Catch Me (and my Boy Pants) on Made By Rae!

Hello all - I'm guest-posting over at Made By Rae today!


Rae and Dana from MADE are working together on a
month-long series of themed posts to celebrate the
boys in our lives. I was so tickled to invited to join
in the fun - me, with my houseful of pink-obsessed
princesses and their poor outnumbered father. You all
know I sew only girl clothes and the occasional gender-
neutral toy but I combed my archives and picked out
some things that might be fun for boys (and their
parents) to make- so head over there to see!

Also, to keep my promise here, I made boy pants!
Just for you (not because anyone in our house
will actually wear them).

This tutorial has a three purposes:

One,
there is a pattern for a 3-year-old size
that you can print out.

Two,
it may help you turn your own favorite pants pattern
into a technically-reversible, fully-lined
thingummy with turned-up buttoned cuffs.

Three,
it could be the beginning of a
who-knows-when-I'll-pick-it-up-again
series on How To Sew Pockets.

Ready? Here we go!

First, here's the pattern for a tall 3-year old
(she's 39" tall), and the pattern instruction sheet:

Updated: Click HERE to download those six pages as a pdf file.


Some notes on the pattern:

1 Add your own seam allowances. There are none in the pattern.

2 Wherever you see "cut 2", remember that the pieces are mirror images (i.e. left and right sides).

3 I used three fabrics:

• the main fabric is a tan twill (3/4 yard)
• the accent fabric is a brown ticking (1/4 yard)
• the lining fabric is white muslin, because that was what I had in the house (3/4 yard).

4 If you line the pants according to the tutorial, you will not need to finish any raw edges - they'll all be tucked away inside the lining. With the exception of the front pocket facing, you won't need a serger - and even the edges of said pocket facing can be dealt with using a french seam. It is also completely possible to make these pants from one fabric (1 yard) or a main+accent fabric combination (3/4 yard of each). With the former, you would have unlined pants. So you might want to use fell seams so they look nice when turned up at the cuff. With the latter, the entire garment is lined with the accent fabric.

5 You'll also need about 19" of 1" elastic, drawstring cord (or drawstring-cord elastic) and buttons.

Step 1

• Sew on back pocket(s).
• Complete the cuff straps, including buttonholes.

Step 2

• Sew the pocket accent fabric onto one muslin pocket piece (left in the picture). Set aside.
• With right sides facing, pin the muslin pocket facing to the front of the pants and sew along the diagonal pocket line (right in picture). Press seam and turn over to right side. Top-stitch along the pocket edge. In the next step, you will be layering these two parts of the pocket.

Step 3

• Place the front of the pants from Step 2 on top of the accent pocket piece (also from Step 2) so the top and side seams line up. Pin in place. Flip up the front of the pants to expose the muslin pocket facing pieces and sew their edges together. Trim to shape if needed. Finish the edges with serger, zig-zag stitch or use a french seam.

• Flip back the front of the pants over the muslin pocket and sew close to the top (waistband) and side edges to secure the top and side of the pocket to the front of the pants.

Step 4

• Repeat Steps 2-3 to complete the other pocket.

The hardest part is over! Now for the easy stuff:

Step 5

• Make the inner layer of the pants - attach the accent cuff fabric to the muslin lining piece.
• Repeat to make the three other inner pieces.

Step 6

• Pair one back piece with one corresponding front piece, right sides facing, and sew the inseam and side seam, forming a leg tube. Repeat for the other leg.

Step 7

• Turn one leg tube right side out
  

and insert it into the other tube, so that the right sides are touching each other.


Step 8

• Line up the curved crotch edges and sew up the crotch seam. Notch, snip or pink the edges for turning out.

Step 9

• Turn right side out and marvel at how it already looks like a pair of pants!

Step 10

• Repeat steps 6-7 for the outer pants.
• Top-stitch along the seams for durability and a nice decorative effect - single along the crotch seam and double along the side seams and inseams.

Step 11

• Insert the inner pants into the outer pants so the raw seam allowances are sandwiched between them and hidden away.
  
• Line up the side seams and inseams of the layers of each leg.
• Fold in (ironing helps) the hem allowance of both layers and top-stitch all around the bottom opening of each leg.

Step 12

• Fold the waistband lengthwise in half and press to get the midline.
• Working with the entire garment inside out now, line up the waist/top edges of both layers of the pants and match the side and crotch seams.
• Line up one long edge of the waistband with the top edge of the garment, so that the ends meet at the middle back. The right side of the waistband should be facing the right side of the inner pants.
• Sew all around the top edge to secure. You can either sew the short ends of the waistband together before doing this, if you have measured the circumference to exactly fit the waist of the garment, or sew the ends together after attaching most of the waistband to the garment.

Step 13

• Fold the waistband along the midline and over to the outside of the garment.
  
• Fold in the seam allowance and top stitch the waistband onto the outside of the garment, leaving an opening for the elastic.

Step 14

• Insert elastic, sew ends together and stitch up the opening.

Note: I added two small buttonholes (I didn't have grommets) to the front of the waistband, for a drawstring cord later. This is optional but if you intend to do this too, remember to sew the buttonholes/ insert grommets before Step 12.

Step 15

• Tucking under the raw (top) edge of the cuff strap, sew it onto the inner side seam of the leg. The bottom tip of the cuff strap should not protrude below the hem of the pants. I sewed a little square pattern.
  
• Turn pants right side out and sew the button right in the middle of that square, on the outside of the pants.

All done!

Front and back

Taking the time for all that top-stitching

will really be worth it.

With much wiggling and some bribery, I got Jenna to
model the pants for photos. So if you see frosty pink
toenails, don't be surprised.

They rode a little low on her hips today because
I didn't take the time to actually buy the
shoelace-drawstring cord, let alone insert it.

I love the casual look of those cuffs folded up (screams
Summer! Beach! Boat dock! Ice cream!) but these pants
look pretty smart folded down too

with a teeny flash of stripes peeking out!