Since shorts season is ending, I thought I’d make some hiking pants. But every pattern I was seeing didn’t seem high-waisted enough to be comfortable with my hip pack. Then I remembered the splash that the Leila Makes Topo Pants made–Leila has a huge Instagram following and released her first pattern for a pair of climbing pants last year. The pattern said it was high-waisted to work under a climbing harness. Boom! Pants pattern acquired.
The pattern has some nice details, like a double front with knee darts, and the drafting was fine. She’s selling these as unisex, though, so I made the recommended full seat adjustment just by guessing how much my seat would need. The elastic at the ankles seemed like a weird insertion method and the instructions could have been tighter, but overall it wasn’t too amateur of a pattern.
I made these in a technical stretch woven (Eddie Bauer for Joann) and did not size down as the pattern recommended, so they’re baggy. But I don’t mind; I’ll probably grow into them as I keep squatting and I can throw a base layer under these pretty easily.
The pockets included in the pattern are unequivocally great, though: two deep front pockets plus as many holster pockets as you want to add (I made two and put velcro on one). I also added a zip pocket into the yoke seam, which was pretty easy to figure out. (You lose your ID in a lake one time and you put a secure zip pocket for ID ONLY on every pair of pants thereafter.)
And they’re definitely high-waisted enough to be comfy with my packs, so all in all a successful project. Plus I have some pants if I ever want to try climbing.