finally) from the Breaking the Pattern book. Can you guess which one I’m making? I should finish up very soon and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
Belle Citadel 
I love the pockets on the Papercut Pattern. I want to try these but I am so short and have difficulty with getting pants to fit. I do like the fabric you used.
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The pockets are such a great detail. I guess since this is a casual style, you would probably have a lot more ease and give to play with, but I do empathise. Trousers are so hard!
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Nice! I really love the Alexandria trousers especially but I think I’m basically totally brainwashed into the cult of Named.
Do you have their book? I haven’t posted any sewing-related content in ages but am slowly trying to get things photographed. And while I haven’t been sewing as much anymore I have found myself slowly making my way through “Breaking the Pattern” (two patterns tried out so far, one in two variations, and all in multiples…).
I need to get back into pants sewing at some point (hm, maybe those jeans from the book?). I’m very impressed with the pants you’ve been making!
I love your recently made shirts, too, by the way 🙂
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Haha – yes, I recall your Named obsession. But there are certainly worse ones to have – and particularly if your makes all look like that dress you posted today. What a beauty!
Yes indeedy, I preordered the book, so even had it before the official publishing date thanks to good ol Amazon. Even so, I have only recently cut out my first pattern from it as I had a bunch of other things in my queue. I am making the sleeveless ruffled Saraste top in one of the last Cotton and Steel rayons – it’s called Love Flower or something and is predominantly red. I’m quite excited about it – I love the fabric! The Alexandrias also fit me pretty much straight from the pattern too, so I’m also a fan. I guess I’ve made those and the Kielo dress a couple of times now, but there are definitely lots of delectable patterns in that book.
Which other pattern did you try?
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I haven’t made the Saraste top yet, but I want to. And now I’ll be waiting for yours!
I’ve made the Kaste, which you saw on IG, and two different versions of the Ruska pattern — the high-neck dress shortened to a top (three times) and the t-shirt version (sans center front seam, eight so far, I think, but no photos yet!).
I’d like to give the jeans a try and I’m eyeing some fabric I bought a while back for possibly yet another Kaste dress. My plan for the summer is to sew as much of the “precious” fabrics as I reasonably can. I’m feeling more confident about it because I feel like I’ve found some silhouettes and patterns that I not only like but end up wearing… That should be a blog post, but we’ll see if that happens 😉
Anyway, I’m excited for more of your summer sewing! You killed it during Me-Made May!
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I like both styles! The first has great lines on it and the second looks so comfortable you just have to have a pair. 😁👍
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Thanks so much! Yes, they are sooooo comfy 😀
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First time commentaar here, but this time i could not stay silent. Wow! I love your Palisade pants with the Perkins shirt! Total style inspiration!
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Oh thank you so much for commenting! I love it when people do and am constantly reminding myself to do so on other blogs, because it’s so nice to chat with other sewing people. I read blogs through Bloglovin which doesn’t always make it too easy to leave comments and I have the worst memory, so I invariably forget to go back and find the original blog. Bad excuse, I know. Anyway! This was definitely one of my favourite outfits from Me-Made May (I look super annoyed but I had a camera timer on and it caught me like that, lol). I have heard Tan from Queer Eye talk about the French Tuck so much, I thought I’d try it – and I like it! It’s rather slimming I must say, which is an illusion I can go with, heh. What are you making right now?
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Yes, I hear on you on liking the comments, however I just started sewing, I don’t know how much I can add to them, haha. Currently working on some Lander Pants. Yes it really is a great outfit to feel good in! I had to Google Queer Eye, as I’m without Netflix and in Europe (and in general, living under a rock). Thanks for the introduction!
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