Relics of General Chassé by Anthony Trollope

"Relics of General Chassé" is a humorous tale of a corpulent and somewhat dandified clergyman who, while visiting the castle at Antwerp, inadvertently becomes separated from his breeches. What follows shakes him to the core. The breeches fall into the hands of a group of female English tourists who decide to take some sample of the cloth as a souvenir.
Having snipped enough of the garment to make a bag, a needle case, a pin cushion, a pair of slippers and some leggings there are only a few seams and buttons left. The clergyman is left in a highly embarrassing position, not least because his nearest spare pair of breeches is in Brussels. What follows is pure comedy....