Sew Harem Pants
I’ve wanted to try this project for years! Recently after sewing pants without a pattern, I got the courage to try and make some harem pants. The trickiest part to these pants is getting the pattern right, but you can adjust the pants a bit if they wind up not big enough after you get the initial pattern created.
Materials to make the pattern:
Watercolor paper, newsprint or some other junk paper
Tape
Ruler and marker
Ok, so I taped three pieces of cheap watercolor paper together, but the tape wouldn’t stick! I was trying to make a pattern that I can use over and over, so I wound up using watercolor paper and packing tape. The paper is thick enough that I can store it and then get it back out for multiple uses!
First, measure your low hip measurement, and then add eight inches to that measurement. Divide that number by 4. This will be the top horizontal measurement on the pattern. Mark where the measurement is, and draw a vertical line down the pattern on the right side. Cut out your paper so that the horizontal width of the pattern equals this measurement.
Next, measure from your waist where you like pants to sit down to just below your knee. If you botch this measurement, you can always add a band at the top of the pants later so that the pants have drape. This will be the vertical measurement along the left side. Make a dot on the pattern at the end of that measurement.
Figure out the length of the leg portion by measuring from your knee to the ground. Also, figure out how wide you want the legs opening to be so that the pants fit your lower legs. Make a dot at the width of the leg opening. Remember that the measurement is a half measurement, because the pattern is only for one half of the front or back of the pants. You can always adjust the length once the pants are finished, so add a bit to that measurement to make the legs long enough. Now, starting at the dot you made in the last step where the bottom of the knee hits, draw a line that is straight at first, but that curves down to the bottom measurement. My line was curved at first and then was a straight line going down.
The right line of the pattern will be the side you place on the fold of the fabric, so write “cut two on fold” along that line! You will be cutting out two of the pattern shapes onto folded fabric, so that the fold of the fabric is along the long side of the pattern.
Materials to make the pants:
Stretchy fabric like knit or other stretch fabric
Elastic
Basic sewing kit
Lay out your fabric, and fold it. Then place the pattern onto the fabric so that the fold line is on the fold of the fabric, and trace. Cut out the shape, then do it again!
Now you have two pieces of fabric. Sew the vertical edges of one piece of fabric to the other piece. Those vertical lines will be the front and back center of the pants. Then sew starting at one leg, along the curved area and then down the other leg. Try on the pants! This step is important to make sure they fit right! Mine wound up being too short, so the drape of the middle was not low enough. I added an 8 inch wide strip of fabric along the waistband of the pants. I also had to cut off some of the length on the leg to suit my preferences.
Add elastic to the waist! I used wide elastic and made a casing with the knit fabric, but sewing the knit straight was a challenge. If you have a wide elastic, you could just sew it on as is without doing a casing.
