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This tutorial will show you how to copy a pants pattern from an existing pair of pants without destroying the pants or taking the pants apart.

Prerequisites

To complete this tutorial you should be familiar with How to Duplicate a T-Shirt Pattern & How-to-Sew-Six-Basic-Seams

Instructions

Pants Pattern

Front Leg Piece

  1. Lay down with front piece flat on top
  2. Poke pin waist band of pants
  3. Poke pins along outside seam
  4. Remove pants
  5. Pencil in lines lightly with pencil
  6. Average middle of pants draw a vertical grain line
  7. Get Hip curve
  8. Draw top of hip
  9. Use long ruler to straighten out the outside led
  10. Crotches start straight at the top and then make a J
  11. For inseam, don’t push out too far
  12. Measure inseam, out seam, waist and write measurements on the inside of the pattern
  13. True the pocket void
  14. Side seam is 90 degrees at pocket
  15. Slash pockets straight line
  16. Label down and to the right

Back Pants Piece

  1. Lay pants face down
  2. Smooth out – stretch and smooth the crotch to lay flat – working on the side that has the fly may help to make pants lay flat
  3. Poke pin the waist band
  4. If pants have a back yoke, skip it since it needs to be isolated on its own
  5. Poke pin the crotch J
  6. Remove pants and trace pin lines
  7. Rear crotch J can be an s curve
  8. Measure inseam, out seam and waist
  9. Adjust inseam and out seam to match front
  10. Keep J and waist proportions and placements
  11. Need to add yoke height if it is there
  12. Mark dart locations if present a. Pin the dartline marking the beginning and the end of the dart b. Measure the width of the dart c. Add the width of the dart to each side of the pattern piece when truing the pattern d. Taper the dart width into the side of the pattern about double the length of the dart
  13. To get the full piece you can measure under the inseam and add to the traced seam or you can put a fold in the pants and a fold in your paper, then you can trace both seams
  14. Mark the pocket locations

Further Reading

How to Duplicate a T-Shirt Pattern

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