Hello sew-friends! Today, I have another hack to the Summer Sweatsuit pattern. Last week, I shared how to convert the shorts pattern into jogger style pants and today I’ll show you how to hack the pattern to make wide leg knit pants. This is a comfy, relaxed silhouette, perfect for lounging around. Depending on the type of fabric, they could even look a bit stylish. Read on to learn more.
For these pants, you’ll need to make two big design decisions. First, the length of the pants. For this version, I chose mid-calf, but you can choose to make them any length you want. Next, you’ll need to decide on the circumference of the hem. To give them a nice, swingy shape, you’ll want to add ease. For these, I added about 5 inches of ease to my calf measurement. If you’re making ankle length pants, you’ll want to take a look at your knee and calf measurements as a guide for how wide to make the pants.
TIP: To help imagine how big a finished measurement will be, I like to take my flexible measuring tape and hold it in a loop the size of the finished measurement. Then I put that loop of tape around my calf or ankle to help picture what the garment will look like.
The Summer Sweatsuit includes a racerback tank top pattern and knit short shorts. The pattern is drafted for hip and bust sizes 32-58 inches. To learn more about the Summer Sweatsuit, check out the introductory blog post. To buy your own copy of the pattern, head over to the shop. Here, I’m wearing the pants with the Lou Box Top made in knit fabric.
This design would work for light to medium weight knit fabrics that are opaque. I’d be cautious of using anything very heavy as it may be heavy and uncomfortable to wear. Be aware that the stiffer the fabric, the more it will flare out away from the body. The lighter and drapier the fabric, the more closely it will hang to the body.
The fabric that I used for these pants is a medium-weight knit. It’s a deep stash fabric that I got from a bargain bin in the LA fashion district. It’s a very unusual double knit with solid on the inside and a looser weave striped on the right side.
How to hack the Summer Sweatsuit shorts to make wide leg knit pants
In addition to the Summer Sweatsuit pattern, you’ll need a flexible measuring tape, tracing paper, a ruler and a pen or pencil.
PREPARING TO DRAFT
To start, you’ll need to take some body measurements and decide a few finished garment measurements. (See the graphic above for a list.) If you’ve already sewn a pair of Summer Shorts, I recommend putting them on to help you determine the length of the leg. Grab your flexible measuring tape and something to take notes with.
Step 1:
First, measure from the side waist (at the bottom of the waistband) to where you want the hem of the pants to fall.
Finally, decide your hem allowance. For knits, I usually do a 1/2 inch hem allowance but for these pants, I did 1” to give a little more weight to the hem. Choose whatever suits you.
Calculate Line A: (Side waist to hem) + (Hem allowance)
Step 2:
Next, make a note of your knee and calf circumferences and decide your finished hem circumference. (See my tips above.) To create a wide leg pant, you’ll want to add ease to the pattern, meaning it will be bigger than your leg measurement.
Calculate Line B: (Finished hem circumference) + (Seam allowance X 2)
NOTE: S.A. stands for seam allowance. This pattern uses 3/8” (1 cm) seam allowance.
STEP 3: Now that we have all the measurements we need, we can start hacking the pattern. Trace the shorts front/back pattern piece onto a piece of paper. Draw Line A, parallel to the grainline from the notch at side waist to hem.
STEP 4: Draw Line B centered at the end of Line A, to mark the end of the pant.
STEP 5: Draw the back inseam (Line C shown in yellow in the graphic above) connecting from the crotch and ending at the hem (left side of Line B).
STEP 6: Fold the pattern in half along Line A, matching the ends of Line B. Trace Line C to create the front inseam. Unfold the pattern and draw a new front crotch curve to meet the top of the front inseam. (Shown in pink above.)
STEP 7: Trace the new pattern using the original waistline and back crotch curve plus the new inseams and hem. Draw a new longer grainline and mark the original notches. Cut 2 mirror images of this pattern piece along with the original waistband from the pattern and two cuff pieces.
SEWING THE WIDE LEG PANTS
The construction for the wide leg pants is the same as for the shorts, just with a long in-seam. The instruction booklet included in the pattern provides illustrated and detailed instructions on the construction. For additional help, check out this video post that shows how to sew the shorts.
I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial. You can pin the image above to save this tutorial for later and make sure to check out the Summer Sweatsuit sewalong for more helpful sewing tutorials and hacks for this pattern. And if you’re looking for a pdf pattern to try, explore the shop below. Happy sewing!
