How to make your own appliqué pants

How to make your own appliqué pants.

Last month I posted some photos on social this project I was working on. I got so much interest on it that I decided to do a blog post about it. 

I have always loved fashion and creating a unique look for myself, part self expression, part protective suit of armor. Yes it was a way for me to be creative and since I am a shy person by nature, to wear something creative helps me navigate socially with more ease.  Anyways, there is a huge trend now, thanks to Magnolia Pearl, but there are many other brands out there doing this such as Free People and R13. The cost for such items is pretty pricey, but I have a sewing machine and a pair of Free People barrel jeans that I love; I could make my own.

The appliqués on these items are primarily florals with some cute little animal prints. I started to look on Etsy for some Chintz style prints; medium to large floral designs. I also found some cute animal prints. I will have links to some of these shops at the end. But I decided to go check out Hobby Lobby and found several prints I liked. You can also check out upholstery fabrics.

Now you can machine stitch the appliqués onto the jeans or you can do some hand stitching or a little of both. When using a sewing machine it really helps to take out the inseam of the pants so you can lay the fabric out flat, much easier than trying to sew with the pants in tact.

To cut out the appliqués I spread the fabric out and looked for motifs within the print. Just cut around the desired section leaving a little space around them to stitch. Now comes the creative part……creating a composition. Take your time with this because it will really make a difference to have a nice flowing composition and not just a patchy layout out that can get quite busy. I didn’t feel I needed to appliqué much on the back but I did want the design to wrap around to the back and have a few pieces showing.

After you are satisfied with your design, pin everything down. I wanted instant gratification, so I machine stitched everything. I have since went back and started to do some hand stitching which will continue for a long time. Whenever I find myself in front of the tv I will grab my jeans and just start stitching but I have been wearing them and love how they look and feel.

This is a great project to do with a dear friend, which is what I did. It really is wearable art that looks cool and contemporary. O.k. now I must get back to painting but have fun with this!

Here is some fabric I used that I bought from Hobby Lobby and how I cut out motifs from it to create appliques

Regarding the jeans, use a seam ripper to open up the mid seam. Makes it much easier to sew in the sewing machine flat

I have been wearing them but still keep stitching them from time to time. A life long project!