Glossary of Sewing Terms with Pictures: What are capri pants exactly? #FashionWise #MakeYourOwnClothes

DEFINITION: trousers that fall between the knee and the ankle.

This is my own definition. Of course you can google this term to find other definitions as well. Here’s a link to Webster’s definition, and here’s a link to the Cambridge English Dictionary definition.

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My own definition is much broader, I think, than the Webster’s and Cambridge dictionary definitions, which both point to a narrow fit for a capri pant. However, English is an ever-changing language, and with wider leg pants in fashion right now, I’m seeing wider leg short trousers labeled as “capris” on various fashion websites for 2026.

For example, this link to Amazon displays wide-leg short pants that are described as “Capri Palazzo Pants,” “Wide Leg Carpi Yoga Sweat Pants,” and even “Capri Jeans.” So they seem to fall in a variety of lengths, styles, fabrics, and fits. There’s even a smattering of both formal designs and casual ones.

The feature they all seem to have in common, is the length. They fall between the knee and the ankle. That’s what I surmised as I came up with my definition, after visiting a number of different websites and consulting books on fashion history.

My mom’s generation called them “pedal pushers,” I suppose because girls wore this type of garment when riding a bike. These were strictly a narrow version of the cropped pant, fitting relatively close to the leg. Perhaps that’s why the old-school dictionaries stick to this narrow-leg pant description.

I’m guessing some of you are aware that these fashionable short pants get their name from the island of Capri, in Greece. If you’d like to learn more about that history, I recommend reading this blog post on the El Pais website. The article’s author, Elena Muñoz, cites Hollywood darlings like Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, and Natalie Wood as helping build public awareness of these comfy and cool summer staples for a woman’s wardrobe.

On one website (which will remain nameless), the movie Roman Holiday, in which Audrey Hepburn got her start, is referred to as the catalyst for the popularity of capris. It was released in 1953. But I don’t think she wears capri pants in that movie at all.

However, I own a book called Western World Costume, by Carolyn G. Bradley, and it was published in 1954. In this book, various lengths and styles of capris are labeled as “Cabin Boy Breeches,” “Pedal Pushers,” “Jester Pants,” “Toreador Pants,” and “Goucho Pants.”

Not once do they seem to mention capris, which makes me think this term didn’t actually become popular until much later than the release of Roman Holiday. But, of course, Western World Costume is only one resource from the era when the term “capri” supposedly came into play. There could be other resources from that period, which do mention capris; I’m just not aware of them.

Google AI claims the term “capri” was popularized by another Hepburn movie called Sabrina. That could be true, but it doesn’t explain why my mother and her sisters always called them “pedal pushers,” not “capri pants.”

Either way, the term seems to be continuing to take form, even in our own time.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: How far back do you think the term “capri” goes? Do you own any patterns that use the word “capri,” and if so, what year(s) are those patterns from? Feel free to share all your thoughts and memories on the topic of “capris” in the comments section below.

Please come back to this blog post at the end of next week, so you can see what comments other people left!

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Chelly Wood and the ChellyWood.com website are not affiliated with any of the doll or toy companies mentioned in this blog post, but Chelly enjoys designing her doll clothes to fit a variety of dolls. To learn more about the doll companies mentioned in today’s post, please visit the doll or toy company’s website.

References:

Bradley, Carolyn G. Western World Costume. Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc. 1954. New York, NY.

Muñoz, Elina. “The history of capri pants, the design that encouraged women around the world to forget skirts and dresses.” El Pais 50, Web, 2 Sept. 2023.

Wikipedia contributors. “Roman Holiday.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 29 Apr. 2026. Web. 18 May. 2026.