I just wanted an excuse to carry around one of my instruments this Halloween, so I decided to make Lederhosen and go as a member of a polka band.
No pattern? No problem!
Took my favorite pair of shorts that fit me really well and turned them inside out. Stuffing one leg inside the other.
I tapered the legs a bit cause I wanted them slightly more fitted. Also made them plenty long on the bottom so I could have a 2 inch cuff below the knee
Cut 2 front and 2 back. leaving room for a seem allowance.
NOTE: Always cut BIG. You can trim it down later if you need to, but you can't always add fabric
Sew the legs together by sewing one front to one back with right sides together. (you can tell the front from the back cause the back piece will have a deeper curve for the crotch piece. Or you can make them uniform...it's just a costume after all :)
I cut mien too small. I could put them on, but they were SUPER tight, so I added a 2 inch strip down the out side. Which I ended up liking better anyway. :)
Now turn one leg right side out and one inside out. Stuff the right side out leg into the inside out leg.
Line of the crotch pieces and pin together starting with the middle first so your in seems line up
Since I cut them straight at the top and a waist line is curved, I put them on and folded over where I wanted the waist band to go. Pined it down and then cut along the fold.
To make them more fitted and less like sweat pants I put them on inside out and marked where I wanted the darts in the back (which by the way is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to do by your self). I I got a general idea of shape, placement, and size by looking in the mirror and then just eye balled it.
I looked adn measured before I sewed to make sure the darts were straight and centered. And I got it just right. Whew!
Then I moved on to the embroidery. My mom has an Embroidery machine, so my plan was to go over and use it. Well....plans changed, she has been sewing like crazy getting ready for a wedding, so I had to go another route.
I drew up what I wanted it to look like with the help of Google Image search
Then cut out around the shaped and traced them with a pen on my fabric, then I just filled in the lines when I took the paper off free hand.
Then I put in some nice orange thread and just sewed over the lines I had drawn...making it up as I go at some points :)
Then I put the arrow shaped ones on the pants to mark where I needed to cut
Right sides together I sewed the back on the arrow parts, then turned them right side out and dud a top stitch all the way around
Did the same with the rectangle piece, but I left the bottom open so I could sew the arrow pieces into it.
Then I had to zig-zag stitch all around the waist and fly to keep it from unraveling, and added the waist band. It was just a long strip the length of my waist and about 4 1/2 inches wide. Then I put a top stitch on for decoration and to hold everything down.
Place the arrow pieces on and sew them toe the flap of the fly
Then I did a totally unnecessary decorative stitch to accent it
Slip the arrow pieces in the rectangle piece and sew them together with a top stitch going across the bottom of the rectangle.
I added the suspenders next, making sure they were loose enough so I could bend over. I sewed them on, then added the buttons. Only one is actually useful the one on the waist band. All 12 of the others are purely decoration. And with 13 buttons I'm SO glad I learned how to do it on my Machine. If you haven't done it yet, pull out your manual and try it! It's SO easy and saved so much time.
I ended up using velcro to keep the fly up cause I sewed the button holes in too high, but it works great.
See, the buttons totally make this costume.
Lederhosen has buckles on the straps. I didn't have buckles but I did have some D loops that fit, so I threw them on just for kicks.
NOTE: I don't ever throw a bag or belt away with out first ganking off all the straps buckles hooks or any other hard ware I can find. It comes in handy!
...now I just need to learn how to yodel...
