How to Sew Maternity Pants
A pregnant belly can expand at a rate that a wardrobe can't keep up with. Instead of spending money on a whole new wardrobe of maternity clothes you will only wear for a few months, make your own from thrift-store pants that fit everywhere but the belly. You can take the pants home and modify them with your sewing machine and some inexpensive fabric that will cost you a fraction of store-bought maternity pants.
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Things You'll Need
- Pair of pants that fit everywhere but in the waist and belly area
- Chalk
- Scissors
- Knit fabric that matches pants
- Straight pins
- Sewing machine
Instructions
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1
Try on the pants. Mark the fabric where the pants stop fitting and your belly begins.
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2
Cut the front of the pants following the chalk line you drew keeping the two sides of the front as symmetrical as possible. Cut the back of the pants right below the top band where the belt loops are attached.
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3
Lay your piece of knit fabric in front of you with the selvage edges on the left and right, not the top and bottom. Cut a strip that is 45 inches wide and 8 inches tall for pants that could be worn into your fourth month of pregnancy and 12 inches tall for pants to be worn after the fourth month.
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4
Wrap the strip of fabric around the bottom half of your belly so it picks up where your pants leave off. Overlap the ends of the band by about an inch and cut off any excess.
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5
Remove the band from around your belly. Unfold the band. Line up the ends of the band and pin them together. Sew the ends together with an inch-long inseam. Remove the pins as you sew. Trim the inseam down to 1/4 inch and fold the band back in half with the inseam on the inside.
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6
Turn the band upside down so the folded edge are now at the bottom. Place the band around the top of the pants, lining up the now top edge of the band with the edge of the pants. Pin the band in place. Sew the band onto the jeans with a 1/2 inch inseam. Remove the pins as you sew.
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7
To complete your maternity pants, flip the band up.
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1
Tips & Warnings
A snug fitting t-shirt could be used as a waist band instead of a separate piece of fabric.
