Last October I did something brave (for me) and went on my own to a yoga retreat in Tarifa, Spain organised by the amazing Holly's Breathing Space Yoga. It was honestly one of the best things I've ever done for myself. Anyway....I had a picture of yoga / harem pants in my head that I wanted to take but the only rtw ones I could find were either poor quality or way too expensive. I also couldn't find a sewing pattern which looked right. What is a sewist to do? I self-drafted! I should say now that I have no pattern cutting experience, have never drafted before and this was very much a process of trial and error! But I've tried to recreate the process below so that you can all share in the joy of literally the most comfortable pants in the world...
Fabric
These yoga pants require fabric with stretch, recovery and drape so work best with a viscose or tencel jersey. I used the super soft viscose jersey in bottle green from Watson's Fabrics which is honestly like wrapping yourself in a cloud. I used about 2m of 145cm wide fabric and for guidance I am usually a size 14 in RTW.
Measurements
These pants are designed to sit on your hip, but could be easily adjusted to sit at your waist instead. Also, you can make them as loose or baggy as you like, drop the crotch to your knees or raise it up. I've included my size calculations below, but feel free to just copy out the pattern pieces and adapt to your size if that's easier.
Here are the measurements I used to draft my pattern pieces:
Hip to ankle
Hip circumference
Mid-calf circumference
Hip to mid-thigh
Pattern pieces
The waist band and cuff bands are smaller than your body measurements as they stretch to fit your body and hold the pants in place. The pants legs are much larger than your body measurements to create gathers and volume.
a) Leg
The leg piece consists of 4 key points:
Length: My leg piece length was based on my hip to mid-calf measurement of 25". I added an extra 5" to create more drape, so 25" + 5" = 30".
Top: The top edge of the leg piece was created by measuring my hips (40"), dividing by 4 (as each pattern piece represents a quarter of my hip circumference) and then multiplying by 1.5 to create the gathers, so 40/4 x 1.5 = 15".
Crotch: My third point was the dropped crotch, which I wanted to be 15" down from my hip, reaching about my mid-thigh. Obviously adjust as you wish!
Calf: My mid-calf circumference was 12". I halved that to get the pattern piece width at the leg bottom (6") and then multiplied by 1.5 to get a really baggy leg bottom. So, 12"/2 x 2 = 9"".
I marked those 4 points on a piece of paper, drew straight lines for the outside, bottom leg and hip to crotch points and then drew in a curve from the crotch to the calf as shown.
b) Waistband
I wanted the waistband to be doubled over and quite wide. I made it 12" deep (so it would be 6" deep once folded over). To create negative ease I took my hip measurement and subtracted 25%, so 40" - 10" = 30" (not scientific, I just guessed and then adjusted to fit later!) then divided the width by 2 as I was cutting 2 pieces (front and back). So the final piece was a rectangle 12" x 15".
c) Cuffs
Again I wanted to fold the cuffs over, and make them as deep as the waistband, so I made them 12" deep. I divided my calf circumference (12") to get the pattern piece width (6") and then to create negative ease I reduced this by 25% (1.5") so the final cuff piece was by 4.5"x 12".
Finally I added 0.5" seam allowance to all pieces, so the final pieces looked like this.
Cutting
I designed the pants to have no outside seam, so I cut 2 pants legs on the fold.
Cut 2 cuffs on the fold.
Cut two waistband pieces (not on the fold).
Sewing
1. Sew the inside seam of each pant leg.
2. Sew both legs together at the crotch.
3. Join the short edges of the waistband to form a circle. TIP: Check now that the waistband feels tight enough, if not make it a bit smaller. It has to hold up a lot of fabric! Fold it in half lengthways.
4. Mark the 2 side points on the top edge of your pants. Mark the centre front and centre back on the bottom (raw) edge of your waistband. Sew 2 lines of gathering stitches around the top edge of the pants. Attach the waistband to the pants, raw edges together, matching the side seams of the waistband to your side markings, and the crotch seams to your centre front/back markings on the waistband. Pull the loose ends of the gathering stitches until the pants fit the waistband. Make sure the gathers are evenly spaced out. Sew in place and finish the raw edges.
4. Join the long edges of each cuff piece. Fold in half and press. TIP: Check the cuff is tight enough, if not make it smaller now. Sew two lines of gathering stitches around the bottom of each leg. Attach a cuff to each pants leg, raw edges together. Pull on the loose ends of the gathering stitches until the pants leg fits the cuff. Sew in place and finish the raw edges.
5. Fold over the waistband again (it should now be 3" deep) and add a label to the centre back if you wish. I used the KATM x Claire Ritchie labels as the messages on them felt perfect for yoga.
And that's it....namaste! Please do let me know if you try these, if the instructions make no sense or if you spot any glaring errors. I'd be happy to clarify anything where necessary. As I said, I'm not an expert but I would absolutely love to see your versions if you make these. The two best things about sewing are taking time to be creative and sharing your ideas with other like-minded sewists!
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