A Weave ALong to make a pair of slacks for adults.

©Hazel Spencer 2019

You will need:

A square pin loom. The size of your choice. I used

the7" Quilt Weaver Square for this project.

Yarn to make a fabric that feels and looks right for a

pair of short pants.

Elastic to fit your waist.

As the usual tools to weave and assemble your project.

I will be using the 7" Quilt Weaver Square for most of this project but will add some

information for using other looms, such as the 4" Multi & other pin looms.

I swatched several yarns but decided on the Lion's Pride Woolspun from Lion Brand which I

bought on sale. Unfortunately it is a discontinued yarn, but LB sells several other bulky yarns

that could be also used. The yarn to use for this project is the one that makes a fabric you like.

Remember it is pants and there will be different strains on that fabric than for a blanket or

even a top. You will probably not want a thin or transparent fabric for pants.

For this first project I will use the square method of assembly. That is, no cut and sew, the

blocks will be used as woven. This will give you a sizing challenge. You will have to weave your

square in your chosen yarn on your chosen loom and measure! It is recommended that you

weave the square then wash and dry as you intend to do the pants and measure again. This

should give you an accurate idea of how to size your project.

My 7" bulky square measures 6". I am not planning to wear these myself (If you know me you

can guess why :-[ ). See the chart for the layout I used. The six 7" squares for mine measure

36" at the waist. The second tier adds one square which is to be "eased" in to fit the three. (3

on each side, the sides being woven & assembled separately and then seamed) The 3rd tier is

also 4. In a finer yarn it may ease with a little less gathers, but the gather's are kinds of cute I

think.

Take your measurements, from waist to hem and also around your waist and hips. From there

you will be able to determine how many squares you'll need to weave to fit yourself. You can

weave this with the Tiny Weaver Square which will give you a square of approximately 3",

depending on your yarn.

If you are using the 4" or even the 6" you will obviously need more squares. The lay-out will

be basically the same. Remember that to make your size you may need more or less squares!

To assemble, sew the squares together in strips, one of 3, two of 4 each. Sew the two 4 square

strips together and run a gather stitch through on long edge.

Pull it up to fit the strip of three and pin in place, smoothing and arranging the gathers to lay

as flat as possible. Stitch in place. Do the same with the other panel.

I added the 2nd tier later, but either way works.

Now you have to take another measurement of yourself. Measure from your waist, or where

you want the waist of the pants to fit on you, & down to the front of your crotch. See the

photo to see what I mean. Don't forget to allow for the elastic

casing!

Put pins on the panel front seam to mark these measurements! Put pins on Both panels! You

will stitch the front of the shorts together from the waist to the crotch pin.

Now you'll need to pin the crotch gusset in place. Pin the square in place from the bottom pin.

On mine it reached to about 2 inches before the hem. Sew it in place. Now stitch the two

panels together from the waist to the last pin, where the gusset starts. Pin in place carefully,

making sure the sides match and sew the front seam, which will follow the gusset, as shown.

It will look like this.

Next is sewing up the back seam. If you are using a zipper remember to leave the seam open

for that, usually 7 -9 inches. Otherwise stitch from the waist to the gusset pin. Now for the

tricky part! Fold the gusset up matching the stars. This will bring the sides up to match the

front seams. Pin & sew in place.

Turn right side out.

Now you have only the casing to fold over & stitch to fit your (I recommend) wide elastic. Cut

that to fit your waist and your shorts are ready to wear. Washing and blocking always

recommended if you can

wait that long!

Madelyn is a very thin Faux Fem so I had to gather the waistline a bit

to fit her. Yours may not be as blousy but I don’t think they look to

bad on her!

A little PS:

From here it would be easy to make long pants as well. If

you make your pants straight down from the waist, you can

just keep adding tiers until you reach the length you need.

You may have to gather the waist a bit more in order to

accommodate your hip measurement. They'll be a lot like

those pants that hospital nurses wear, scrubs. They'll be a bit

baggy but quite comfortable. I have not done this but if you

do I'd love to see them!