sew-along for patchy side panel pants

I'm sure people have other ways to make these, but here is my basic method. To do this SA, you'll need (a) lots of scraps, (b) a two-piece basic pants pattern, (c) enough fabric for the pants pattern, (d) elastic for the waist, and (e) coordinating fabric to line the insides of the side panels.

1. Start with your scrap basket and find scraps that are at least 5" wide and 3" tall. All of them should be cut to 5" wide, but the height can vary if you want the side panels to have different sized patchwork. I cut mine 3"-5" tall. Then, line them up in the order you'd like them to be, from top to bottom, and serge them together. I do pin mine before serging--I'm a pin freak. You need to make two strips of patchwork; one for each side of the pants.

Here is a photo of some of the scraps before serging:
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA1.jpg

After serging, from the backside
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA2.jpg

2. Once you have serged all of the scraps together for the side panels, measure them and make sure each side panel is at least as long as the outseam measurement of your pants pattern.

Here is one entire patchy strip, after serging, from the backside:
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA3.jpg

3. Take the coordinating fabric (Sam picked this moon and stars cotton woven, but I usually use a tonal batik) and cut two long rectangular pieces to fit each strip of patchwork. Pin and serge around all 4 edges for each side panel.

Here are the strips pinned to the coordinating fabric before serging:
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA4.jpg
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA5.jpg

And after serging:
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA6.jpg

4. Set aside the patchwork panels, and cut out the pants. I used medium-wale hemp/cotton cord which I coffee-dyed last night. It's a little darker than the original natural color. Some people take in the width of each of the pieces when they are cutting them, but I like the pants nice and full, so I cut out the pattern without any changes.

Here are my pants pieces, right sides of fabric together:
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA7.jpg

5. Take one patchy side panel, one front pants piece, and one back pants piece. Pin one side of the side panel to the outseam of the front pants piece. Pin the other side of the side panel to the outseam of the back pants piece. Photos:
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA8.jpg
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA9.jpg

6. Serge along where you have pinned, attaching the side panel to the outseams of the front and back pants pieces.
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA10.jpg
Repeat with the other side panel piece and the two remaining front and back pants pieces. You will end up with two mirror image pieces of the above photo, and here is what they will look like on the right side:
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA11.jpg

7. Right sides together, pin the front and back rises of the pants.
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA12.jpg
Serge the rise from back to front.
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA13.jpg

8. Open up the pants so that you can pin the inseam from ankle to ankle, making sure you match the crotch points exactly.
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA14.jpg
Serge the inseam from ankle to ankle. Turn right side out, and your pants will look like this:
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA15.jpg
At this point, I have also serged around the waist and around each ankle hem to finish the fabric and keep it from fraying.

9. Turn back inside out. Turn waist over about 1" (or enough to accommodate the width of your elastic), pin, and stitch, leaving enough of an opening to feed the elastic (which is shown here with a big safety pin). I've also added a size tag and a decorative sun tag (from Allison).
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA16.jpg
After you feed the elastic all the way through, overlap the edges of the elastic slightly and stitch to attach them. Then, stitch closed the opening in the waist. It will look like this:
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA17.jpg
I've also added a decorative leaf tag (from Serena) on the outside of the back of the waist--the colors really matched the side panels:
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA18.jpg

10. Now you're ready to hem the ankles.
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA19.jpg

And voila, they are done:
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA20.jpg

And modeled--I left these hemmed a little long for my fast-growing boy:
http://www.urbanfibers.com/fpdb/images/SA21.jpg
Sam asked for a haircut this morning! :cry:

I've also made these pants with batiks for the patches and thinwale cord for the body of the pants, and denim for the body and cord for the patches. Have fun, I can't wait to see some sew and shows from this sew-along! Let me know if you have any questions.
:)
Tara

I forgot to add up SG points, which are always great for side panels!
8pts hemp/cotton cord
1pt coffee dye
1pt elastic
1pt size tag
1pt sun tag
1pt leaf tag
22pts cord scraps
2pts cotton woven scraps
-----
37pts total

Tara

Thank :) you Tara!

And an :shock: on the points for that. Crazy!!!

I knew there was a reason I should have kept those cord scraps. :oops:

That is a great Sew-a-long! :D I do bits of it a little different. I top stitch the pannels down, espically when I use a knit for the body and wovens for the pannels. I do this in lue of backing the pannels. I backed the pannels on my first pair and they didn't go through the wash nearly as well as when I didn't back them and top stitched them down. You just have to work with different fabrics different I think. [smilie=yoko54[1].gif] (cow on the behest of my dd)

I have to make some more of those for my boy! You have inspired me!! (I have been making all Cyan's school clothes this week cus Alex is in MI with his dad, so his are waiting for when he gets home. Girl, girl girl frilly fruufy girl! Ready for some earth toned, down to earth boy clothes. ;) )

Val

PS, Sam is a CUTIE! Becareful with that boy in a few years... that smile is a lady killer. ;)

Thanks, Jenn & Val! :) Val, I haven't tried making these pants with knit fabrics, that sounds fun! I haven't had a problem with the side panels washing well...I think because I serge them in instead of stitching them in. Sam has handed down several pairs to friends and they are still going strong years later. :) I love these pants because they are easy to pair with just about any top in earth tones or blues, easy for getting dressed in the morning.

Tara

Those are great..

ooooh thank you thank you thank you thank you :D:D:D:D
Those pants are beautiful :)
I think this is the only type of mama made pants my 9yo would wear :lol:

9yr old ds.... Oh yeah... mine too... although I am making some cargo canvas pants out of urban camo that he is excited about. :D

Tara, I serger as well... I passed down a pair that I made Cyan two years ago to a friend who has now passed them down to another toddler. They are still going strong. :) Don't you love seeing that??? As far as backing and top stitching: the knits lay WAY different than the denim or canvas or even cord. And if you were using knits for the pannels then there would be no reason to top stitch, but when using knits with woven side pannels is the only time I have found it important to not back them and top stitch. It looks crisp as well. I guess this all depends on your knits and woven combo though.

This is a great sew-along. Thanks for posting it, Tara! [smilie=thanx[1].gif]

Those look great. Thanks for posting this. I have been wanting to make some.

Oh thank you so much for this great sew-along. I can't wait to try it!

yay! thank you!