Jeans or Pants Stay, Part One

Got my camera issues figured out, finally. Thanks to those who shared their helpful ideas. Photos are under control now, able to be edited, and I am smiling again. The really good news is that the camera shop my friend brought my cameras to says one is fixable and won't cost too much. Hooray! I am getting the big guy back! Wahoo!

I am going to show how I did this pants stay in two parts  as it is rather involved. It's not hard, just involved, very doable. The first part will be on making your pattern. Years ago I had a Vogue pants pattern that I got to fit  really nicely and it had this stay in it. I loved how it made the pants fit and feel and used the "stay" trick on any pants I could from then on. Why use a stay? Well, it keeps your pockets from poking out. It holds the shape of the front of the pants really nicely. Many, myself included, feel it has sort of a girdle effect helping the tummy to appear flatter. If you have seen jeans out in the marketplace that claim to make you look slimmer it is because it has a stay in the pants.

Here are my pants fronts. They will get a fly zipper. I am showing these to you as I went round and round on the pattern matching here. THERE IS NONE! I layed the entire piece of fabric out flat on the floor and the only design I saw was one very wide diagonal unit repeating down the straight of grain. The repeat was so large that it took two yards to go from left to right across the fabric. It was an uneven design so there was no mirror matching either. It was hopeless. I decided the best I could do was balance the positive and negative spaces and leave it at that. I am happy. This is how the fronts worked out:

To make your stays for the pants fronts you will first need your pants front pattern. You just need the top of the pants above the inseam. The legs can hang off the table. You will be tracing this  with several layers. You will need tracing paper and a pencil and eraser to deal with the inevitable glitches. 

Tape the top of the pants, above the inseam, to your work surface. You are going to make 4 more pattern pieces. 

 Tape another piece of tracing paper on top of the upper pants pattern. You don't want anything to move and there will be all those layers so the taping is important. First you will trace what will be called the Upper Pocket Lining. You will eventually cut two of those out of lining fabric, one for each side. . Trace the upper pants in pencil and then darken with a sharpie when you know it is all correct. Here you see the center front clearly marked, the red line for the grainline, a 5/8 inch seam allowance at the waistline and a one inch seam allowance at the side seam. The one inch side seam, also on the inseam, is my fit insurance. The bottom edge has some slight curving. . You will often see directions for this edge to have a more pronounced curve. I think a nearly straight edge eliminates any bias stretching on the bottom edge which will increase the tummy flattening factor of the stay. So do just a slight curve on the bottom edge of this piece. You can see the stay stops about a half inch below the zip, right where the crotch curve begins. 

Next, I measure 3 different pair of jeans to see how the pockets worked. I found four inches across the waist and three inches down was my preferred "look". I marked that with a red dot. 

Connect those dots with a curved ruler or shape. This will be the edge of your pocket when done.

Add in a 1/4 inch seam allowance to the edge of the pocket nearest the waistline. Your Upper Pocket Lining pattern is complete. Tape another fresh sheet of tracing paper on top of this one. 

Trace the pants again, this time without the pocket markings. this is the Under Pocket Lining and/or Stay. It will be cut from lining fabric. Again, make sure the straight of grain is marked as well as center front. 

Fourth layer:  This will be the Pocket Facing. It will be cut from your fashion fabric/denim.  You only need to tape down a piece of tracing paper the size of the upper right hand corner of the pants as you see here:

You need a piece large enough to trace the upper right corner of the pants and a deep bottom edge. Mark the pocket edge and seam in red. 

Measure down from the red pocket edge an inch and a half. This insures that no lining will be peeking out of your pockets, just more denim. Add your grainline to this pocket piece. Mine's not in yet on this pic. Here's what your completed piece for the Pocket Facing, layer four, should look like, minus the needed grainline. 

If you are going to have a coin pocket, which I think is so cute and authentic, you need to make one more layer. Pin a small piece of tracing paper over the pocket you just traced. Mark the grainline on the little  pocket and play until you get the placement you want. Mine came out a bit high but there is always a next time to make it better. 

So now you have five layers taped to the table. They are all traced and marked. Straight of grain is on each piece. Each piece will tell you what fabric and how many you need to cut. 

Two Under Pocket Linings from lining fabric

Two Upper Pocket Linings from lining fabric. 

Two Pocket facings from fashion fabric

One Coin Pocket from fashion Fabric

Here are the pieces minus the original pants front pattern.

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A word about the fabric. The Pocket Facing and Coin Pocket will match your pants fabric unless you are pursuing a more creative look. The Upper and Under Pocket linings need to be of a firm fabric, NO STRETCH! I kept picking fabric from the stash that stretched with lycra on the crossgrain. Not good. Only use a firmly woven fabric, a cotton a bit heavier than quilt cotton would be great. Make sure it is pre shrunk. 

Next post I will get into cutting and sewing. Please let me know if you have any questions. I am glad to help. This really looks more complicated than it really is. In the end, this gives really nice support to the pants and I urge you to try the technique. Questions?.....Bunny