I rarely wear white pants, but I got inspired by our (finally) sunny April days after a month of less than desirable gray skies and constant rain in March.
JoAnn Fabrics has white stretch denim. The fiber content is 70% cotton, 28% polyester & 2% Spandex. It's heavy enough to look similar to 100% cotton, but has the easy care of polyester and the stretch wearing ease of Spandex.
Since I didn't want to sew 'real jeans', I chose a combination of patterns and instructions from existing Sure-Fit Designs information, which is what I'm going to share with you. And the best part is that since my pattern was from a previous pair of pants, they were sewn in a day, qualifying them for a Made in a Day project.
The basic style is from the pants designing book - Pants that Mix n Multiply - Style #1: Flared Leg Pants with Elasticized Waist Edge.
I wanted skinny legs instead of flared legs. And I chose to crop the hem around calf length.
Watch this video on narrowing the legs.
Now the slightly stretchy fabric. Did I size down or not?
I tested the stretch factor (comfortably stretching on the crosswise grain).
With the 2% Spandex, 10 inches actually stretch up to barely 11 inches - 10% stretch, or what I'd call a Limited Stretch Knit.
If this had of been a blouse, I wouldn't have done anything with the pattern (my body blueprint). For these pants though, I used my pants pattern that already had been sized down to remove the 2" (5 cm) of ease that is in the low/full hip circumference (i.e. I'd already sized down about 1 to 2 dots) . So I cut them out without any further ease reduction. But because I wanted skinny and relatively snug-fitting pants, I decided to baste all seams at 3/4" (1.9 cm) for a 'try-on' including the crotch seam (I left CF open so I could step into them). Basting when working with fabric that stretches is always a good idea since all knits stretch and feel different on. I decided I liked the wider seam allowance, so I then ripped out the crotch seam and proceeded to sew them together.
After the darts were sewn, the double welt pocket went in. For those of you who would like a sewing tutorial for the Double Welt Pocket, please read this previous blog - http://surefitdesigns.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-double-welt-pocket.html
Then I ripped the left side seam basting and inserted the invisible zipper -
JoAnn Fabrics has white stretch denim. The fiber content is 70% cotton, 28% polyester & 2% Spandex. It's heavy enough to look similar to 100% cotton, but has the easy care of polyester and the stretch wearing ease of Spandex.
Since I didn't want to sew 'real jeans', I chose a combination of patterns and instructions from existing Sure-Fit Designs information, which is what I'm going to share with you. And the best part is that since my pattern was from a previous pair of pants, they were sewn in a day, qualifying them for a Made in a Day project.
The basic style is from the pants designing book - Pants that Mix n Multiply - Style #1: Flared Leg Pants with Elasticized Waist Edge.
Watch this video on narrowing the legs.
Now the slightly stretchy fabric. Did I size down or not?
I tested the stretch factor (comfortably stretching on the crosswise grain).
With the 2% Spandex, 10 inches actually stretch up to barely 11 inches - 10% stretch, or what I'd call a Limited Stretch Knit.
If this had of been a blouse, I wouldn't have done anything with the pattern (my body blueprint). For these pants though, I used my pants pattern that already had been sized down to remove the 2" (5 cm) of ease that is in the low/full hip circumference (i.e. I'd already sized down about 1 to 2 dots) . So I cut them out without any further ease reduction. But because I wanted skinny and relatively snug-fitting pants, I decided to baste all seams at 3/4" (1.9 cm) for a 'try-on' including the crotch seam (I left CF open so I could step into them). Basting when working with fabric that stretches is always a good idea since all knits stretch and feel different on. I decided I liked the wider seam allowance, so I then ripped out the crotch seam and proceeded to sew them together.
After the darts were sewn, the double welt pocket went in. For those of you who would like a sewing tutorial for the Double Welt Pocket, please read this previous blog - http://surefitdesigns.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-double-welt-pocket.html
Then I ripped the left side seam basting and inserted the invisible zipper -
I'll be showing you how to insert an invisible zipper in a soon-to-be-released new DVD Beginner Sewing Series - Make It Sew. Please watch your SFD newsletters and this blog for the release date information.
And on the inside, before I inserted the invisible zipper, I covered the bottom end of the zipper to prevent the 'zipper scratchies'. What the heck are 'zipper scratchies'? Take a few minutes to read this previous blog - http://surefitdesigns.blogspot.com/2015/03/zipper-scratchies.html
I definitely kept the 3/4" (1.9cm) seam allowance width on all seams.
Then hemmed the legs with my Coverstitch Machine (which I love and use every opportunity that I can). For those of you not familiar with a Coverstitch Machine, make sure to watch my Coverstitch (free) videos. I'll post video #1 here. To see all 3 in the series, please click here in the SFD Learning Center Video Library.
And lastly, I finished off the waist edge with1" (2.5 cm) wide, non-roll elastic. You'll find the direction for this easy application in with the instructions for Style #1: Flared Leg Pants with Elasticized Waist Edge in the Pants that Mix n Multiply designing book.
This was a fun and easy pair of pants to sew. They're extremely comfortable. I'm sure I'll get lots of wear from them as summer comes on. But primarily, I wanted you to see another easy project utilizing the Sure-Fit Designs resources that so many of you already have.
And just in case some of you are new to Sure-Fit Designs, the blouse I'm wearing is the Princess Line Blouse sewn from the Dress Kit and available as a downloadable Fashion Leaflet from this page -
Happy Sewing,
