Thread: Making Harem Pants

I have a pattern for Harem pants.

Well, let me rephrase that. I've made harems before, and I know the basic shape one needs to cut out the fabric. The only problem: Every pair I've made in the past I've made casings and used elastic.

I know that in many circles that is frowned upon. I bought some beatuifil sari fabrics and I'd like to make them into more "formal" harem pants. As such, I'd like to ditch the elastic and use cording instead.

But I can't figure out how that works. Would I simply insert cord into the case like I would have with elastic? I think I'm going to have to make button holes so that there is a space for the cord to come through, which seems fine for the waist, but would I use this technique at the ankles, too? Can you achive a tight enough cuff at the ankle without elastic to get the pants to blouse nicely?

And what sort of cord would I use?

Thanks!

I don't see anything wrong with using elastic, and I don't see how using a cord would be somehow "better". I do use drawstrings instead of elastic when the fabric is too heavy for the elastic to hold up (for example, brocade), but otherwise I like elastic. I use the non-roll kind.

I don't think I'd want cording at the ankles - too likely my toe would catch in the loop of the knot and I'd trip on them!

You can use either a cording drawstring or grosgrain ribbon as a replacement for elastic if that's the way you want to go. For cording, buy enough to leave ends you can tie in a knot. For grosgrain ribbon, buy enough to overlap by about an inch, and then use a hook & eye set to secure it when you put the pants on.

In the pants I'm wearing in the picture below, I gathered the legs of the pants to a cuff. The cuff is about an inch wide:



To make the cuffs, I cut two pieces of fabric, each a width of 3 inches and a length long enough to loosely go around my ankle + 2 inches. I put some sequin trim on them, leaving 1/2 inch from the edge untrimmed because that would be the seam attached to the bottom of the leg.

In sewing the inner leg seams of the pants, I left about 4 inches at the bottom of the leg unsewn, to ensure I'd be able to get my foot through when I put them on. I turned under the raw edges of the unsewn part to make it a short slit.

I gathered the bottom edge of the pants up to the cuff and sewed it down, then I folded the cuff in half along the width and sewed the inside of the cuff down to hide that seam. I used hook and eye to close the cuff.

Sorry, it's hard to describe this without diagrams. I hope it helps!

Ohh, the cuff is a neat idea. I'll have to try that out.

I like to put cording into my tribal skirts waists -
but I "double" cord them, like you'd see in the top of a cinched gift bag.

There's a set of ends coming out on each side. If you put a toggle on them it will stay nice and snug (unlike knots) and lets you quick-release when you're done, great for fast costume changes.