Spring break project: (faux) wrap pants - Day 5
Before we can close up the sides of the pants at the waist, we need to finish the top of the panels that wrap on the front of the pants (or at least partly finish them). It is a good idea at this stage to do a fitting, just to make sure the pants can be pulled on.
Turn the pants to the right side facing out and lay them flat. Watch that the panels line up perfectly at the side seams (make sure nothing is buckling).
I folded the pants in half to bring the other front panel over the one I had just cut and mirrored the cut. I forgot this following step and it wasn't disastrous, just a pain: at this point, block the top of the front panels with an overlock stitch.
For each panel, I folded the top over to form a 2 cm hem (it's a little more at the side seams, but that's OK), pinned, checked that it lined up reasonably well at the waist seam when I lay the pants flat, then basted the seam with contrasting thread. I checked once more that the front of the pants looked good at the waist line.
Important thing to check and do at this point: remember the generous seam allowance at the top? Here is the desired alignment at the side seam: you want the front panel to go above the patterned fabric of the back of the pants at the side seams. In other words, you do not want the two patterned fabric panels to meet perfectly at the seam in terms of height. The front panel must go half an inch or so higher for the desired effect on a later part of the process. If you look at the picture above, you can kind of see what needs to happen. You see the front panel (right) sticking up higher than the pant leg panel (left). This is good, this is the way you want it, so when hemming allow this asymmetry to remain. You want 1/4 to 1/2 an inch to "stick out".
Turn the pants to the right side facing out and lay them flat. Watch that the panels line up perfectly at the side seams (make sure nothing is buckling).
The next step is a little tricky. We want to mark a curve at the top of the panels that follows the waist seam of the pants, leaving a generous seam allowance (1 and half inch) to be safe. I felt the front waist seam through the patterned fabric (thankfully a thin fabric) and placed a row of pins through the patterned fabric 2 cm above it. Then I opened the panel up and cut along the row of pins.
I folded the pants in half to bring the other front panel over the one I had just cut and mirrored the cut. I forgot this following step and it wasn't disastrous, just a pain: at this point, block the top of the front panels with an overlock stitch.
For each panel, I folded the top over to form a 2 cm hem (it's a little more at the side seams, but that's OK), pinned, checked that it lined up reasonably well at the waist seam when I lay the pants flat, then basted the seam with contrasting thread. I checked once more that the front of the pants looked good at the waist line.
Important thing to check and do at this point: remember the generous seam allowance at the top? Here is the desired alignment at the side seam: you want the front panel to go above the patterned fabric of the back of the pants at the side seams. In other words, you do not want the two patterned fabric panels to meet perfectly at the seam in terms of height. The front panel must go half an inch or so higher for the desired effect on a later part of the process. If you look at the picture above, you can kind of see what needs to happen. You see the front panel (right) sticking up higher than the pant leg panel (left). This is good, this is the way you want it, so when hemming allow this asymmetry to remain. You want 1/4 to 1/2 an inch to "stick out".
There is no escaping it any longer, the next step will be to sew up the sides of the pants at the waist and finish the waist band.
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