pants
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Pants. What a funny word. Pants, panties, underpants. In England, pants are men’s undergarments (women’s are called knickers) but in Australia we say undies instead, and pants is an interchangeable word for trousers/slacks. In Britain “pants” is used as a slang word as well: Noun/Adj. Nonsense, rubbish, bad. My sister says things like “Oh! I can see you’ve got your Cranky Pants on today” but I have to say, in her defence, she is a primary school teacher.Â
Which is all a roundabout way of saying that I have been sewing lots of pants these last couple of days. Nine pairs of pants to be exact. And no, that doesn’t mean 18 - how silly to say “pair of pants” anyway!Â
First off the production line were four Winter school pants for Jack made from navy sweatshirt fleece. My husband helpfully suggested I add the padded knee bits to stave off the inevitable worn and holey knees.  All I can say is this - don’t waste time testing the fit. Just dive in and cut out four pairs all at once. They’ll be sure to fit - NOT! What a drama it all was.  I don’t know where my brain was but it was only after cutting out four pairs and sewing two patch pockets on the back of each of four pairs that I realised two very important things: Â
The pants did fit okay but the leg was drafted so skinny that they almost looked like girls’ leggings.  I didn’t want to waste all that cut out fabric (there was much swearing and forehead slapping at this point) so I ended up cutting a triangle piece to insert between the back and front at the inside leg, which had the effect of a straighter leg. Â
I also needed to chop about 6cm off the top of each piece (due to the way I attach the waistband - see more about this below).  Remember I said earlier that I sewed a total of eight patch pockets onto the back of these pants? Yep, I had to rip out each and every one as cutting the 6cm off the top meant the pockets were placed way too high now.  SO annoying! I got the pants done in the end and they fit fine now but it could have gone a lot smoother if only I had taken the time to check the fit first. I was thankful that I knew how to salvage the whole thing, so it could have been worse.
I also sewed up two PJ pants for Jack and three for Emma.  The x factor with these pants was that I didn’t cut them out at all. A few weeks back I was at one of my favourite op shops (thrift stores) and found a bundle of flannelette (flannel) all tied up neatly. When I had a good look, I found that someone had gone to all the trouble of neatly cutting out five pairs of PJ pants and had then donated them to charity. I would love to know the story behind this! Maybe someone took the wrong bag to the charity bin? Anyway I held them up to the kids and figured that they looked close enough and that I would risk it. For only $3.50 for the lot, it was worth a try.
The thing about loose fitting, elastic waisted pants for kids is that very often it’s only the pant length that changes - any change in waist sizes can be dealt with by a snugger or larger elastic. All five pairs were cut out at the same size but I managed to get two pairs for Jack (7) and three pairs for Emma (nearly 5).  I always use the “turn and topstitch” method of applying elastic, and this meant that I needed to chop 6cm off the top of each piece again. For Jack’s PJ pants, I simply sewed this bit onto the bottom of each pant leg. As long as he doesn’t grow too much over Winter they will be fine.Â
I mentioned the “turn and topstitch” method of applying elastic - do you know what this is? It’s just the easiest way of doing elastic waisted pants. Forget shoving (sorry, threading) the elastic through a too small channel with the aid of a safety pin! That is much too hard. All you need to do is join the ends of the elastic, mark the quarters (I use a pen for this) and attach the elastic to the top of the waist, ideally with an overlocker (serger) but a sewing machine will do - use the zigzag stitch though. You need to stretch the elastic (quarter by quarter, matching the pen marks you made with the Centre Front, Centre Back and Side Seams) as you go and then take it over to your sewing machine. The next step is also the name - just turn and topstitch. You fold the elastic to the inside and stretching again as you go, use a straight stitch to attach the elastic. You need to have the elastic facing up so that you can see where the edge is and just sew inside of that line.Â
I hope that made sense. I can do a photo tutorial if you like - let me know in the comments!Â
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Karen in Wichita Said,
Thursday, April 3, 2008 @ 12:50 am
I learned, when doing Renaissance costuming, that the legs of hosen (the ancestors of pants/trousers/etc.) were separate, and laced to the doublet. Eventually, as doublets shortened, the hosen became breeches and the lacings were reduced to the fly front, but they’ve remained a “pair.”
Of course, the fact that that now extends to “pair of undies” is just patently silly, but what can you do?
gwensmom Said,
Thursday, April 3, 2008 @ 12:02 pm
Wow that’s a lot of pants! I’ll be doing the same for Gwen very soon- she needs new shorts for summer.
Jess Said,
Thursday, April 3, 2008 @ 6:32 pm
Jen, you HAVE been busy! Excellent pants. I would like to see a tutorial as I really don’t get what you mean about the elastic… I’m maybe a bit tired… Isn’t your way harder than shoving it through with a pin??
Jess’s last blog post..Stuff
Rachel Said,
Sunday, April 6, 2008 @ 12:11 pm
Jen, the pants look great. Love the knees I’ve been cutting some out the same for Curtis. I don’t get the elastic waist though. Could you please do a tutorial for my lack of understanding/ pregnancy challenged brain?
Jackie K Said,
Friday, May 16, 2008 @ 8:58 pm
Doh!! (hitting forehead Homer Simpson style) I can’t believe I’ve never thought of that elastic trick!! Thanks! Glad to have found you through Sew Mama Sew
Jackie K’s last blog post..Just playing