First step is to pick out your fabric. I know joggers are typically made of a sweatshirt like material...but we live in the heart of Florida where even the cold days aren't really all that cold. So I chose a light weight satin-like material for the main pant. Since the skinny pants are made for a woven material you don't HAVE to use a knit for the pants themselves. (Bonus for those of us that have oodles of woven in our stash and are running low on knits!) However, the pant cuffs and waistband DO need to be made from knit. I also opted to do the pockets from the same knit material just to add a little interest. (Have you seen the pocket tutorial?? it's awesome)
When cutting out the pants you need to make them more of a straight leg. Cut out the proper size through the waist/hip/butt and starting down the thigh, but then as the pant pattern tapers you have to just keep going straight down. Do the same thing with the front as well as the back. Make sure to cut the waist down so that you can do the knit waistband and it's not too high up. I initially cut off approximately 1.5" from the waist (as you can see in the pictures below), but then ended up cutting another 1" from it before attaching the waistband. (Here is our yoga waistband modification tutorial)
Once you have both the front and back cut out, put the back to the side and focus on the front for a minute. It's time to cut out the pocket opening. (OR use the Jocole pocket tutorial, linked above). If you have a pocket pattern for this part, GREAT!!! ...I couldn't find mine so I had to improvise. Which, honestly is not that difficult to do. Keep your two front pieces stacked to cut so that they are equal.You want to come down just far enough that it makes a decent pocket opening. About 3/4 of the length of my child's hand is how far down I go. And you don't want the pocket opening as wide as it is long. Then just do a gentle curve cut out similar to the rise curve but angled in towards the center more. (See picture below.)
Then you need to cut out the two pieces for the inside of each pocket. You want the lining piece that you see to come below the pocket opening so that there is room for the hand to rest. (Or for treasures to be held.) And the lining for the part that you don't see needs to be exactly the same size/shape but with the cut out. And don't forget to make them mirror images!
Sew the pocket lining to the pant along the opening curve with the right sides facing together. Repeat with the other side. Turn right side out (so the pocket lining is now on the back/wrong side of the pant and you see the pant part) and top stitch.
Then sew the pocket lining to the other pocket lining with the right sides of those facing together. Repeat with the other side.
Sew together the side seams of of the front and back pieces, then open up and top stitch. Repeat with the other side. (Doing it in this order just makes it easier to top stitch. There's no circle of fabric to mess with!) Then sew together the center rise seams front and back followed by sewing together the entire inseam of the pants.
Next you need to cut out the waistband and pant cuffs.
For the waistband you want to take the measurement for the waist elastic you would use with the regular pattern and instead cut a strip of fabric that wide and twice as tall as you will want the finished waistband. With the right sides together sew up the height of the waistband, then fold over to be ready to attach to the pants.
For the cuffs you want them to be just slightly narrower than the bottom of the pant pattern opening. Remember - the cuffs are made of knit so they are needing to be snug to hold the bottom of the pant in place like a cute jogger pant does. You want to make the cuff twice as tall as you will ultimately want the finished cuff to be. Make sure to cut the cuff on the fold width wise so that you only have one seam along the inseam. Cut out a second one just the same.
Sew the cuff along the length of the inseam to close it up and make a circle. Then fold the cuff in half to be ready to attach to the bottom of the pant leg.
Do a gathering stitch at the bottom of each pant leg and at the top of the waist of the pants. (This is a do as I say and not as I do step. I didn't think about gathering the waist of the pants of mine until I was already starting to sew the waistband on...so I hand gathered as I went...and not very evenly. OOPS! Lesson learned!!) Attach a pant cuff to each pant leg matching up the seam of the cuff to the inseam of the pant. Attach the waistband to the waist of the pants matching up the seam to the center rise seam in the back of the pants. Voila! Adorable joggers!!!
I hope you enjoyed this latest tutorial!! Now go make some cute pants! :D
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