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I took a class recently on how to draft a pattern by tracing a garment that already exists. You may have seen my mother’s post on the dress that she made in the same class. 

I knew from the get-go that I wanted to make lounge pants for myself. I work from home, so I wear sweatpants or pajama pants all the time. I also got a dog this year, and I’m taking him for five walks a day. I don’t love wearing pajama pants outside, but I was sick of changing into jeans every time I took Fozzie out. 

I wear one pair of pants more than all the others. They’re lightweight cotton, slightly cropped, and super comfortable. They are also covered in unicorns. 

I traced the original pants onto Swedish tracing paper by laying a sheet of carbon paper under the tracing paper and then using a roller-wheel over every seam. This took WAY longer than I thought it would. The pants I traced are old and pretty stretched out. The seams really didn’t want to lay flat, even when I ironed them. I got it eventually, and had a pattern I could work with. 

I didn’t use muslin for a mock-up. I decided to go with a quilting cotton. My reasoning was that I might as well use a cute fabric in case the pants fit on the first try. 

I sewed up the pants and then I was pretty much done! …Except the pants didn’t fit. They were close, but it was a little tight across the hips. I tried to do a squat in them and totally ripped the pants up the butt-seam. Rough. 

I ended up letting out the side seams by 3/8ths of an inch, and that gave me just enough give. Fun fact about making a mockup: don’t do French seams. They’re so nice and so tidy, but if you have to make adjustments, they suck. I’m saying this from experience. 

After letting out the side seams, I was done for real! 

I made one big adjustment that helped them not look like pajama pants. The original pants had a cuff at the bottom of the leg with white piping.

I took out both the separate cuff and the piping on my new pattern. 

It’s a small detail, but I think it makes a big difference. 

(Ignore the little patchwork wedge at the bottom of the leg. I didn’t have quite enough fabric. Oops.)

I’m really happy with how these pants turned out. They fit just like the old pants, but they don’t look like pajamas, so I feel fine wearing them out and about. I’m actually wearing them right now while I write this!