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For waist to through hips I'm using the Alina Chi-Town Chinos, a PDF pattern. The sizes contained are 0 - 22. I made the shorts last summer and there is a separate Flickr album if you're interested.
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Since the Chi-Town is a shorts pattern, I'm using the legs from Closet Case Sasha pants. I like the slim cut. I'm also using the curved waistband from this pattern. There is a separate Flickr album from when I made this pattern.
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Stretch plaid woven from my stash. 75 poly, 20 rayon, 5 spandex. Red tag special from JA, 10.00 per yard a few years ago. I wish it had more stretch and it ravels...ugh. Oh well, this is an experiment anyway.
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I found this pic online and of course I won't look like this, but my goals are that they not look like pajamas or end up a hot mess with bad plaid matching. Ha!
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The first time I made the shorts I shortened the front crotch 5/8" but that wasn't enough. This time I took an additional 1/2", which makes a total of 1 1/8". That's a lot but it worked out great for me!
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I re-traced the shorts and legs to keep my previous tracings intact. I pinned them to my board with grainlines straight. I felt the hips/thighs would probably be too large since shorts flare out and pants don't, but will work it out on my muslin.
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I traced over the two pieces and used a ruler and French curve to true the edges of my new pattern.
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I placed the front and back together with a pin for pivoting, and used a French curve to make the side seams and inseams the same shape. These are tapered pants, which will complicate the plaid matching. Yikes!
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Here are my two finished front and back pieces. I failed to show it, but I used a Curve Runner to measure the side seams and inseams, to make sure all will match up. A tape measure on it's side or a piece of string will work too.
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Since I took some off the hips I had to also alter all the pocket pieces. This included the slash pocket facing and both sides of the interior pocket bag.
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Ready to cut my muslin (from an old sheet). I have no muslin pics this time. Why? Because I made a video of the whole process that ended up 41 minutes. I removed it from Youtube after 3 days, as it was just too long. I never did take an actual photo.
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I needed to make a 3/4" wedge under the front crotch, take in the upper thigh, and lower the front rise. The waistband is rather high! After I transferred the muslin changes to my pattern I again measured to make sure they matched at the seams.
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Ready to cut and I love my Ryobi laser level! By using this I know the grain is straight all the way down.
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BUT...if you do get a laser level you may see that the red line looks like it doesn't go very far. It does though! Just bend up the end of your pattern slightly and you'll see it. So handy!
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Next is the cutting. I cut each front (2) and back (2) on a single layer of fabric starting with a front piece. I turned the first front piece OVER right sides together to cut the second front, matching the plaid exactly.
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This is an even plaid and I did not take the time to mark seamlines. I am matching the white and pink lines, then placing a pin in black squares as I move up the leg. This kept the fabric from crawling out of place for cutting.
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I cut directly around first front to cut the second. They are exactly the same. The wrong sides are marked with a sticky dot because it's hard to tell the right from the wrong side.
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To cut the first back piece, I placed the pattern on the single fabric layer with a front piece over the pattern and matched up the plaid on the side seam from hem up.
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I moved the front over to the inseam and it looked good as well, so I cut my first back piece.
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This is hard to see, but the first back piece has been flipped OVER and is matched up and pinned on the single layer, ready to cut the second back piece.
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The fronts and backs are cut, now ready for all the other pieces. The inside pieces can be cut from another fabric but I had enough plaid to do it all.
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I recently bought this Fons and Porter chalk pencil and wow it works great on dark colors! However, be careful using it on the outside of your fabric because it doesn't want to come off!
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I used black tricot (stretch) interfacing for the waistband, fly extensions and tops of back patch pockets. This is Pellon Easy Knit EK-130 which is lightweight.
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Not in the instructions, but I always stabilize the edge of front slash pockets. Mark your seam line and place the top edge of the tape right on the line. I'm using Design Plus staight fusible tape here.
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After each side of the fly is interfaced, finish the edge by disengaging your serger knife and pinning the front crotch out of the way.
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To prevent confusion I mark the fly for left and right. I like mine to open on the right side and sometimes I have to reverse instructions. Not this time but I marked it anyway. I also like to mark the SA on the front crotch for accurate stitching.
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I decided to set up my Bernina 1008 with it's walking foot since my Brother SB4138 takes a screwdriver for it's walking foot. I can switch between machines for plaid matching and other tasks.
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I got the front done with pockets and fly, did the topstitching and bottom bar tack on the fly. The bar tack on the fly's curve didn't look right so I used a seam ripper to remove it and made a damn hole!!!
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I also smeared some Fray Check on it so dabbed it with alcohol. Going from bad to worse here! I tried to hand sew a bar tack, no good. Ended up using the Bernina to make a big honkin' bar tack to cover the hole. At least it's on a dark square. Argh!
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Ideally welt pockets are the way to go on plaid but since the fabric frays so badly I decided on bias cut patch pockets. I gathered the corners with a basting stitch to help shape them.
