Trunkhose continued

Sorry for the delay in the trunkhose saga- it is getting to that time of the work season where any extraneous activity (other than a glass of wine and putting your feet up) seems impossible.

So, continuing where I left off, the bottom edge of the trunk hose was prepared with the cartridge pleating stitching in place. This is done with heavy thread (to prevent breakage!) and consists of a running stitch of the length you want the pleats to be, in and out at 3/4 inch for this project. this is not the same as "picking up the dots" method in which you take a tiny stitch every 3/4".

We need something to attach the pleating to, and in this case we need a knee band. In the toile, the band was a straight band of grosgrain, but I wanted to try to form a shaped band. I also wanted the band to extend below the attachment level so we had a visual "knee band" without adding a separate piece.
To create this we shaped a wide piece of grosgrain, and covered it with a piece of the silk cut on the bias. it is sewn on from the inside, wrapped around the lower edge to the right side, and attached at the top edge by serging the pieces together.

A stitch was made in the middle to mark the line where the pleats will attach and then the pleats are marked out at .5mm spacing.











Once the band was ready the cartridge pleats are drawn up and sewn by hand with strong thread to the marks on the band.
I didn't get a picture of the actual stitching- sorry- but it is the same method as seen in the ruff posts here.

Here is a shot of the inside of the leg and another picture showing the outside of the leg.













Next step will be joining the two legs together, then  installing the inner trouser and arranging all that fabric at the waist.
Then a fitting!