Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Monkey pants tutorial

I have made a lot of the monkey pants from the pattern I purchased from danslalune on etsy. I received an email from someone asking if I could do a tutorial on how I make the pants. The pattern is super cute, but putting it all together is a bit challenging at first. The main challenge is the gusset portion. I did change the pattern around a bit to accomodate non-stretch woven fabric and also sized it up to fit my 18 month old. However, the orginal pattern will work fine as long as you use stretch knits. Here is how I make the pants.

1. Cut out the pattern pieces. I am using recycled microfleece for these pants.


2. Open the pants back and lay flat. Line up the gusset piece with the larger curved portion facing upward as shown.

3. Pin the gusset into the back of the pants. I like to start at the ends and center. I then work my way around to fit in the gusset.

4. Sew in the back gusset. Pin the front and back together and sew.


5. Now you can sew the top casing and hem the pants as you would any other pants. Hope this helps!

3 comments:

Never A True Aggie said...

Thank you. I have had the pattern for a few months and have not ventured into sewing them because they intimidated me a bit. You cleared it up for me! I am also wanting to use fleece because it is COLD where we live. What adjustments did you make?

Natural Violet said...

If you are using stretch fleece then you should be all set and don't need to make any adjustments. I adjusted the pattern for non-stretch fabric to fit in the back gusset. Good luck!

Melissa25125 said...

This would be a really cool project for up-cycling t-shirts, because the original hem could be used for the bottom hem of the pants.

This website: http://handmadenokokoro.web.fc2.com/katagami/021.html

Offers a FREE pattern to download and print out for these exact same pants, so I think it goes perfect with your tutorial.

The site is in Japanese (I just opened the web site in my google browser and right clicked the screen to translate the site to English)...so I'm not sure what the sizing is, but I'm sure you could get a decent sizing range by adjusting the percentage of the final print-out.....

The owner/moderator also has a TON of other patterns that she offers for free (She does specify in her FAQ section that her patterns are for personal home use only though...)

Thanks for this tutorial. Now I can sew up some cute (and totally free) pants!!

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