DIY Sweatpants

chezlin · May 28, 2015

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I had a little vacation coming up so I decided to whip up a pair of sweat pants to wear while traveling. It’s horrible to wear uncomfortable clothes while you’re stuck in a car or on a plane. I also ended up making these sweats reversible because I found this great fabric at the store!

You'll need: -fabric - as I mentioned before, I'm using reversible fabric, but thats not necessary. about 2 yards. I had a bit of extra fabric, but I'd rather have that then being just short. -an old pair of sweats - You could even just pick up some sweats that fit you from the thrift store. Even if they're hideous, you just need them for the pattern. -elastic -pins -sewing machine and -serger -optional — You’ll need:
-fabric – as I mentioned before, I’m using reversible fabric, but thats not necessary. about 2 yards. I had a bit of extra fabric, but I’d rather have that then being just short.
-an old pair of sweats – You could even just pick up some sweats that fit you from the thrift store. Even if they’re hideous, you just need them for the pattern.
-elastic
-pins
-sewing machine and
-serger -optional

Fold your fabric in half, length wise. Then fold in half again.

Fold your sweats in half, back side facing out. Position your sweatpants on the fabric. One edge of the pants should be fairly straight. Line that up with the edge of the fabric and smooth the pants down. At the part where it sticks out, make sure to pull at it until the seam is right on the edge. Now cut around the pants, giving yourself about 1/4 inches of seam allowance. — Fold your sweats in half, back side facing out. Position your sweatpants on the fabric. One edge of the pants should be fairly straight. Line that up with the edge of the fabric and smooth the pants down.
At the part where it sticks out, make sure to pull at it until the seam is right on the edge.
Now cut around the pants, giving yourself about 1/4 inches of seam allowance.

Now unfold the fabric and it should look like this.

Now fold your sweat pants with the front facing out, and be sure to adjust them so the seam on the part that sticks out is right on the edge. Line up the top and bottom of the sweat pants. The pointy part of the pants should be a little bit smaller on this side now. Trim the fabric accordingly. — Now fold your sweat pants with the front facing out, and be sure to adjust them so the seam on the part that sticks out is right on the edge.
Line up the top and bottom of the sweat pants. The pointy part of the pants should be a little bit smaller on this side now. Trim the fabric accordingly.

Now you should have two pieces of fabric all cut and ready to be sewn. Make sure you have the right sides touching before you sew! Sew along the curved edges. — Now you should have two pieces of fabric all cut and ready to be sewn.
Make sure you have the right sides touching before you sew!
Sew along the curved edges.

Sew. If you have a serger, go ahead and use that, if not then just use the zigzag stitch. You need to use that stitch because it allows the fabric to stretch.

Lay the fabric out again like so. Now grab the mid points of the top ... — Lay the fabric out again like so. Now grab the mid points of the top …

...and pull away from eachother and lay the fabric back out. Now it should look like a pair of pants! Now pin up the inside of the legs. And sew! — …and pull away from eachother and lay the fabric back out. Now it should look like a pair of pants!
Now pin up the inside of the legs. And sew!

My plan to make the pants reversible was to hand sew the seams down, so I had to do that for. Every. Seam.

Take a piece of fabric that's about twice as wide and twice as long as the leg band piece. Fold it in half length wise and then width wise and sew it up. — Take a piece of fabric that’s about twice as wide and twice as long as the leg band piece.
Fold it in half length wise and then width wise and sew it up.

Since I wanted my leg bands to also be reversible, I cut them in half length wise and sewed them together so that the flowery side shows on one side and the grey side shows on the other.

Start by pinning the seams together.

Then from there, find the mid point on the other side of the leg and leg band and pin there. Then find the mid point between these two pins on each side and pin together. Doing this helps to keep it stretched evenly while you sew.

Sew it up!

Cut the elastic about an inch shorter than the waistband and sew it up.

Basically you want to repeat this process with the waist band, but first you need to insert the elastic into the waist band fabric to fully encase it.

Sew it up~

After I finished sewing the pants up I hand sewed every seam down.

Here they are, done! So comfy! — Here they are, done!
So comfy!

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chezlin

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DIY Sweatpants