How I made 250 Knickers into Pants! Part 2

August 17, 2024 3 Comments on How I made 250 Knickers into Pants! Part 2

By Esi Hutchinson

Welcome to Part 2 of how I made 250 Hollywood Pants Knickers into pants. To see how I made the adjustments for this design in my pattern pieces (and how I made the pocket larger), check out Part 1 of this tutorial.  In this blog I am going to show you how I made the front fly with a zipper instead of a buttoned fly.  While I do like the look of buttons on the fly for a pair of pants, I get frustrated when taking them on and off.  So I decided to put in a zipper instead. 

The pieces I cut out are below. I used the pattern pieces I made in Part 1 to cut out the fabric (an 8oz sanded twill).  I didn't need the Cuff Placket J and Pocket Facing E, but I forgot and cut them out anyway. Whoops!

When sewing these pants I followed the instructions quite closely for the general assembly of the Knickers.

Starting with the right sides together and I stitched from the box to the top of the crotch seam.

I pinned the Back crotch seam and stitched and pressed the seams open and serged the seams.

Assembling the fly front is a little tricky. I highly recommend labeling your fly pieces (left, right) and right and wrong sides. Refer to this blog post where I walked through assembling and sewing the buttoned fly front of these pants if you need help figuring out the fly for this garment. However, if you are adding a zipper instead follow below to see how I did it.

Zippered Fly

Stitch the Right Facing C to the Right Fly C with right sides together on the unnotched edge and around the bottom to the box. I think it is helpful to clip in the seam allowance to the box before trimming. Trim the seam and turn the fly right side out.

Press under 1/2" (13mm) on the long double notched edge of Fly Facing C.  Then stitch Fly C to Front Pant A, with right sides together, from the top to the box. Trim the seam.

Press the fly and facing away from the pants.  Pin the pressed under edge over the previously stitched seam line to the inside of the right pant and topstitch.

Now work on the left side of the Pants.

With right sides together stitch the unnotched edge of Left Fly D to the double notched edge of Left Front Pant A from waist to the box. Press Fly D away from the Left Front Pant A.

Now we are ready to sew in the zipper. 

The top of the zipper teeth needs to be 2-1/4" (5.7cm) below the top of both the Fly/Facing C and D to accommodate the Waistband Facings H and I in later steps.

Place the left part of the zipper with the right side face down onto the right side of the Left Fly D, making sure the top of the zipper is teeth is 2-1/4" (5.7cm) below the top of the Left Fly D and the center of the zipper teeth is 5/8" (1.6cm) away from the Fly D and Pant A seam. 

Sew the left side of the zipper onto Fly D using a zipper foot, then stitch again close to the edge of the zipper tape. Try and stitch as far down as you can within the 1/2" (13mm) seam allowance.

Right sides together, stitch the Left Fly Facing D to the Left Fly D along the notched edge, backstitching at the box. I made sure to keep the extended part of the zipper that doesn't have zipper teeth on it out of the way of the stitching, but you do not have to do that. Trim the seams and turn right side out.

Trim 1/2" (13mm) off of the unnotched edge of Left Fly D. Press the Fly to the inside of the Pants along the seam line of the Fly and Pant seam.

Topstitch the pressed Left Fly/Facing D down through all layers including the Left Front Pant A.

Now back to the Right side of the zipper.

You should have already pinned the pressed under edge of Right Fly Facing C over the seam line of Fly C to the right Front pant A and topstitched.

Place the wrong side of the other side of the zipper on top of the Fly Facing C making sure the top of the zipper is teeth is 2-1/4" (5.7cm) below the top of the Right Fly Facing C and the center of the zipper teeth is 5/8" (1.6cm) away from the seam of Facing C/Right Pant A (the same way it was done for the left side).

Sew the Right side of the zipper using a zipper foot, then stitch again close to the edge of the zipper tape, stitch as far down as you can.

Instead of overlapping the Fly and topstitching the triangle as show on the pattern piece Fly C, I overlapped the Fly and stitched through all layers. Starting from the bottom of the fly, I stitched up 3/4" (2cm) backstitcing at start and finish and bartacked (small zig-zag stitches) through all layers.

Sewing the zipper is now finished, let's move on to making the rest of the pants.

Finishing Sewing the Pants

Stitch the Front A and Back B at the inseam, matching notches. I pressed the seam to the front and finished the raw edges with a serger.

I topstitched my inseam close to the seamline then topstitched again about 1/4" (6mm) away from the pervious topstitch.  This creates a faux flat-felled seam.

Pockets

I don't need to use the pocket facings because I'm using the same fabric for the pockets as for the rest of the pants, and my fabric is midweight so I'm not worried about it being too bulky.

Right sides together, stitch one pocket side to the Pant Front matching stars and notches.

Clipping to the stars.

I serged the side seams on both Front and Back Pant pieces after I'd sewn the pocket sides to the Front and Back Pants.

Understitch the pocket side seams to prevent the pocket rolling out from the Pants. This keeps the pocket bag in place.

With right sides together, stitch the Front and Back together at side seams. Start with backstitching at upper star of the Pocket and stitch to the top of Pants. Then stitch from the fold at the bottom of Pocket to the bottom star of the Pocket and then down the rest of the side seam of the Pants.

Sew the top of the pocket closed

Waistband and Belt Loops

Make the belt loops and sew the waist facings H and I as instructed.

Pinning the waist facings to the inside of the Pants.

Sew the bottom of the belt loops in place.  Then make your buttonhole.  I used a 5/8" (1.6cm) button.

I hemmed my Pants by folding 1/2" (13mm) then 1" (2.5cm) and stitched close to the pressed edge.

The rise of these Knickers work really well for my body type. I really struggle when making pants for myself, I usually have to shorten the rise. However this worked out great (I did make a muslin first) and I now have a new pair of comfortable pants to wear. Sanded Twill is by far my favorite fabric for pants.  And I really love these pants!

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