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Hey there! Are you all set to dive into making your own Parachute Sweatpants? We're thrilled to have you on board for this sewing journey!
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Today on the blog, Liesl shared her awesome tutorial on how to add pockets to your sweatpants. If you're thinking about giving your pair of sweatpants some extra flair, definitely check it out!
Here's our daily schedule for this week's Parachute Sweatpants sew-along:
- **Day 1 (today)**: Get ready and assemble the legs
- **Day 2**: Put the pants together
- **Day 3**: Prepare and attach the waistband
- **Day 4**: Hem the sweatpants
- **Day 5**: Final touches and finishing
Let's get started!
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**Day 1**
**Get Ready**
1. First things first, cut a piece of lightweight fusible interfacing measuring 1 1/4†wide by 2 1/2†long. Set this aside for later—it'll come in handy when we work on the waistband.
**Assemble the Legs**
1. Take one pants-front piece and its corresponding side panel. Match up the notches and pin them together before stitching with a 1/4†seam allowance.
2. Press the seam allowances toward the side panel and finish them together. If you're feeling adventurous, you can topstitch the side panel 1/8†from the seam. (We’ll talk more about Liesl’s cool faux-coverstitch trick soon—so stay tuned!)
3. Now, pin one pants-back panel to its corresponding side and front panels, lining up the notches. Stitch with a 1/4†seam allowance.
4. Press the seam allowances toward the side panel and finish them together. You can also edge stitch the center panel 1/8†from the seam if you'd like.
*Fun Fact from Liesl:* I love using a special stitch on my machine to mimic a flatlock stitch on the sweatpants stripe. On my Janome 6600, I used stitch #28 (check out the diagram below). But if you don't have fancy stitches, don't worry—you can still achieve a similar effect with a zigzag stitch and some Wooly Nylon thread.
To fake a flatlock stitch, switch to the walking foot and carefully stitch over the edges of the stripe so your needle stitches in the ditch of the seamline on one side of the stitch. Wooly Nylon thread or something similar will give you an even better result. A regular zigzag stitch might work too if that’s what you have on hand.
*Pro Tip:* Due to the bulk of the fabrics, using a walking foot is a great idea for this step. You don’t technically need a stretch stitch since knit fabric doesn’t stretch much in the length, but if the fabric pucker or wave after stitching, a good steam with the iron should help smooth everything out.
5. Pin the edges of the leg together and stitch the inseam with a 1/4†seam allowance. Finish the seam allowances using your preferred method and press the seam allowances toward the back.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 for the second leg.
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**Day 2**
How’s the sewing coming along? It’s a quick day today since we’ve only got one task. Those of you adding pockets can take this time to catch up!
**Assemble the Pants**
1. Turn one leg right-side out and the other wrong-side out. Slide the right-side-out leg into the wrong-side-out leg and pin the layers together at the rise (crotch area), ensuring the right sides are facing each other and everything lines up properly. Stitch the rise with a 1/4†seam allowance and finish the seam allowances together using your preferred method. Turn the sweatpants right side out so they’re ready for the waistband.
If you ever have any questions about the steps, don’t hesitate to ask! Come back tomorrow when we’ll be working on the waistband. See you then!
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**Day 3**
Welcome back! We’ve got a lot to cover today, so let’s get started.
**Prepare and Attach the Waistband**
1. To strengthen the waistband, fuse the interfacing you prepared earlier to the wrong side of the cut waistband behind the marked buttonholes you transferred from the pattern.
2. Stitch each buttonhole where marked on the waistband. Carefully cut the buttonholes open without cutting into the stitches.
*Pro Tip:* Use a seam ripper to cut open the buttonholes from each end toward the center. Check out the free video section on the website for a demo.
3. Pin the waistband’s short ends together with right sides facing and stitch them with a 1/4†seam allowance. Press the seam allowances open or to one side.
4. Fold and press the waistband in half lengthwise with wrong sides together.
5. Unfold the waistband and slide it over the pants with right sides facing. Pin the notched edge of the waistband to the top raw edge of the pants, aligning the notches on the waistband with the center-front and side panel seams and matching the waistband’s seam with the center-back seam of the pants. (Make sure the buttonholes are positioned at the top of the waistband.)
Baste the waistband to the pants with a 1/4†seam. Stretch the waistband slightly as you pin and stitch it so it fits the width of the pants.
6. Fold the waistband in half again and pin it in place. This creates a casing for the elastic. Stitch both edges of the waistband to the top of the sweatpants with a 1/4†seam allowance, leaving about 2†unsewn near one side or near the back to make an opening through which to feed the waistband elastic.
7. Attach a safety pin or bodkin to one end of the elastic and feed it through the opening left in the waistband casing. Adjust the elastic to fit the wearer’s waist and trim it to the desired length. Overlap the two ends of the elastic by about 3/4†and pin them together.
Sew the pinned ends together by stitching a small rectangle on the overlapped edges, removing the pin as you sew and lockstitching at the beginning and end of the rectangle.
8. Stitch the opening closed with a 1/4†seam. If you’re not using a serger, finish the waistline seam allowances using your preferred method. Press the seam allowances away from the waistband and edge stitch the waistband with a stretch stitch to finish it.
That’s all for today. We’ll see you back here tomorrow when we’ll be hemming the sweatpants.
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**Day 4**
Morning sewalongers! Welcome to Day 4 where we’ll be hemming the sweatpants. Let’s get to it!
**Hem the Sweatpants**
1. Finish the bottom edge of the sweatpants using your preferred method. Fold and press the finished edge to the wrong side by 3/4†and use a stretch stitch to stitch 1/2†from the fold, leaving an opening of about 2†to make an opening through which to feed the elastic.
2. Cut a piece of elastic according to the chart. Attach a safety pin or bodkin to one end of the elastic and feed it through the hem casing. Overlap the two ends of the elastic by about 3/4†and pin them together. Then sew the pinned ends together by stitching a small rectangle on the overlapped edges, removing the pin as you sew and lockstitching at the beginning and end of the rectangle.
*Pro Tip:* Refer to the chart in the instructions for guidance on the hem elastic.
3. Finish edge stitching the hem casing’s opening to close it, backstitching or lockstitching at both ends of your stitching.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 to finish the hem of the second sweatpants leg.
We’re almost there! Join us tomorrow for the final day of the sew-along.
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**Day 5**
Welcome to the last day of the sweatpants sew-along! We’re nearly done—how exciting!
**Finish the Sweatpants**
1. Attach a safety pin or bodkin to one end of the drawstring and feed it through one of the buttonholes, around the waist, and back out through the other buttonhole.
Adjust the length as needed and either knot the ends or fold the ends under twice by 1/4†and edge stitch the innermost fold to finish them.
*Pro Tip:* To keep the drawstring from slipping out of the casing, topstitch it to the center back waist as shown in the photo.
And that’s it! All done.
Please share photos of your finished sweatpants in the Flickr group. Don’t forget to tag your photos with #oliverands if you post them on Instagram. Thank you so much for joining us this week. Who’s ready to make another pair?
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P.S. If you have any questions or run into any issues, feel free to reach out. Happy sewing!