Self Assembly Required

DIY dressmaking + crafts with Emily

Slouchy lounge pants from the Fashion with Fabric sewing bee book

This is the accompaniment book from the third series of The Great British Sewing Bee written by Claire-Louise Hardie (who I met briefly at my failed Great British Sewing Bee audition attempt). I don’t normally buy these books but actually found quite a few projects I like from it so I figured why not! Plus it has the pattern for that Walkaway dress that crops up everywhere…

  
It’s a pretty good book actually. Lots of techniques and instructions and plenty of projects to get stuck into. There’s only a few I wanted to get stuck into right away though – the silk box tee, the walkaway dress (obvs…) and the casual trouser.

I started with the trouser first. Mostly because I was curious and mostly because I was suddenly struck by the idea I could turn the pattern into a pair of sweat/ lounge pants. Random, I know.

The trouser pattern is actually part of the jumpsuit pattern but they provide instructions on a hack to turn them into trousers which is pretty awesome. I figured with the right fabric and design additions I could easily make some nice comfy and stylish sweats – the kind you wear on long flights because your mum told you not to wear skinny jeans on the plane…

Anyway, I picked up this soft dark marl grey ribbed jersey which I thought would work quite well. Normally I’d avoid a rib for this kind of project as it can be a little stiff but this one was fine enough to drape well.

I made a size 12 as I wanted it a little on the loose side. The only adjustments I made to the pattern was to shorten the leg by an inch in the middle. I planned to add buttonholes on the front waistband to thread a ribbon through and to turn up the cuffs by 4cm to create a channel for elastic at the end of each pant leg.

On the waistband, I added elastic as well as the planned ribbon tie to make sure it’ll stay up!


I also added side seam pockets. I happened to have some pockets in a cotton the same colour as the twill ribbon I was using, just lying around – total coincidence – so I used them as a nice contrast to the grey knit. I prefer the pockets in the woven fabric – less likely to sag over time!

So, some comfy yoga style lounge pants sorted out! I’m loving the relaxed look. I’m definitely going to get a lot of use out of these!

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