If you own a pair of lace leggings you’d probably understand my obsession with wanting a pair of lace flares. They’re just so fantastic but I haven’t been able to find them through many retailers. The best part of this tutorial is that you don’t need to have a leggings pattern laying around, you just need an old used pair to refer to! You don’t need to be a pro to create these but it will be a bit more tricky for novice sewers. As a tip, it is super beneficial to try deconstructing a pair of leggings before creating your own to gain an understanding of the steps it takes to construct a pair of leggings from scratch.
What You’ll Need
- Stretch lace in any color, $8.00-$10.00/yard. About 1.5 metres in length and 60 inches in width. Varies depending on your height. You will need to make sure that the lace stretches about the same amount as the leggings that you’ll be copying.
- Old pair of leggings, $5-$10. Can be your favourite worn out pair or even a pair from the thrift store.
- Elastic (optional because you can use the elastic from the old pair of leggings), $3/metre. My leggings came with a white elastic and I didn’t want to use that with my black lace.
- Pins
- Ruler
- Fabric scissors
- Seam ripper or small thread snipping scissors
- Serger or a sewing machine that can sew zigzags. You might want to test your machine on the lace and adjust settings accordingly.
DIY Flared Lace Leggings Tutorial
[ DECONSTRUCT ] – This step will vary depending on your leggings but the ones used in this tutorial are quite standard. First, remove any clothing labels, if possible. Cut the cover stitching (the stitching that looks like 2 rows of stitching from the outside but looks like a crazy zig zag stitch on the inside) off of the waistband of the leggings with thread cutting scissors or a seam ripper. Carefully lift up the folded down flap of the waistband, revealing the elastic. Next, cut off the serging that is holding the elastic to the fabric. Pick off the bits of threads and toss them out. Cut the overstitching off the ankles. Cut the serging off the leg seams as well as the crotch seams.
[ LAYOUT ] – Lay out the stretch lace with the right side facing up (if there is a right and wrong side). Take one pant leg and lay it on the lace, make sure that the greatest stretch goes across the leg and not up and down the leg. If the pattern piece has a crease down the centre, make sure that the crease is parallel to the edge of the lace. If there is no crease, line the ankle of the pattern piece up with the adjacent edge of the lace. Don’t forget to leave room for the bottom of the legging. You will need to alter it for the flare, minimum 5" per side of the ankle. When you are satisfied with the placement, pin the edges of the legging pattern.
[ MEASURE ] – Determine where the knee is. Mine was about 13.5" from the ankle. Mark it with a pin on both sides of the leg.
[ MEASURE FLARE ] – Measure from the edge of the ankle 5" or greater. At this point, I recommend adding about 5" or more to the length since flares are most likely to be worn with heels. Mark with pin, repeat on either side.
[ CUT ] – Start cutting out the lace starting at the top and stop where you have marked your knee. Now cut a curved line towards the ankle pin. Fold the pattern piece in half and copy the curve that you just cut. When you have cut out your entire leg, take the fabric and flip it (right side facing down). Take the cut out leg and reposition it the same way you positioned the first leg. Pin the pattern piece down and cut around to copy a mirrored version of the first leg.
[ SEW ] – Take both pant legs and place right sides together, wrong side up and wrong side down. Pin the curved edges. Serge or sew pinned edges. Do not flip the right side out, pin the edges of the legs together to create the leg seam from one ankle to the other. You’ll know you’ve done it correctly if your leggings look like inside out leggings at this point. When everything is pinned, start from one ankle and serge or sew from one ankle straight to the other.
[ SEW ELASTIC ] – If you are using the waistband from the old leggings, make sure that it is the size that you need it to be. If it is too big now is your chance to resize it. If it is too small, you can make a new waistband.
[ FINISH ] – Take the elastic and serge or sew it to the edge of the top of the leggings. Make sure that the elastic is on the wrong side of the leggings before you start to sew it on. When you have gone around and sewn the elastic on the leggings, fold down the elastic and top stitch the elastic with a straight or zig zag stitch. The final step is to finish the ankles. You can serge the raw edge so that it does not fray or you can fold it up about ¼" and top stitch it with a straight or zig zag stitch.
Thanks for reading! Are you gonna try this DIY? Tweet us a photo @everybodyisugly
by Samantha of lipglossandblack
Photos by Syl and Sam
