Friday, November 23, 2012

Sweat Pants Sewing Tutorial

Since I couldn't find a decent tutorial that showed step by step how to make sweatpants...I decided to make my own. This tutorial will show pictures AND text on how to make an awesome pair of sweats.
So let's get this started!~




Things Needed:
1+ Yards of Fabric of Choice. I use a 100% Polyester Fleece in this tutorial. (I use a yard exactly, but if you're taller than I am... you might need more)
Elastic (Mine was an inch tall)
Sewing machine or needle and thread
Pattern (which I go into how to make)
and Time. Mine, since i'm so used to making them now only takes a half hour.
A pair of already make pj pants or sweats
Tape
Wrapping paper, or pattern paper. Wrapping paper is what I used, it's cheap around Christmas time and long.
Marker Or sharpie

----
 Step one: Take the pair of pants you already have (like a pair from Wal-mart or something)
and fold them in half. Pull the center crotch out so it makes a point.
Trace around this and add a seam allowance. I used a half inch.
I traced the seam allowance in red and then what I wanted to use in green so it would show up better on the camera. I also added a waist band to the top. I'll go into that later. The straight edge (towards the L ruler) will be cut on a fold.
Cut out the pattern and the waist band pattern. These will be two pieces.


 Take the waist band piece and fold a piece of wrapping paper in half. Place the pattern on the fold and cut around it. This will be the pattern for your waist band, and one of the edges will be a cut on fold.


 It will look like the picture above.
At this time I look the liberty of measuring my elastic, by pulling it around where you want your sweats to rest. Stretching it as tight as you want. Mine looked like this.

 Now let's get on to putting the pant pattern on the fabric. Since I only use a yard of Fabric I can't fold it like I normally do. I take the fabric, unfold it completely and lay it out. Fold the fabric lengthwise (like it would be coming straight off the bolt) and fold it length wise again. You should have two folds laying on top of each other and the bottom pieces should be all open. I layed my pattern piece on both of the folds. It looked like this.
Pin your piece to the fabric and cut them out. You should have two pieces that when folded completely out looks like this.
Fold it back together and pin together the side of the leg. Ignore the crotch and the waist. I pinned both my pieces at the same time to save time.
Sew up the side of the legs. I started at the crotch and went down.


 This is completely unnecessary but I switched the needle over closer to the left for one leg, and sewed them together. The seam allowances was 1\4th of an inch. Presser foot edge to the edge of the fabric. On the other leg, I switched the needle over to the right.

 (If you can even tell >~<)
Now you should have both the legs sewn up, like the picture above. The thread was pink so you could tell. (well not really, I didn't know the thread in my bobbin was pink until I started to sew). ^^" Oh well, that will be on the inside anyway.
Next part WILL be tricky so I need you to trust me. Take the seam of one of the legs and bring it to the center. On the other leg I need you to flip it inside out, so the right side will be visible and the seam will be on the inside. Bring the seam to the middle. It should look something like this.

 Bad picture, I know. But you see how the waist is flat and the seam is in the middle of it all? That's what you want. Now TRUST ME ON THIS. Take the leg with the right side out, and shove that sucker inside the leg with the wrong side out. Seams NEED TO MATCH. Like this.


 Pin accordingly, I put extra pins in the crotch and the seam. This needs the most support it can get, The crotch wears out faster than anything else. Needs some extra stitching and love~
The inside will look like these. Ignore the crappy pictures. Hey. My camera is dead and was charging throughout this tutorial making. I used my Ipod.
The seams match. Trust me.
This is the inside, you see the wrong seam on both sides.
Sew up the crotch and take extra care around the crotch, where the seams meet. I used a zig-zag stitch throughout this whole project because this fabric has a tendency to fray. I went over the seams near the crotch a few times, before my sewing machine needle decided to commit suicide on me. Poor needle.

Almost done! Next we are going to cut out our waist band. If you have extra fabric (like I didn't) You can cut it on the fold and make it one piece. I had a few pieces of scraps left, and cut out two pieces and sewed up each side.
So, there is a seam on the right and the left of my waist band.
Turn this inside out. So the ride side is facing. Fold this over, right side will still be facing you. Flip this upside down so the open end is on the top. Sandwich the pants between this. The Pants MUST be right sides out.
Pin this together, I used extra pins on the seams.
Darn picture. Why are you upside down!
Anyway, Pick a spot where you want to thread the elastic through and mark that with a pin. Mine looked like this.

 Sew along the band and take extra care to make sure all the fabric ends meet, or you'll get a a hole or only one part of the band is sewn up. We don't want that. I had that. Made me mad. >~<
Once you're finished sewing, take out the pins and make sure you have no gaps or icky holes like I was talking about earlier. If you do, fix them now.
Take your elastic and add a safety pin.

Now if your elastic is mean like mine was, you might need something stronger. I used a sharpie.

 I just trapped the elastic under the cap, worked like a charm.
Thread your elastic through and pin the elastic together. Put one over the other. Like down below. Secure with a pin. I used a zig-zag stitch and ran over this a ton. I removed the pin half-way through so I didn't break another needle.
 After you're done with that, let it go and fold the opening closed (like you did with the rest of the waist band) and sew it shut. You have a pair of pants now! You will need to hem the bottom of the pants, Normally I use an inch hem. Fold the raw edge under, and sew shut. I didn't do this so I don't have a picture. I'm going to add elastic to mine so they lay snug on my ankles.
(You would do this pretty much the same way as the waist band, just leave an opening and sew it shut when the elastic is snugly inside. I am going to use a 1\4th of an inch elastic)

 These are mine!~ Pretty aren't they? Well since the tutorials over! Have fun making you're own sweat pants.
If you have any questions, or I made something unclear feel free to email me or leave a comment.
Have a nice day!










5 comments:

  1. would you be interested in making a few pairs for me?

    ReplyDelete
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