Supplies:
Elastic band (For the amount of elastic needed, measure your waist and subtract approximately 1½ inches from your waist measurement)
Two yards fabric (preferably cotton)
Thread that matches fabric
Sewing machine
Chalk
Pins
Scissors
1. Measure your waist by taking a tape measure around your midsection approximately 1 inch below your navel. Add 2 inches and write this number down.
2. Measure the length of your leg, from 1 inch below your navel to the bottom of your knee cap. This will ensure you have enough fabric to hem the bottom and top without taking too much length off the clots. Write this number down.
3. Buy two yards of any type of fabric. Cotton works best, and stretchy fabrics are very difficult to work with in this type of pattern. Fold it with the “right” side facing in.
4. Measure a straight line near the top of the fabric that is half of the number for your waist measurement. Use a piece of chalk to make a light mark on the fabric. Put a light-marked dot in the middle of the straight line - exactly the middle!
5. From the dot made on the straight line, make another line that is as long as the length you found in step two. You should have drawn what resembles a “T” in the fabric. This is how long your pants will be in the center.
6. Draw two straight lines as long as the length found in step two flaring out slightly from the ends of the line made in step four. These will be the outsides of the pants.
7. Connect the bottom of the two lines in step six with the two lines in step five. This will be the bottoms of each of the pants legs.
8. Pin the fabric on the inside of the lines you have drawn. Cut all the lines out on the outside of the lines - you will sew on the lines you have drawn. Do NOT cut the entire line in the middle, only cut up as far as you want your pants to be split.
9. Sew the outside parts of the pants and the inside part of the pants where they will be split. For this, you will keep the fabrics pinned together.
10. Take the pins off the top of the pants where it will fall on your waist. Fold the fabric down on the line given, and pin it.
11. Iron this fabric to make a clear crease. Sew each piece separately - you are hemming this. Be sure to leave enough room in between the top of the fabric and your sewing line to fit a piece of elastic in to hold the pants up.
12. Take the pins off the bottom of the pants legs and again fold on the line you have drawn. Pin the fabric up and iron a crease.
13. Sew approximately 5/8 of an inch from the bottom of the pants, evenly on each pant leg.
14. Turn pants with the right side out. Iron neatly.
15. On inside of waistline make a SMALL cut that is still large enough to feed your elastic band through. Feed it the whole way through, and make a few small hand stitches to connect the end of the elastic band with the beginning.
16. You’ve made yourself a pair of clots - a modest type of “shorts” for women during the summer. They are cheap to make and quite simple!
Neat article! I think it's spelled "culottes" though - I had to wear them when I went to private school.