Matchy Matchy Sewing Club Archer Work Pants Sewing Pattern Review

Jun 16

Jun 16 Matchy Matchy Sewing Club Archer Work Pants

Me and trousers are not generally a good match. I have both a sticky outy stomach, very sticky outy bum and upper thighs that are slightly wider than my hips, and I've just never really wanted to face fitting around that. So I've never actually tried making jeans, or anything with a fly. I've tried a few elasticated waist ones (the Paper Theory Miller trousers, the French Navy Xanele longs, the Closet Core Pietra pants) but with varying success but ultimately I've always returned to my number 1 most made pattern, the Style Arc Bobs. But I think I may finally have found a credible alternative!

outfit with the archer work pants, barrel legged trousers, in navy

These are the Archer Work Pants by Matchy Matchy Sewing Club (not to be confused with the Archer button up by Grainline of the Worker Trousers by Modern Sewing Company). They're elasticated waist, and barrel legged, with a lot of details. The leg shape is achieved by darts at the knee and they hem, and there's squint patch pockets at the front sewing into the side seam, more standard patch pockets at the back, and an inseam panel you can do in a contrasting colour for extra interest, as I did here.

For fabric I used a pretty substantial linen cotton in a slightly grey ish navy from fabworks, and some medium weight chambray for the inseam bit and the back pockets. The two are not a perfect match, but it works ok.

outfit with the archer work pants, barrel legged trousers, in navy. This is a side view.

I am surprised these worked as well as they did, because when I first saw the pattern pieces, I thought no way were these going to fit me. The main front and back trouser pieces are extremely long, and very narrow. Partly the length is because these don't have a separate waistband, but rather the tip is folded over, but even so, the curved bit on the back is TINY. I always do a 4-5cm full seat adjustment on any trousers, and it was actually quite hard to find the centre of the curve that you spread it from. Somehow it worked out though!

I think if I was trying to perfect this, I’d need to move the back pockets up a bit so they sit on the bum rather than just below. Ideally I'd also want to remove a bit of length in the seat in favour of some fullness, but I can't think of how to do that, without then also having to redraft the contrast inner leg band. So I think that is slightly beyond my commitmnt to fitting, as long as it doesnt impede my movement I’m not that bothered what my back looks like.

outfit with the archer work pants, barrel legged trousers, in navy. This ia back view.

I really liked the instructions on this, the diagrams were very clear. There are open darts (if that's how you say it. You fold it like a normal dart but only sew along half way to the tip) on the knees which I'd never done before and caused me some head scratching. But I can't really fault the instructions and just following them step by step was ok. And now I know how to do it!

Overall, I love these trousers. The darts make this a bit special, and I think these have the potential to replace (or come joint with) the Bobs for my go to trousers.

Experimenting with adding video on here, it seems to have desaturated it and made it small, which I can’t seem to change, but good to see the outfit in movement!