Sewing the Marigold jumpsuit or trousers? In the previous post we stitched the trouser darts, pleats and pockets. Today I'm going to show you how to sew the legs together. It's a short and sweet one!
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Place each front trouser leg on top of its matching back trouser leg, with the right sides together. Pin them together along the inside legs and outside legs (marked on the pattern if you're not sure), matching up the top and bottom corners and the notches. I like to pin at right angles to the fabric edge, the pin heads sticking out, so I can easily whip them out as the fabric is going through the sewing machine.
For those of you who are pretty new to sewing, it's worth mentioning that the fabric pieces aren't supposed to lie completely flat on top of each other. The front and back legs are slightly different widths and shapes, just as your front and back legs are different shapes! Just line up the raw edges and pin them together. If you've sewn a few things before, this will seem obvious to you, but we do get quite a few emails from my book readers asking why the Margot pyjama legs don't lie flat on top of each other :)
Stitch the seams you've just pinned - remember, 15mm (5/8in) seam allowance, back tacking at each end. Don't stitch the crotch curves just yet though.
Trim the seam allowances (as usual, to about half their width), and finish them with zigzag stitch or an overlocker. Now press the seam allowances towards the back trouser legs, on both wrong and right sides of the fabric.
Okay, now we're going to sew the two trouser legs together at the crotch curve. To place them right sides together, turn one leg right side out, and slip it inside the other leg, which is wrong sides out. Line up the crotch curves and pin them together along this seam, matching up the top of the inside leg seams, the tops of the trousers and the notches.
Important note if you haven't made trousers before - you're just pinning 2 layers together, not 4! The front leg to the front leg, the back leg to the back leg.
Stitch the crotch curve all the way round from one top edge to the other. When you get to the top of the inside leg seams, check the seam allowances are still folded towards the back leg before you sew over them. (It's so annoying when they accidentally fold the other way!)
To avoid any awkward wardrobe malfunctions - especially if you plan to do yoga or the can-can in your Marigolds - it's a good idea to reinforce the lower curve of the crotch seam with an extra row of stitches. You can sew directly on top of the first stitches or just inside the seam allowance.
This is what the stitched crotch curve should look like.
Now you can trim the seam allowances, finish them, and press them either open or towards one side.
And that's how to sew the trouser legs together! In the next post we'll start sewing the waistband, and also start on the bodice for those of you doing the jumpsuit version. Stay tuned...
This post is part of the Marigold sewalong. Order your pattern and catch up on previous posts.
