Sew-Over-It: First Pair of Pants!!

~ Sew Over It ~
My $2.00 Red Beach Pants, a first attempt at sewing pants!!

I was pretty excited when I found some great red fabric at Goodwill for 2 dollars, in just over 3 yards... perfect amount for making a pair of pants. This is a project I've wanted to try for a while, I'm petite... and it's SOOOO hard to find a good fitting cute pair of pants. Either they have a droopy crotch or a mile of extra fabric dragging under my feet. So if I could just figure out how to make my own, save myself the torture of pants shopping with my children in tote.... then problem solved... a perfect fitting pair of pants!

Now, I'm definetly not ambitious enough to try jeans... but I'd love to make a few pair of Linen beach pants. Something comfortable, flowy... that feel effortlessly sexy. But HOW does one sew pants that are actually cute & fit!!?? Well, after some advice from my sister-in-law, and research from some of my favorite sewing blogs... I decided the best way for me would be to take a pair of my own well fitting pants & create a pattern from them. That pattern can easily be tweaked to create a different well fitting style.

First I layed out of my favorite drawstring pants (inside out) on a big sheet of butchers paper. Traced each piece to create the exact shape, added 1/2 inch seam allowance, and couple inches for the hem and top elastic waistline. You really only need one pattern of the Front & Back from one side... just flip the pattern over to make the Left & Right side. I also created a pocket pattern, and marked where the pockets would go on my pant legs.