DIY Two-Tone Pants

The other day I was sitting on the train going to work and I had a flash of sewing genius. I’ve made a two-tone sweater by cutting apart two cardigans and stitching them back together, but why haven’t I done this with pants? So after work I bopped over to the Forever 21 and H&M in SoHo to try and find two identical pairs of pants in the the perfect color combo. I didn’t want to choose colors that contrasted too much (blue+orange, red+green, purple+yellow) for fear that I’d look like some Harlequin-like character, so I decided to go with cobalt and navy.

Some cool Upper East Side steps. <3 To make the two-tone pants you need: -Pants (I used these pants from Forever 21.)
–Seam Ripper
-Sewing Machine (This is mine. I love it so much.)
–Pins

To start, you need to rip out all of the seams that connect the two legs together. This gets a little tricky up at the top near the waistband, but just be careful and take it apart stitch by stitch. (You might have to take off one of the belt loops, but you can sew it back on later.)

If you use a pair of pants with a front zipper, you can just cut an opposing “J” about an inch below the zipper. You’ll just match the opposing sides up later.

Then you need to match up the seams on the different pant legs. I found that it was easiest to first stitch the back waistband in place and then stitch the front “J” that you cut, and then match up the rest of the seams for the pant legs.

Since I don’t have a serger, I stitched a zigzag stitch to strengthen the seams between the two pant legs. I also stitched the pockets shut on the pants so that the pants would lie nicer when you’re wearing them. I *hate* how trouser-like pants have pockets that buckle out. 🙂

And that’s it!

I can already tell these pants are going to be well-worn and well-loved. Good thing I have another two pant legs to use on another project. 🙂