Easy SCA Garb: Pants

1. Make two rectangles, which will be the left and right halves.

   • To calculate the width, start with half the widest part you want to cover, or the circumference of your thigh at its widest point, whichever is larger. Add however much extra you want for comfort, plus about an inch and a half for seams. (Note: if you have very protruding buttocks, you may find it better to make the pants narrower, and add a gusset in the back seam.)

   • To calculate the height, start with the measurement from your waist (or wherever you want the top to be) to your ankles (or wherever you want the bottom to be), including going over the countour of your butt (at least above its widest point). Add however much extra you want for comfort, plus another inch and a half or so for a drawstring tunnel.

2. Also make a diamond of cloth. I am not sure how to figure out the optimum size for this part; six by nine inches on the axes works OK for me. (Yes, it's pretty much necessary; pants Just Don't Fit Right without one, without other more complicated measures. It does make the pattern's concept a bit tricky, but at least it turns a four-way joint into a three-way joint, which is a little easier to sew. However, I am not at all certain whether or not this technique is period.)

3. Subtract half of one axis of the diamond from your inseam. (Frankly, I'm not sure which axis works better. If you have trouble deciding, use a square!) Sew that far up the waist-to-ankle edges of one leg piece, inside out. Repeat with the other leg piece. These seams will be the inseams.

4. Now it gets tricky. Starting where you left off, sew in the two edges of the diamond that straddle the axis you subtracted half of from your inseam. That is, if you subtracted half the long axis, sew diamond in the "long way", else sew it in the "short way". Repeat with the other leg piece.

   You should now have one piece of cloth, that looks like this in the middle:

         \ X/
          \/         L1 = one legpiece
       L1 /\  L2     L2 = other
     ____/D \____    D  = diamond
         \  /        X  = empty space
       L1 \/  L2     __ = inseam
          /\         (should be either all insides
         / X\         or all outsides)

   If you're unclear on the concept, either follow the directions and compare the results to the diagram, or look at some legwear that has a diamond in the crotch. It is very common in sweatpants.

5. Sew one of the X spaces together the rest of the way to the end. This will be the back.

6. Sew the other X space almost to the end, stopping about an inch and a half short. This, of course, will be the front.

7. Fold about an inch or so to the inside (i.e., what will eventually be the inside) and sew it down, to make a drawstring tunnel. (Hint: make this a rolled hem, to prevent fraying.) Thread a drawstring thru there (via the space you left unsewn).

8. Turn it outside out.

You're done! Hem, trim, embroider, etc. as desired.

Variations:

• Instead of a drawstring tunnel, sew on points. These can be done as follows:
  1. Take a piece of cloth about eight inches long by about an inch wide.
  2. Sew it into a tube, inside-out.
  3. Sew one end shut, with the seam in the middle of a side.
  4. Turn the tube outside-out.
  5. Sew it in place, with open end tucked under and seam towards pants.

• Instead of adding room for a drawstring tunnel, add on a few inches on which to sew beltloops. However, as far as I've been able to determine, belt loops as we know them are Not Period... with one exception. To quote email from Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn (Heather Rose Jones):

  I don't believe I've seen anything really corresponding to "belt loops" in the medieval period -- the same function tended to be filled by "points" (i.e. ties that attached the leg-wear to the upper body garment or to a belt worn under the body garment. Pictures of underpants (braies) seem to be best interpreted as having something closer to a drawstring casing.

  There is _one_ pre-medieval garment I'm aware of that has belt-loops -- the "Thorsbjerg trousers" from a ca. 5th century burial in Denmark. (See e.g. Margarethe Hald's "Clothing and Textiles from Bogs and Burials" for details.) Here, a half-dozen or so loops are sewn to the waistband of a set of footed trousers and appear to be functionally equivalent to the modern item.

  Beltloops can be done as follows:

  1. Take a piece of cloth about four inches long by about one inch wide.
  2. Sew it into a tube, inside-out.
  3. Turn the tube outside-out.
  4. Sew it in place, with ends tucked under and seam towards pants.

• Ankle drawstrings.

• Pleats (tho some styles may or may not be period).

• Tapered legs.

• Though pockets are handy, TTBOMK they are very very late period, and even that is mainly the "bag attached on the inside" type, not the much easier "patch" type.