Last Friday we’ve started sewing the Charles’ pants together in a sew along session. Hope you are ready for the next step? If you missed the first part: just have a quick look at the first post. We’re not going very fast, so you can still join us today! Just leave a short message. Always nice to know who’s following the sessions!
So as scheduled we’ll be cutting fabrics today. (I’m starting to sound like a teacher, sorry!) Anyway, I’m a big fan of recycling an old pair of jeans so that’s what I’ll be showing you today. Of course you can use any fabric you like. The pair of jeans I used is a very skinny one, so I guess any adult jeans will do. First we’ll cut the basic parts of the jeans. We’ll need both parts two time. If you cut these parts from new fabric, you can do this on folded fabric (but not on the fold line). This way your sure that you will always end up with two reflected parts. When you take an old jeans, you just have to make sure that you do this right the first time, because you won’t have enough fabric to cut an extra part!
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Put the fabric pieces in the right direction. I didn’t indicate the straight grain on the pattern, but you can see the right directions on the pictures. For the jeans you have to put the bottom of the main parts parallel with the hem of the jeans. When you use new fabric for these parts, make sure the straight grain arrow (as drawn above) is in the right direction. You can see what way the straight grain runs on new fabric on the picture below. It’s parallel with the selvage edge. By the way: I always keep the text part of the selvage edge and a small piece of the fabric for later: just nice to know after wards which fabrics you’ve used…
The scheme underneath shows the most ‘economical’ way to cut your pieces. I cut these pieces on folded fabric but not on a fold line. This way we’re sure that all parts are reflected at once.
1: back waistband (4x)
2: leg hem band front (2x)
3: leg hem band back (2x)
4: facing front part (2x)
5: pocket (4x)
But we’ll need 2 extra pockets and 2 extra back waistbands. So just repeat this with those two parts. I will not make this pants again (I already made three!) so I’ll turn to the pictures from the instructions now… This is an overview of all the parts you should have by now. All this parts are double on this picture.
We’ll need to add some interfacing for the facing (front), the back waist band, for only two parts of the pockets (2 mirrored panels). You can add the interfacing straight away.
I think the picture underneath is very useful. It gives you an idea on how the front part of the pants will be assembled. Starting from the front to the back you have:
1. basic front part
2. facing front part
3. pockets with interfacing (you don’t see this on the picture because it’s facing down)
4. pocket without interfacing.
Interfacing, in detail
Please don’t make this pair of pants without the interfacing, you’ll regret this later. It’s really important to give your cotton some support and shape. Especially for this pants with a lot of buttons, it’s best to reinforce the button holes with interfacing. I’ve used fusible interfacing. It’s convenient to use as it’s adhesive on one side.
The weight of your interfacing depends on the weight of the cotton you’ve chosen. Normally a mid-weight version will do. I used ‘Vlieseline H210’. Just make sure never to use interfacing that is heavier than your fabric. It should always be slightly lighter in weight, but stiffer than the fabric you’re using. You can always make some samples if you have different weight available. The first sewing part is for next week! Hope you learned something today?
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Ik ben er volledig klaar voor! En ik heb er al helemaal zin in! :-)
We kunnen gaan knippen …
Ik sta nog achter, ik moet nog een stofje zoeken! Maar ik doe dit weekend een inhaalbeweging!
leuk hé, en nu oefen ik ineens mijn engels :-D
2 vliegen in 1 klap.
I’m in, but this sunday we have 70 friends for lunch, soo… I think I’ll catch you next week with my pant’s cutting ;)
Hugs,
MammaNene
Ready to cut!!
Hello, I recently purchased this pattern and am really confused, as it doesn’t include some of these pattern pieces, and the purchased pattern doesn’t seem to include a version where you actually close the pants in the front, it seems to be a faux fly??
I wanted to make these pants in the way German carpenter pants are closed in the front, like you show in this sew-along, but the instructions with the pattern I bought don’t include any of this, either.
Can you help me out??