How to Make a Pair of Trousers

This is a little difficult to explain in a way that will make it seem easy, but I promise it is easy. Please leave a comment or ask me a question if you find this hard to follow, I will be happy to help.

Whether you want a pair of leggings, jeans, pyjama bottoms or whatever, the basic principles remain the same. You must first have enough material to make your trousers but before you rush out to buy the first fabric you see, you need to consider how it needs to be folded when being cut out.

Your material piece will need to be more than double your leg length (including your waist, or however high up you want to make them). As for the width of your fabric, this will depend on what type of trousers you want to make and on what size you are, if you are petite or have a small waist then 45 inches or so should be good, but I would go for a wider fabric to be on the safe side.

So, to make this sound as simple as possible, you will need to follow the steps on how to fold and cut out your trousers from your fabric.

1. Fold your rectangular piece of fabric so that the two short ends are together.

2. Now fold in the opposite way (long sides together)

3. Use another pair of trousers (ones that fit you) as a cutting guide. Fold the trousers in half so that it appears as just one leg and lay it so that the straight edge of your trousers is sitting approximately 1-1.5” away from THE FOLDED SIDE OF THE FABRIC (this is Very important).

4. Now cut out around your guide trousers, remember to leave a 1-1.5” gap to allow for stitching. Leave a larger gap for the waist area, maybe 2-3” also, cut across the top (where your waist will be) to open it up as this is a fold.

5. Now you will have two pieces of fabric in the shape of a trouser leg, this is where you think you know it all and go stitching up the wrong parts, don’t do that! Follow the rest of the instructions below.

6. First thing is to stitch up from the bottom of the would-be leg, (right side of the fabric facing inwards). Only stitch it up to where the fabric curves, DON’T STITCH ALL THE WAY UP.

7. Do the same with the other leg piece.

8. Now take your two leg pieces and from the crotch area, stitch the two pieces together. It is always a good idea to make a double zigzag stitch over the crotch area to strengthen. Don’t forget to leave space for a zip or whatever at the front.

9. Now all you need to do is hem up the bottom of the legs and strengthen the waist area with some interfacing or stitch a wide hem to fit a piece of elastic inside for pyjamas etc, this part is for you to decide on and for another how to hub page to explain.

Good luck with your trouser making!