Adjustable Pants!

It seems trousers are the "it" thing these days, and as someone who always reaches for pants, I couldn't resist. I should also mention I realized I desperately need new pants in my wardrobe, so this make was inevitable. Now, I've had the idea of adding adjustable feature to my waistband ever since I made an adjustable skirt. I really love the idea of being able to wear the same garment with a fluctuating body (because that's the reality of bodies, right?). I have searched the internet for ideas, specifically menswear and historical garments for inspiration. I've seen buckles, elastic, and buttons as part of these adjustable features in men's trousers. And of course, I could not resist my attempt at reverse engineering them - it is part of the fun after all. During my search, I stumbled upon a blog by I want to be a Turtle, and decided to follow their tutorial to make an adjustable waistband on trousers. (Link to their tutorial here). Major kudos to the author, Claire, because it is REALLY difficult to write in a digestible way with few pictures for something that desperately needs to be shown in 3D. I briefly mentioned the construction and fabric review over on Minerva, if you're interested in reading that, the link to Minerva is here

Alright, here is all the nitty gritty details of my sewing adventure. Buckle up, it's a long one!

Changes I made to the pattern

The core concept of the adjustable waistband is essentially two elastic pieces on each side of your body. One stretches as your body needs and another snaps the waistband back when the body no longer needs the extra ease. To accommodate for the adjust-ability, something needs to allow for that movement. The secret is in the pockets, where a slit or opening is cut on the pocket bags.

Inside out view of the front pants. Notice the pocket slits and the covered elastic casing.

Pocket Secrets

Now that we know the key to a moving waistband are pockets, I need to redraft the pockets per the tutorial. And obviously make them deeper for my giant phone. Here, I would advise those who want to try this method to consider how wide your pocket edge at the waist is. You want sufficient space so that the pocket facing is wide enough not to show the pocket bag lining, but also space to put in your slit or opening and sufficient structural fabric (~1" from the edge) to undergo the waistband moving plus weight in your pocket when filled. My pocket bag size was quite small, so I opted for a slit and finished with bias.

Pocket facing and slit location with respect to pocket bag

Unstretched pocket view 

Stretched pocket view. Notice the pocket slit opening up for waistband adjustability

Add V1729 Pant Alterations

To edit a waistband into an adjustable one, I first needed a base pattern and decided on the Vogue 1729. It has a slant pocket, which is the perfect application for the adjustable waistband. Plus, I obsessed over the ankle pleats for the longest time and was really eager to make these using the Top Down Center Out method. I had previously made a sample out of muslin to ensure the fit was accurate, but was hoping to add a little flair to the pattern. The flair was to add a deep pleat into the pants front that would drape down to the ankle pleat. I even made a tiny mockup so I can confirm my pattern hacking decision.

I also drafted a front fly and fly shield to this pattern as the adjustable waistband depends on an opening at center front to allow elastics to adjust on both side seams. That side seam opening has got to go!

Curved Waistband

Next, I made edits to the waistband. The pattern came with a straight waistband, but I prefer a curved one that would fit my body closer and stay without shifting. I made the waistband measurement a tiny bit tighter so that it would stay put on my body, and was banking on the adjustable waistband to accommodate me. With those edits made, I began reverse engineering the adjustable waistband per the tutorial instructions. The tutorial was made for straight waistband, but I can assure you the concept transfers to curved waistbands. I followed the waistband hacking the same as the tutorial except for waistband 3, where an elastic attaches close to the center front and back for the purpose of snapping the pants back together. I opted to enclose the entire elastic because who wants to feel the elastic against their skin?

My fingers are holding onto waistband 3. I chose to fully encase this elastic piece

Top down view of the waistband mechanism.

A major thing here when redrafting the waistband is to take into account the turn of cloth, especially at the openings where elastics are encased above the slant pockets. Also, if you are drafting this waistband for the first time, the tutorial and I both recommend having extra length at the waistband end pieces in case you need it. I find I could use a little EXTRA at the front waistband next to the slant pocket. 

Unstretch pants

Stretched pants

Thoughts on Final Garment

Quite honestly, these pants are turning very much into an experiment when I decided to make up things on the fly. And when you hear "make up things on the fly", that also directly translates into seam-ripped a million times. I quite like the idea of the adjustable waistband, and it does seem to work. The mechanism perhaps could have been simplified into less bulk, if I had not completely encased the front elastic. Attaching the elastic was quite fiddly because I had to ensure I properly position the elastic exactly where I want it. At some point during construction, I was on a mission to reduce bulk and make every raw edge concealed beautifully, so I was definitely experimenting and going off-script - I mean, tutorial. 

The waistband itself was actually quite tight on me - I think I overestimated how comfortable the waistband would be to have a negative 1" ease in order to get the waistband to stay put. That said, I still think having a small amount of negative ease would help the waistband stay. I did wear it around the house for a little while and, as the day goes on, the twill does relax and my body gets used to the tightness of the waistband. I'm also considering adding a welt pocket to the back... my butt just looks so boring! I am still not convinced this balloon-ish shape and the ankle pleats are my style, but I am down to experiment. Shout out to Minerva for supporting this project and allowed me to rediscover my creativity, push my limits, and have some fun (and frustration) in this project. 

There will definitely be more adjustable waistband variations in my future wardrobe. I’m reviewing methods David Page Coffin outlined in his Threads article and book Making Trousers for different adjustable pants prototypes. For those who are not up for mental gymnastics and would rather not reverse engineer this, Cashmerette recently released the Meriam Trousers which has an adjustable waistband. Not sponsored by them, btw! I look forward to trying this pattern to compare the differences!

What would I do differently?

Now, I know some are interested what I would do differently, including future me! Here we go, in glorious bullet points. Hopefully it'll make sense to both you and future me. 

• Instead of the pocket slit or opening, I would move this opening mechanism to the pocket bags joining edge. However, that'll mean needing to redraft the back waistband such that it extends to the full pocket bag.This will also conceal the raw seam on that pocket edge I had to serge.
  
• Reduce the slant pocket to side seam distance. Because the front waist length from center front to my side seam is small already, reducing the distance between the slant pocket and the side seam would allow for more adjustable circumference. I'll shoot for about 1" in my next pair instead of 2"
  
• I'll reiterate again here, when editing your waistband, make sure to account for turn of cloth at the elastic attachments for the front waistband/slant pocket area 
• My existing pattern was drafted in 5/8" seam allowances, cuz Vogue *shrug* I would definitely make the seam allowances smaller so there is less trimming to reduce bulk, especially for the waistband seams. 
• For waistband 3, because I decided to encase the elastic completely, it actually ended up being quite bulky. I think if I move the pocket slit, it is possible to make this elastic even smaller, and should help reduce the bulk. This also means, waistband 3 needs to be redrafted.
  
• I would also construct the waistband separately from the pants as much as possible. I had attached the pants to the waistband too early due to enthusiasm, but it was really hard to navigate the large amount of fabric. 
• After making this initial pair, I've come up with waistband construction steps that I would prefer. These are somewhat simplified, and I would encourage you to reference the original blog tutorial as well to get a sense of their recommended steps. 
  
• Make waistband 3 first, encasing the front elastic
  
• Front waistband: 
• Sew lining and waistband fabric together
• make Spanish snap for the front elastic attachment point
  
• attach the completed waistband 3 at spanish snap
• sew the elastic end that will attach to the back waistband and flip inside out
• attach to pants
• sew down lining
• Back waistband: 
• Sew lining and waistband fabric together
• pre-mark where the slant pocket opening is
• attach to pants
• slip in side elastic from front waistband (note which way it should face) and sew down at/near back darts
• attach waistband 3 at slant pocket opening
• close up lining
• Add a center back seam for future tailoring purposes without needing to fiddle with the adjustable waistband mechanism. This means I have to add a seam at the center back of the waistband and add extra seam allowance at the pants' center back.
  
• Add welt pocket to the back pant, because my butt looks so boring with just a dart. Personal preferences.

I'm sure this is all clear as mud. If you're interested in attempting this method and have any questions, feel free to ask - I can't promise I have the answers, but will be happy to help regardless.