Clover and Elm: Track Pants

I've seen lots of track pants floating around Pinterest. For months I've been eyeing them, dying to have a pair myself. Today we picked up my wonderful sewing machine! She runs like a champ! So in all the excitement, I threw together a quick refashion, and I am in love with it! Can you guess what I made? If you answered 'track pants' you are a genius...(or you obviously knew where this was going from the title of this post). Wanna see what transpired today? Check it out!

1.) These pants my grandma gave me were way to big in the bum region. I turned the pants inside out, and folded them in half, making sure the little point near the crotch was facing out and not tucked into the pant legs.

2.) After that I grabbed a pair of skinny jeans and left them right side out. These pants will be used as the pattern. In the picture you'll notice I lined the pants up along the straight part of the pant leg. Doing that gives me the freedom to mark where I want my new seam on the curved side.

3.) Trace a new line with chalk (if you want. I just eyeballed it.), and pin from the crotch all the way down to the hem of the leg. Repeat on both legs, making sure to not pin the two legs together. That would be disastrous. When I sewed, I followed the inside 'bump' my pins made between where the needles are inserted and where they pop up. Doing this creates extra space so your pants aren't skin tight, or too small when you try to put them on later. (Confused? Check the picture).

4.) Now you have a new seam, so it's time to cut away the extra fabric. But before you even think about that step, slip your pants on while they are still inside out, and see if they need to be altered at all. If not, go ahead and take them off. Cut away the extra fabric, making sure to leave 1/4 inch fabric from the seam (I've marked it in the picture). Zig zag, or serge the raw edge you just cut to keep it from fraying.

5.) With the pants still inside out, I flipped the bottom hem up, and pressed it with my iron. (Not pictured: Measure two piece of elastic to fit snugly around your ankles, mine were about 4 1/2 inches long. Sew the elastic closed so it creates a circle).

6.) Place the elastic onto the pant leg near the hem you just pressed, and stick the elastic into the fold, so that it is covered up. I used the thinner edge of my ironing board to help me stretch out my elastic, which was much shorter than my pants. That's what you want.

7.) You can see in the picture that I've started pinning the hem over the elastic, but only at the top. There is about 1/4 inch gap between the elastic pressed against the bottom and the rim. When pinning the elastic in place, you really aren't pinning the elastic. What I mean by that is you have to pull on the elastic so it stretches wide enough to fit against the fabric. Then you take your pin, and get it right in that little rim of space. You'll have to pull and stretch as you go, pinning pretty close together so that when you sew, there aren't big bubbles of fabric.

8.) Now it's time to sew! I pushed my needle all the way to the left, running it along the rim of my hem. While you are sewing, pull your fabric and elastic. I promise it will snap back once you're done. And that's all she wrote!