This one is so exciting! I can barely contain myself. I made these pants in, wait for it... an hour!! Can you believe it? I found this basic tutorial and decided to try it and came up with my own improvements. It is easy to convert this tutorial into a fully elastic waist pant. See the comments in steps 9 and 10.
What you'll need:
- A pair of pants that fits well (to make the pattern)
- Pattern paper, large tissue paper or a roll of wrapping paper
- A pen
- Fabric scissors (and scissors to cut the paper as well)
- 3/4" elastic for waistband. I prefer the no roll kind.
- Fabric & thread to match. Feel free to reuse fabric from old garments, just make sure you have enough.
Making the pattern:
1. Roll out your wrapping paper and turn your pants inside out. Put your pants on it like so...
Notice this is the front of the pant sticking out. See how I expose the crotch and leg seems on the left side? Trace along the pants on the left. Mark the top and bottom but remember you'll have to add to the pattern later to accommodate seems.
2. Now pick the pants up and adjust the pants so that the backside of the pant is exposed, like so... Make sure the bottom of the legs are even with where the bottom of the legs were on the previous markings. The waist will most likely be uneven, that is fine. Most pants have a lower rise in front than in back to accommodate for the booty.
Trace along the right side of the pant and then pick the pants up.
3. Add an inch and a half to the top of the pattern and about an inch to the bottom. Cut the pattern out. It will look something like this.
Great! You have the hardest part done. Don't worry if it looks a little off. It won't be symmetrical.
4. Lay out your fabric. It is important to make sure it has been washed and preferably ironed. Pin the pattern to the fabric and cut it out. Make two pieces. (one for each leg)
5. Put pieces right sides together (that means the "pretty side" or the "finished side" together). Pin around the edges of the crotch portion. Sew both sides of the crotch together. Do not sew down the legs yet! You can finish the seems by using pinking sheers.
6. Turn the pants like so...
Then pin the inside seems of the legs and sew them up! Finish the seem with the pinking sheers.
7. Make the elastic casing at the top of the pants by folding down the top 1/4", iron, then fold down another 7/8" and iron. I usually don't measure I just eyeball it.
8. This is not a necessary step but I find it to be very helpful! Make a tag so you know which is the back and which is the front. This helps kids figure it out on their own as well. I cut a 1" piece of ribbon, fold it in half and pin it like so... (make sure it is in the back!) You'll know the back because there should be more fabric in the back.
9. Now figure out how wide the wearer of the new pants is. These pants were for my daughter and her waist is 20". I didn't have her here to measure so I guessed she was 8" wide, good guess. Lay the pants out so you can see the front. In this case, I put my tape measure at the waist so I could evenly measure 4" on each side of the middle seam. Then I put a pin in each end. **If you want an all elastic waistband, skip this step.
10. Now, sew 1/8" from the bottom of the fold to make the elastic casing. Leave the entire 8" opening in front open. Measure your elastic and cut it. I figured that my daughter's waist is 20", subtracted the 8" in front and came up with 12" of elastic. In order to make the waistband snug, I subtracted a half inch and cut 11.5" of elastic. Using a safety pin, thread the elastic around the pant. Sew the elastic on one end where one of your safety pins was, making sure to secure the elastic in place well. Then sew the other end of the elastic in place where the other safety pin was, securing it well. **For an all elastic waistband, leave only a 2" opening in the casing, thread elastic through, sew ends of the elastic together and then sew the casing closed.
11. Finish sewing the casing closed. There will be no elastic in the front of the pants. The waist should look like this when you turn the pants right side out.
12. Hem the bottom of the pants the desired length. To hem, fold and iron the bottom 1/4" then fold and iron another 1/4" or whatever size desired to make the correct length of pant. Sew the seem. You are done!
Pants!
Please give me feedback!
UPDATE: I'll keep this tutorial on this blog but from now on all my tutorials will be on my creative blog, hatch.
