Our Fashion Projects Category

I did it! I did it! I made pants! Oddly enough, I’ve never done that before. Well, besides PJ’s in junior high. But that’s beside the point. I had this left over navy blue knit that I was trying to figure out what to do with. I wanted to stay away from doing a dress because I have 3 other navy blue dresses (don’t judge me!). So, while I was flipping through my sketch book for ideas, I came across this one for wide leg pants. I figured “Why not?” The fabric is a little thinner than I would have liked, but I did it anyways. I decided instead of going with the almost bell-bottom like shape in the sketch, I’d go a little wider like these form Rag and Bone.

I started off with this pattern for knits:

Here are the adjustments I made to take the look from PJ pants, to knit trousers.

Added Pockets:

1. Cut the front and back out as usual.

2. Cut pockets in 3 steps.

2a. Cut front of pants like so

2b. Trace the pocket line, and part of the pant, connect and round the corner (This is the pocket front)

2c. Trace the outline of the original pant and the bottom of the pocket. (This is the pocket back)

3. With right sides together, sew pocket front to pant front. Trim seam, press and turn.

4. Top stitch seam if desired. I used a double stitch like they do on denim.

5. With right sides together, sew pocket front to pocket back. Trim seam, but do not turn

6. Sew down top and side openings with a stay stitch.

Then instead of having a small, rolled elastic waist, I added a wider waist band that I added on as a separate piece. It’s super easy

1. Cut 2 inch strip of elastic the length of your waist minus 1”

2. Cut strip of fabric to the length of your waist, by 5” wide

3. Sew ends of fabric strip together

4. Fold fabric in half, wrong sides together. You’ll probably want to pin the bottom (open) edge together so it doesn’t roll.

5. Pin fabric strip to pants, Sew, but leave a 2-3” opening in the back

**Here’s where you can also add belt loops if you want. I think it makes them look more like “real pants”**

6. Feed your elastic through the opening into the waist band.

7. Once all the way through, sew elastic closed. Then sew the opening closed.

I know this has the stink face, but the angle makes the pants look awesome

So I haven’t come up with a great tutorial for this one yet. I want to tweak it before I lay out a “How-To.” But I thought it was worth sharing the sketch-to-completion. I decided to make it a dress on Vlad’s suggestion, and I must say it makes an awesome dress. I can see it with legging and a jean jacket as well for when it’s not so hot.

I did a bunch of stitch work to add texture

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I did this sketch a few months ago of a simple shirt with braided sleeve. So of course when I found this crazy psychedelic print that was by far the loudest fabric I’ve ever bought, I thought it’d be perfect for this (slightly weird) shirt. It’s pretty straight forward. You’ll need a t-shirt to use as a pattern. I had only a yard of this fabric, so it cost me about $3 to make. The best part I this shirt has dolman sleeves, which mean you don’t need to cut separate sleeve! Also, you don’t really need to finish the edges since it’s a jersey knit; it might actually add to the look (I finished mine because I hate raw edges)

1. Trace shirt like so:

2. Add length for braids

3. Cut out. Repeat for back side as well

4. With right sides together, sew side seams

* **Optional: Finish neck holes and bottom***

5. Turn shirt right side out, sew shoulder seam

***Optional, finish sleeve opening edges***

6. Cut fringe just up to seam, 0.75” wide

7. Stitch down the beginning of the braid at the neck opening. You can add extra strips here if you want to, it’ll make starting the braid easier.

8. French braid!

9. Tie a knot at the bottom and cut off. You could also tuck the ends in and sew to finish.

Done!

This top is actually super easy to do. I had exactly 1 yard of this great striped rayon-blend fabric. I got it (of course) on the clearance table, so this shirt cost me a grand total of $3!

Easiest way to do this is to grab a t-shirt to use as a patter.

**You will want to use a zigzag stitch for this so the whole thing stretches**

1. Lay out your T-shirt on your fabric. Mark about 1” away on each side, up to the arm pit. Add 2.5” to the bottom.

2. Draw a line from armpit to arm pit, add 1”

3. Cut 2 of these.

4. Sew together down sides

5. **If you have a friend for this step it will be easier** With your arms at your side, measure around where you want the strap to be. Take this measurement and subtract 2”.

6. Cut a strip 5” by the strap length from step 5. Sew the ends together to make a loop. Then fold in half

7. Measure distance from front left bra strap to back left. This is your side measurement.

8. From the side seam, mark the measurement from step 7.

9. Measure distance on chest between bra straps. Mine is 11”. Repeat for back (9”).

11. The next few steps are simply better explained by picture…so here it is:

Repeat for back using back bra measurements

12. Now fold up the raw edges, stitch down using zigzag stitch to maintain stretch.

13. Measure around your low waist (where the shirt ends), then subtract 2″. Cut strip 5″ by that length.

14. Sew ends together, then fold in half

15. Now attach this loop to the bottom of the shirt. Your shirt will be bigger than the strip, so stretch it to fit as you go. This will also help keep the whole thing stretchy.

Done!

It’s super cute; you can wear it off the shoulders as intended or pull the straps up.