Making my own pants: A pictorial

Hello,

I originally created this thread for the C&T Basic Apprentice's Forum, but I thought I would post it here as well;
a) to get more feedback,
b) because from time to time I see threads here about making or altering one's own clothes, and
c) for general interest purposes.

The contents is the same, but you can see the original thread here if you wish.

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I am creating this thread as a pictorial of my first effort to make a pair of pants (or anything for that matter). I hope that this post and any commentary that others can offer will be educational, but IT IS NOT MY INTENTION FOR THIS THREAD TO BE INSTRUCTIONAL! I made a number of mistakes throughout the process and the pants are far from perfect so I wouldn't advise anyone to use this thread as a step by step manual. Rather it is a chronicle of my learning on this particular project. My experience prior to making these pants was limited to doing alterations on my own clothing.

To start, I purchased about 1.5 m of light bottom weight 100% cotton twill in blue.


Using some of the pinned references in the Trouser and Waistcoat Forum I drafted a pattern based on a combination of body and garment measurements that I thought would work for me.


I traced the pattern onto the fabric - In the picture below I've already made a huge error - can you spot it? (I forgot to flip one of the back panels, which would have resulted in one section of my pants being wrong-side out...)


Luckily, I noticed my error before cutting and fixed it, then I cut out the main pieces.


Starting at the fork, and going towards the leg opening, I pinned the front and back panels together along the inseam.


Next, going from the leg opening back towards the waist I pinned up the outseam.


There was a bit of excess fabric at the waist, so I folded it over and also pinned the back dart.


Next, I pinned the back panels together going from fork to waist.


Then I pinned the front panels together going from fork to waist.


With the 4 main panels pinned together I did a first fitting. (It might be useful to know that at first I had pinned the pants together in a different manner - not starting from the fork/inseam and the pants were very 'twisty' when I tried them, but when I repinned them in the manner described above, they were much improved).


My untrained eye couldn't detect any major issues with the fit, so I moved on to preparing the pocket facings, welts and fly.


Wanting a nice sturdy fly, I applied some fusing and very light cotton to the wrong sides of the pieces.




I sewed the pieces together, right sides facing each other then turned the whole thing inside out and ironed it.







Next I sewed the actual fly to the fly panel. (I did this step by copying an existing pair of pants).


I then sewed this whole piece on to the left front panel.


I sewed the other part of the fly to the opposite panel, and also attached that side to the pants, resulting in a more-or-less finished fly.




I started the pockets by sewing the facings on to the insides of the pockets in the following manner.


Then I sewed the pockets closed inside-out.


Then I flipped the pockets right-side in and stitched.


Finally I sewed the pocket facings to the front panels, right side to right side, and left the rest for when I sewed up the outseams.


The next step was to add jetted pockets to the back. I learned how in this thread.

First I drew the lines on to the right side of the pants.


Then I added some fusing to the upper and lower welts.


Then I pinned them over the lines I had drawn (right side down).


Then I sewed above and below the drawn line like so.


Then I carefully cut along the the drawn line, being sure not to cut into the welts.


Next, I carefully extended the Y cut to the stitching.


Then I pulled the welts through the opening and pressed them flat.


Next I turned back the triangular tip and pressed flat.


Finally I ran a fine stitch along the sides to secure the welts, then I basted the pockets shut (not shown).


Next, I sewed up the inseam, adding some extra material in the fork to act as some light reinforcement.


Then I sewed up the outseams (not pictured).

For belt loops, I sewed up a long tube, turned it right-side in and cut it into smaller lengths.


For the waistband, I sewed up some 2" strips of fabric with a layer of haircloth in the middle.


Then I attached these pieces to the wast of my pants. (Unfortunately I attached them to high and ended up with some very high-rise pants, so I had to disassemble the whole waistband and do it again - measure carefully - I think this was the messiest part of my pants in the end.


With the waistband attached, the pants were basically finished, so I pressed them.


Not pictured above are some of the details I added throughout the construction process including stitching, buttons, hooks, etc.

Back Pocket:


Side Pockets:


Front closure:


Blind hem:


And that was my first pair of pants. After several rounds of minor adjustments, this is how they are fitting.

Front:


Side:


Back:


Sitting down:




If anyone has any feedback on what I can improve, changes I can make to my pattern, suggestions about the order and sequence, techniques I should learn more about, etc. I would love any and all feedback (and don't be afraid to be straight forward - I can take it).

Hopefully I can grow and continue to learn as I embark on my next pair...

This is impressive. If you did it again, how long do you think it would take - start to finish?

Originally Posted by acridsheep

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This is impressive. If you did it again, how long do you think it would take - start to finish?

Less time than it took me to do these... quite a few hours spread over a number of days/weekends though - I have a demanding full time job.

Thank you for the compliment though!

Wow, awesome. How much time have you dedicated to learning this so far?

Really impressed.

EDIT: Beaten to it, I read for too long.

I saw that first fitting pic and was ready to popcorn the thread: But, by the end they look good. Not H Huntsman yet, but impressive for a layman. Nice job man!

That's really impressive, wish I could get my head around the whole process, sounds like a fun hobby!

Originally Posted by XeF4

Click to expand...

Wow, awesome. How much time have you dedicated to learning this so far?

Really impressed.

EDIT: Beaten to it, I read for too long.

Originally Posted by idfnl

Click to expand...

I saw that first pic and was ready to do one of these:

But, by the end they look good. Not H Huntsman yet, but impressive for a layman.

Nice job man!

Thanks! I'm so glad they're passable. I don't know how much time I've spent on learning this. Hours and hours of reading and hours of work so far...

Very nice, however for your next pair take a look at this and remember, it is all about the ironwork while sewing! Incredibly important for truly great results.

http://tuttofattoamano.blogspot.com/...ompletion.html

then

http://tuttofattoamano.blogspot.com/...al-divide.html

Not going to get much out of ironwork on cotton pants, though.

I'm very impressed. It's very gratifying to create something from scratch.

Just awesome! Keep at it man For a first attempt it is not too shabby at all.

Nice...

They look great. Thanks for posting this. Let me know when you're ready to make for others!

Can you suggest a good place to start for an absolute beginner?

OP, tell us how to get involved.