Women's Atheltic Wear: Make Your Own Workout Drawstring Pants

You will use these measurements to fit the workout pants to your lower torso.

To fit the legs of the pants you will need to measure:

The inside length of your leg from your crotch to your ankle- this is the inseam.

The outside of your leg from your waist to your ankle- this is your outseam.

The first thing you need to do is to determine how much fabric length you will need by measuring yourself from your waist to the floor and adding 8 extra inches for the drawstring casing at the waist and the hems at the bottom. If you measure 38 inches from your waist to the floor, you will need 46 inches of fabric length for each leg. Decide where you want an elasticized hem in a casing, and if you do, allow 2 inches extra length for each leg. An elasticized hem has the advantage of keeping the pants leg out of the way, but it uses a little more fabric.

Now determine the amount of fabric you will need. You will need to determine both length and width before you can buy your fabric. To determine the widest point that must be fitted, take the largest measurement of your lower torso (waist, stomach or hip) and divide it in half. Is it larger than your thigh measurement? If so, use this measurement to determine the width you will need.If the measurement around your thigh is larger than half the largest measurement on your upper torso, use that measurement.

You will need this amount of width plus at least 3 inches extra width for the two seam allowances and some room to move.For example, if your widest measurement is 19 inches, you will need at least 22 inches of width. If it is 22 inches, you will need 25, and so forth. If you like your pants very loose fitting around the torso, allow four to five extra inches. Remember that if you choose a stretchy fabric, the garment will have some built in ease.

Next we will determine the length needed. Take the longer of the total lengths from waist to ankle, either back or front. Add 6 inches to this number and you have the length of fabric you will need for each leg, including the casing at the waist and the hems at the bottom. For example, if your longest length is 40 inches, you will need 46 inches for each of your two leg lengths.

Finally, we can determine the overall amount of fabric needed. We know how much width we need, and how much length. Now we'll compute how much total fabric we need to make the two legs. Fabric comes in various widths, but the most common widths are 45 inches, 54 inches and 60 inches. If your total width measurement is 30 inches or less, you will be able to cut both pants legs out of one length of material. Similarly if your total width measurement is 27 inches or less, one length of 54-inch fabric will be big enough for both legs. Unless you are quite slim, you will not be able to get both pants legs out of one length of 45-inch fabric. You will need to buy two lengths. Thus a fabric that is 60 inches wide may be a better buy even if it is more expensive per yard, since you will only need one length.

In addition you will want to consider the fiber content of the fabric. Get something that will breathe and wick moisture away from the skin. Cotton knit or sweatshirt fabrics are classic choices for exercise pants. These fabrics are absorbent and stretchy and reasonably priced. Avoid synthetics or cotton and synthetic blends that contain more than 50% synthetic fiber. You'll find them unpleasant to wear for exercise. Don't try to work with high-end synthetic athletic stretch fabrics unless you have experience working with such highly flexible materials. They require different cutting and sewing techniques than those described here.

Be sure to wash and dry your fabric before you work with it. Use the same washer and dryer settings you will be using for the finished garment.Since cotton fabric shrinks, you will want to buy a few inches of extra material so you can wash and dry the material before you work with it. This pre-shrinking stabilizes the material so it won't shrink after you've made the garment.

Now that you have your preshrunk fabric, you are ready to make your pants. You will be designing a pattern to fit yourself, and since you may want to make more pants later, you can to make a paper pattern to keep. You can use newspaper or pattern paper and you will need a tape measure and a marker of some kind. The pattern explained below is a single piece pants pattern with one leg seam along the inside of the leg.

Lay out the paper and at one end draw a horizontal line for the top of the waistband. This line should be as long as half of your widest torso measurement plus at least three inches for seam allowances and ease of movement. The waist measurement you took will NOT be the waist measurement of your pants unless your waist is your largest torso measurement. Remember that these are drawstring pants, and you will need to be able to pull them on over your hips. The drawstring will adjust the fit of the waist.

When you measured your total length front and back, you may have noticed that the front was shorter than the back. If this was the case, make the line drop gently from back to front. If the back is shorter, adjust accordingly.

At the midpoint of the waistband, draw a vertical line from the waist straight down to the ankle. This line should be as long as your outseam plus 2 inches.

At the end of this line, draw another horizontal line across your pattern paper. This is the bottom of your pants leg, plus the extra for your hem.

Now go back to the top section of the pattern. Measure down the line at the center from the bottom waistband line the length of your rise measurement. Mark the length of the rise plus one inch of ease. Draw a straight line across the pattern perpendicular to the horizontal line. This is the bottom of your crotch seam.This bottom horizontal crotch line should be as wide as the widest part of your thigh plus three inches.

Construct the crotch of the pants by drawing a curve from the outside edge of the line that is based on the thigh measurement to the edge of the waist at the top of the drawstring casing. You can use the front and back crotch measurements you took earlier to help you make this line. For most people the back measurement is longer and will have a deeper rounder curve. It may help to look at a pair of pants that fit you well to determine the shape of this curve. As you work, check to make sure that the torso is big enough to accommodate the width of your stomach and hips. If your stomach is bigger than your hips, you will need to widen the pattern at the hips.

Once you have the torso part of the pattern finished, it is easy to draw the legs by drawing a vertical line from the ends of the crotch seams to the line at the bottom of the leg. You can adjust the width of the pants leg by adjusting this line. If you want your pants to be fairly narrow, this line should slope in gradually toward the knee and then fall straight to the ankle. Again, you may find that examining a pair of pants you like will be useful in determining the size of the pant leg.

Now you have a paper pattern for pants with a one-piece leg. If you like, you can also use this pattern to make palazzo or evening pants by using stretch velvet or other dressy fabrics and making the legs fuller. Your pattern includes5/8 of an inch of seam allowance and 1-2 inches of ease. If necessary, trim the extra paper from around the edge of your pattern and get ready to cut out and sew your pants. Fold your fabric in half lengthwise if it is wide enough to cut both legs out of one length. If you have two leg lengths of fabric, fold it in half horizontally. If the fabric has a pattern or nap, cut it in half horizontally and reverse one piece so that the pattern or nap is going in the same direction on both pieces. Pin the two pieces together, right side to right side, and place the pattern on the fabric, make sure the pattern is straight on the fabric and pin it down. Cut it out.

Workout pants sometimes have a gusset in the crotch. This is a diamond shaped piece of fabric approximately 8 inches long by 5 inches wide. This gusset gives additional freedom of movement for martial arts or yoga practice. If you would like to add one to your pants, cut it out now. Make the drawstring tie for your pants out of a length of selvage (the reinforced woven edge of your fabric) finished on the cut side with a zigzagged edge. This tie should be at least twice as long as your waist measurement to allow enough to tie a knot or bow.

Now pin the two fronts and the two backs together, still with the wrong sides out, and sew them together. Reinforce these crotch seams because they will take a lot of wear and tear and stress during exercise. Sew the seam twice, once with a straight stitch and then along the cut edge of the fabric using a zigzag stitch. If your machine has a stretch stitch, use it for the main seam.

Open out the pants and sew the two legs in one long seam, from the ankle at one end up the length of one leg, across the crotch seams and down the other leg. If you are adding a gusset, seam it on to one side first, with the center of the long side at the crotch seam. Then sew the other side as described above, centering the other side of the gusset at the crotch seam. To reduce bulk at the crotch you can press the two crotch seams in opposite directions. Try the pants on and mark the top of the waistband. Make two buttonholes on both sides of the front seam just below the top of the waistband. These are where the drawstring will emerge.

Turn under or zigzag the top of the waistband fabric and fold the casing down on the inside and pin it in place. Sew it in place and thread the drawstring tie through the completed waistband casing by pinning the end of the tie to a large safety pin and working it through the casing.

Now put the pants on again and mark your hems. If you want to have elastic gathered hems, make a casing at the bottom of your pants the same way you made your waistband casing, and insert a length of elastic. Sew or tie the ends of the elastic together, and your pants are finished! Happy workouts!