It’s June and you know what that means - time for some new summer June Pants! I love making this pattern this time of year, that is partly why I named it June! It’s the perfect pattern for breezy summer pants and throw-on-and-go summer shorts. Today I have a new pair of pants and I swapped out the waistband in favour of a simple drawstring waist. I’ll show you how I did it!
We recently shared a roundup of all our June hacks so far. This pattern is very fun and easy to customize and I combined a few different hacks to make these pants. I lengthened the pattern so the pants are full length and I made them a little bit wider/looser. I also straightened out the side seams because I wanted these stripes to stay straight on the sides and not get distorted.
All the information about how to lengthen and adjust the ease on the June pants can be found in this post here.
I used a soft washed linen from Blackbird Fabrics called “concord”. It is so soft and flowy and lovely! I am obsessed with how these pants feel and I never want to take them off!
In this post, I want to show you how to swap out the June pants elastic waistband for a simplified narrow waistband and drawstring finish. This is an easy change to make and the results are very cute! It also makes it even easier to sew and it is a good option when all you have is narrow elastic on hand.
Note: the elastic is optional but recommended. I have experimented with just using a drawstring for the waist of this style of pants and it is not very comfortable. You have to cinch it very tight to prevent the pants from falling down and it does not move and stretch with your body. So when you sit down - ouch! The drawstring digs in. I recommend having both elastic and drawstring or just elastic if preferred,
How to Sew the Drawstring Waist
First we are going to add some height to the rise of the pants to accommodate for us folding the top over when we make our elastic channel. Technically, you could leave the pattern as-is and this hack would still work, but the pants would feel like they had a slightly lower rise. To get the same rise, we are going to add ~1” (2.5 cm) to the rise of the pants. You can do this along the rise lengthen/shorten line or you can do this along the top of the pants, it doesn’t make a huge difference. When you cut out the pants, don’t cut out the waistband pieces but do cut out the drawstring if you want one.
Sew the pants up to step 25. Instead of applying the interfacing to the waistband, apply it to the top center front of the pants on the wrong side. Sew the horizontal buttonholes 1 1/8” (2.8 cm) down from the top edge.
Finish the top edge of the pants with a serger or zig-zag stitch. Press the top edge towards the wrong side 3/4” (1.9 cm). Pin and topstitch the finished edge to the pants, leaving a 5/8” (1.6 cm) channel for the elastic. Leave a gap at the back of the pants to insert the elastic.
Insert the elastic as instructed. Make sure the elastic is not twisted before closing the elastic loop and close the gap in the topstitching. Thread the drawstring through the buttonholes and you are done! No need to topstitch the elastic.
I hope you give this fun and easy hack a try! I love how these turned out and I enjoy that they are comfy as all my June Pants but that they have a bit of a different look. It’s nice to switch things up!
