We are back with another maternity pants sewing tutorial! Like with the Avery Leggings, you can easily hack the Nelson Pants into maternity pants. In this hack we will work with the wider waistband piece to make pants that go over the belly. However, for pants that go under the belly—add half the amount of length in step 2 and skip steps 3-4 of the following pattern adjustments.
You will need:
- Front pattern piece (1)
- Waistband pattern piece (3)
- Extra paper
- Pen or pencil
- Tape
- Paper Scissors
Flat Pattern Adjustments
This step is optional. For early maternity stages, it may not be needed, but as your belly grows, having a lower front waistband seam becomes more comfortable.
On the front pattern piece (1), lower the front seam line 1”(2.5 cm) - 2” (5cm). The numbers are based on your personal preference and will depend on your height. There is no need to be precise here—just eyeball it and you can adjust this on your next pair if you need to.
Re-draw the front waistband seam on the front, blending it into the original before the side seam.
You will need two separate pieces for the waistband. Trace the waistband pattern piece onto a piece of paper. The original waistband pattern piece will become the back waistband, and you will need to cut 1 on the fold.
The traced waistband will be your new front waistband piece. Add 8” (20 cm) - 10” (25 cm) in length to it.
Next, you will need to add the amount you took off from the waistband seam of the front pattern piece to the front waistband. Add the same amount to the center top and bottom at the center of the waistband. Draw a new cutting line, curving it back into the original at the side seams.
We are adding a curved waistband seam at the top and the bottom of the waistband because it is folded over in half before it is attached. This means the top and bottom need to mirror each other.
The waistband is folded onto itself and we want that fold to lie flat. To help with that, we will add two notches ½” (1.3 cm) above and below the center of the waistband on both the front and back waistband pattern pieces.
Sewing
Sew the pants following the Nelson instructions until you get to step 6. This is where we will make a slight change in the construction.
With right sides together, pin the front waistband to the back waistband at the notches. Line up the top and bottom edges of the front and back waistbands (at our new notches) and pin them together. The areas between the pins on the front waistband are longer than the back waistband.
When sewing the waistbands together, stretch the back waistband to fit the front waistband between the pins. This will gather the front waistband at the sides.
Continue on to step 7 in the instruction booklet and continue sewing your Nelson Pants as normal.
Make sure to tag us on Instagram when you make these maternity Nelson Pants!
