Finding the perfect pair of pants is difficult.
We all know that store-bought pants are often ill-fitting, overly expensive, or just don't come in the color you're looking for.
But here's the wonderful thing:
If you learn how to sew pants, you can say goodbye to these problems forever — and create your dream pants with your very own hands.
You no longer have to settle for something that just doesn't fit you literally and figuratively.
That's why in this article, we'll go over the 5 simple steps it takes to sew your own unique pants.
How to Sew Pants in 5 Steps [Easy-to-Follow Tutorial]
Before You Begin: Things You Need to Prepare
Before you begin cutting and sewing your fabric, here's everything you need to prepare:
Step 1: Prepare, Mark, and Cut Your Fabric
Once you've gathered everything you need, there are a few things you'll want to do before anything else:
- Wash Your Fabric - Many fabrics tend to shrink when you wash them for the first time. Washing before sewing will prevent your finished pants from shrinking and becoming too tight. Washing also gets rid of dirt and chemicals, and tests for color bleeding in your fabric.
- Iron Your Fabric - You'll want your fabric to be as straight as possible before cutting. If your fabric isn't ironed down, you could end up with inaccurate measurements or puckering.
After preparing your fabric, place it on a big, flat surface. Then, take your pattern pieces and lay them carefully on your fabric.
Use a marker to transfer the pattern shape to the fabric. You can use pins or fabric clips to hold the pattern to the fabric. Or you can place something heavy on top of the pattern pieces to prevent them from slipping out of position.
If your pattern didn't account for seam allowances, make sure to add ½" - ⅝" of allowance on all sides. If you're using an elastic band for your waist, add around 1 - 2" of seam allowance at the top of your pants. You may also want to add 1" of seam allowance to the bottom of your pants to account for your hem finish.
Then, use your fabric scissors or rotary cutter to cut the fabric. You'll want to do this in smooth, long, and even cuts. Take extra care while doing this since a wrong cut can render your fabric unusable.
Step 2: Sew the Side Seams
Most pants patterns will have two or four pieces (left and right leg, or left-front, left-back, right-front, and right-back).
If your pattern has four pieces, first place the left front piece with the left back piece, with wrong sides facing out. Carefully align the pieces, then use pins to hold them together.
Then, start sewing with the inseam first, and then sew the outseam. Once you're finished with the left leg piece, repeat the same steps for the right-front and right-back.
If your sewing pattern only has two pieces (left and right leg), start by folding a fabric piece with the wrong side facing out. Press the fabric, add pins to the inseam, and then sew it. You don't need to sew an outseam for patterns with only two pieces.
Either way, once you're finished sewing the side seams, you should have two leg pieces ready to be joined together.
Step 3: Sew the Crotch Area
To connect the two leg pieces, keep one leg right-side out and the other wrong-side out. Then, place the right-side-out piece inside the wrong-side-out piece, and align them at the crotch area.
Use pins to hold the two pieces together, starting at the center of the crotch and working your way to the top of the left side and right side.
Finally, slowly sew the two pieces together.
Once you're finished, you should have fully shaped pants. All there's left to do is to add a waistband and to hem the bottom of the pants.
Step 4: Attach the Waistband
Before working on your waistband, clean up the raw edges of the top of your pants by using a serger or a zigzag stitch.
There are many ways to attach a waistband to your pants. One of the easiest ways to do this is by using an elastic band. Here's one way to insert an elastic waistband:
- Fold the top edge down approximately ¼" and press it with an iron
- Fold it again, making sure it's wide enough to accommodate the elastic band with a little extra space
- Press the fold once more
- Sew along the lower edge of the fold, leaving a 1-2" opening for inserting the elastic
- Attach a safety pin to one end of the elastic and guide it through the casing
- Once both ends of the elastic meet, sew them together using a zigzag stitch
- Finish by sewing the remaining opening closed to secure the elastic inside
Step 5: Hem the Bottom and Finish
Finally, you'll want to hem the bottom of your pants to give it a clean finish.
Once again, there are several ways to do this, but one of the simplest ways is to fold the raw edge up by about ¼"–½" and press it with an iron, fold it again, and then sew close to the inner folded edge.
Easy Pants Patterns You Should Try
One of the easiest pants you can sew is the Chesney Pants.
The pattern is incredibly simple, doesn't have any complicated details, and even uses an elastic band for the waist. It's the ultimate beginner sewist's pants.
However, just because it's beginner-friendly doesn't mean it looks boring. You can use different fabrics to give your pants a unique look. Also, you can pair your Chesney pants with a variety of tops and shoes to complete your fashion.
You can get the Chesney pants pattern here.
Like the Chesney pants, the Hudson Pants are another super easy pattern that uses an elastic band for the waist.
It does have one tiny detail in that the bottom of the pants has calf-to-ankle darts. However, when you have this pattern, you'll find that sewing darts is not as scary as it might seem at first.
Once you're finished, you'll have a simple but elegant pants that goes well with many tops and shoes.
The West End Pants are a loose-fitting, wide-legged pair. It's perfect for more casual wear since it's comfortable yet still lovely to look at.
Don't be intimidated by the wide-leg design of the West End Pants. Once you get the pattern on your fabric, you'll find that the steps to sew this are just the same as any other pants pattern.
However, these pants have pockets. So, if you're up for the challenge, this project can also teach you a valuable lesson on how to sew pockets.
Check out the pattern here.
How to Measure Yourself for Pants Patterns
For pants, you'll want to measure your:
- Waistline
- Hip
- Distance from waist to hip
- Stride (crotch length)
- Pants length
To get accurate measurements, we recommend wrapping an elastic waistband around your waist before taking your measurements.
For the waistline, simply wrap your measuring tape around your waist. Keep the measuring tape parallel to the floor, and wrap it snug but not tight.
For the hip, turn to your side and then wrap the measuring tape around the fullest part of your hip. Once again, keep the tape parallel to the floor and snug but not tight.
Depending on your pattern, you may want to measure the distance from your hip to your waist. To do this, measure from the bottom of the elastic on your waist straight down to the fullest part of your hips.
Next, to measure your stride (or crotch length), start from the center back of your elastic band, measure through your crotch, and end at the center front of the band. Add 1" to this measurement for ease.
Finally, to measure your pants length, stand on your measuring tape at the 1" mark, then measure up to the band on your waist. Then, subtract 1", and you'll have your full pants measurement.
For a more accurate measurement, wear the shoes you intend to use with these pants, then calculate your measurement to have the pants hanging ½" off the floor.
Once you have these measurements, you can fit any pattern to your size. Read our full guide on pattern fitting here.
3 Quick Fixes for Common Pants Problems
- Pants Too Tight. If your pants are too tight, use your seam ripper to rip either the inseams or outseams and resew with less allowance. This is why having ample seam allowance is critical. Also, to prevent this from happening, test your pattern on scrap fabric first to see if it fits.
- Fabric Bunching at the Crotch. To fix this, open the crotch seams, increase the seam allowance, and then sew. This should tighten the fabric around the crotch area and stop the fabric from bunching. However, if you use a well-designed pattern like the ones above, you shouldn't run into this problem.
- Uneven Hems. To avoid uneven hemming, try your pants on before finishing the hems. If you find it's uneven, remeasure your pants and adjust as needed. Also, make sure to press your hems before stitching.
Bonus Step: Check Out Our Sewing Program!
Now that you know how to sew pants, you can start saying goodbye to those ill-fitted, overly priced, store-bought pants.
However, don't stop with simple patterns.
Now that you know all the basics of sewing pants, take your sewing skills to the next level by taking on projects with more details, using more difficult fabrics, and creating pants that you thought only professionals could create.
If you'd like to take your sewing to the next level, check out our Sew Confident program, where we'll show you exactly how to do that.