Today is day 2 of the Emerson short and crop pant sewalong. We are going to assemble the majority of the pants and shorts and prep the waistband for tomorrow. Let's dive in.
Step 8 - Pin one of the front shorts / pants to its coordinating back, right sides touching, along the outside and inner legs. Stitch.
Finish seam allowance in desired manner. I serged the seam allowances. Repeat for other leg. Press seam allowances open for inner leg (or to one side if you serged like I did) and to the back for the outer leg.
Step 9 - Put one leg (right side out) inside the other leg (wrong side out), lining up the crotch seams and notches. Pin and stitch.
Step 10 - Finish the crotch seam allowance in your desired manner, press seam allowance to one side.
Edgestitch the crotch seam on the right side of your shorts, catching the seam allowance underneath. This will keep the crotch seam out of the way and much more comfortable.
Step 11 - Make a bartack through all layers at the stress point where the bottom of the pocket meets the side seam. Here are my sewing machine settings for the stitch, but your preference may be a bit wider or longer zigzag.
The bartack should be about 1/2” long with 1/8” extending towards the back leg and the rest towards the front.
Step 12 - Take one front waistband and sew each narrow side to the narrow sides of one back waistband, right sides touching and matching notches, to form a ring.
Trim seam allowances to about 1/4” to reduce bulk and press open. Repeat with other waistband pieces.
Step 13 - With right sides touching, pin the tops (unnotched edge) of each ring together, matching seams.
Stitch. Trim seam allowance to about 1/4” to reduce bulk.
Step 14 - Press the seam allowance towards the inner waistband (the one without interfacing).
Understitch by stitching through the seam allowance and inner waistband about 1/8” from the seam. Although this is not a necessary step, it really helps keep the inner waistband front peaking out.
Step 15 - Fold the inner waistband towards the outer waistband, wrong sides touching. Match up the notches on the bottom edges of the waistband. Press the fold.
That is it for today. Now the waistband is ready to attach to the pants or shorts tomorrow and we finish them up. Can't wait. Let me know if you have any questions.
You can find the pattern here.