DIY Tie-Side Pants & Crop Top Tutorial (No Pattern!)

Summary

Grab a bed sheet and a little string, because we're making a whole two-piece outfit — no pattern, no zipper, no crying. In this beginner-friendly sewing tutorial I walk you through every cut and every seam (and every screw-up) for a pair of tie-side pants with built-in pockets and a matching boxy crop top. It's cozy, it's flowy, and yes — if you've got a sewing machine and a bed sheet, you can make this today.

• The pants: wide legs, a drop crotch, a single-channel waistband with buttonholes and two ties so they fit you perfectly — plus pockets built right in.
• The top: basically a 20" x 20" rectangle with a little neck facing and hemmed edges. That easy.
• Only two measurements needed: total length (waist to floor) and the widest part of your lower body — then add about 6 inches for flow and gather.
• Tools: good fabric scissors (not for paper, damn it!), matching-ish thread, and a sewing machine. A straight stitch and a regular presser foot are truly all you need.

Transcript

Hi. Hello. Are you ready to make this cute set with me? Too bad you're gonna. And let me tell you, this is such a simple project and it is super cozy. Look at all that flow. Look at the motion. You see the pockets? So, let me tell you what you'll need, how they're made, and how you'll get there. Okay, let's go. These pants have wide legs, kind of a drop crotch, a single channel waistband with button holes on the sides, and two strings to go and make them fit you perfectly. They also have pockets that are built right in, a baggy crotch, and super loose legs for kicking and dancing. The top is basically a rectangle with some facing and hemmed edges. It's that easy. And here's all you'll need to get started. Scissors. Good fabric scissors. Don't use these scissors on paper, damn it. You'll also need that. They're the appropriate size for your project, and thread, probably matching, maybe not. And of course, tada, your sewing machine. You can do this whole project with a straight stitch and your regular presser foot, but you'll see me using the overcast foot and overcast stitch and this straight stitch foot with a straight stitch. But again, a regular foot is totally fine. You don't need anything special. Enough yapping. Let's start cutting.

Okay. Hell yeah. So, cutting is actually my very least favorite part of sewing. And I will do anything to reduce the number of cuts I have to make. So, here you see me taking this extraordinarily long piece of fabric and folding it into quarters so that I can cut once instead of four separate panels. This takes probably double the time it would take to just cut it in half at least. But alas, I am who I am. If you don't have a very, very long piece like I do, you'll probably need to start with two pieces or maybe even four. But that's okay. You can do this. Uh, let's speed things up a bit. Here I am tracing out the measurements that I plan on using. I have it all kind of memorized what I need for myself, but I'm also going to put it on the screen so you can see what you need to do. You really only need to know two of your measurements to make these work. You need to know the total length you want them to be from your waist to the ground. And you'll need to know the measurement of the widest part of your lower body. So, if that's your hips, you'll use that as your base. If it's your waist, you'll use that. If it's your knees, I guess that's weird, but okay. Uh, use those. But you're going to need to know that measurement plus about six inches so that you can have optimum flow and some gatheredness happening when you tie them. I used 15 in for the waist, 14 in for the rise. I cut 4 in deep and then a little curve for the crotch depth. And then I knew I needed my pants to be 43 in total. And I needed to add two inches for the bottom hem and four inches for the top, which brought me to 49 in total. I hope that math is right. After that, trace it all on, cut it all out, and then you are just about ready to start sewing.

But before you sew, you're going to need to open those pieces up and pin them cute sides kissing around the U-shaped cross. If you had to use four separate pieces when you were cutting, you'll first need to sew like a back and front together by the inside seam to get this U shape to happen. But here I am pinning the crotch into place before taking it over to my sewing machine to sew this U just right around. Over at the sewing machine, I'm going to use my overlock stitch and I'm going to check my needle type to make sure I have the right one in for the fabric I'm using. shout out. So, remind me for always helping. I am putting on my overcast stitch foot guy. I am changing out my needle and I'm getting ready to sew this ding-dang crotch. Put in a universal. I think I used like a 90. I could have used an 80. It's fine. Look at that. Threaded the needle on the first try. Shout out me. Make sure those thread tails are pulled all the way toward the back so they don't bunch up. It also helps if you pull those during the first few stitches. When you go to use your overcast stitch, you got to make sure you have it set wide enough so you don't break the needle because it will hit that center plate and [ __ ] your whole day up. When you're using the overcast foot, I like to keep the edge of the fabric on the inside of that little wall. It's a great way to make sure you're staying even the whole way down and it creates a nice finish. Then you're going to lay them down and open them up and you'll see pants. Then you flip them inside out. Cute sides kissing. Line up all of those edges and get ready to do a straight stitch down each side from top to bottom including the pockets. So you're going to go down and then around the pocket and then all the way back down. And then you flip them over and do the exact same thing on the other side. starting at the waist and all the way down. When you're done with that, you're going to open them up, flip them back the right way, and exclaim pants. I made pants. But we're not done yet. We still need to finish the waistband, make the ties, and finish the hem at the bottom. Wee.

So, here I am pressing my waistband into place. I have folded it over 2 in, and then I folded it over 2 in again, and I'm just pressing the [ __ ] out of it. This makes it easier to know exactly where the button holes should go, which is our next step. My machine has a button hole maker, so I'm going to show you it that way. So, if you don't have one, you might have to look up how to sew on a button hole. All right, for mine, I go to menu two. It is number 17. So, I type that in. I go 217. All right, let's go. Meet the button hole presser foot. You pull this back portion out and you set a button in it and then it makes the hole the right size. if you don't have a button because you're just making a hole. You can make it whatever size you want. Mine is set to do like an inch or so. You're gonna pull the thread through the bottom and out the back like always. And then you're going to pull down a lever. It's the second one if you have my machine. And you're going to put it in between those notches right behind the first one. Then you line up your fabric. Where you want the bottom of the hole to be is where you start, if that makes sense. So, right now, that is going to be the bottom of the button hole. And it just does it itself. Look at it go. Uh, here's another view. So nice. So easy. Also, quick heads up, the way that I'm doing this, it's going to put the ties on the inside. If you want your ties to be on the outside of your pants, you're going to do it on the single bit of fabric, one step below. So instead of on this fold where I'm making the hole, you would actually do it about 2 in lower where it only goes through that one single layer. Then you use your snips to cut open the center of the button holes. And you're going to also want to trim those threads. Now it's time to make the ties. I'm putting on a show. Like I'm actually measuring the appropriate length for the ties. But in the end, I just cut four strips of fabric that were about 2 in wide. I sewed two of them together and then the other two together to make it be two extremely long pieces. And then here's what you do. You sew the short side of one with the cute sides kissing and then all the way down the long side. Once you finish your ties, you are going to flip them right side out using a loop turner or whatever you've got. And then you're going to that short end together, too. When you finish your ties, you're going to bring them over to your iron and you are going to press the [ __ ] out of them using steam. Make them nice and flat and even before we move on to our next step. Now, it's time to insert the ties. And here's how they work. Each one goes through one button hole and then wraps around and comes back out that same button hole. So, you'll do it for one first and then the other. The strings want to get tangled. You kind of got to finesse it a little bit, but once you get them through. Almost. Almost. There we go. Oh, see it's kind of annoying. But once you get them through there, you're going to fold over that waistband right on top. Your strings should only be around an inch wide, and you're having a 2-in fold over the top, so you should have plenty of room. But when you get back over to your sewing machine to do a straight stitch all the way down, make sure you're pushing the fabric out of the way on those ties so they don't get stuck in the middle and, you know, won't be able to tie. Uh, here I go. Just zooping along. I'm using that little flathead screw as my guide to keep it straight. And then before you know it, you're all done. And works like a charm. Hell yes. But I actually lied to you. You're not done. Because you know what you have to do next? You have to press your waistband. You knew it was coming. Get it nice and flat. Hot iron. Lots of steam. Nice flat finished. I hope you also pressed open your seams as you were going. Now the hem. I should have done this at the same time. I'm using my fingers to decide where it should be. I measure to the first knuckle. Pull. Flip. And then pull. Flip again. and then steam press it into place, making sure that those raw edges are tucked under. And then I hold it against the other one. Make sure they're even, and straight stitch all the way around. Then do the other leg. Oh, mother hecker. [ __ ] empty bobbin ass. And then you're going to change your bobbin because inevitably it will run out of thread. So, let's get that bad boy back in business. all wound up. This could be ASMR, but it's not. Make sure your bobbin goes in like a P, not like a Q. Make sure you do it right. Finish up that other leg. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. We did it. We made some pants. Look at them go. They look so nice. We're so excited. Put them on your body. See how they fit. They're delightful.

All right, time to make the top. The top is pretty much just a rectangle. Here I am trying to fold it into quarters. You know, I hate cutting, so I'm going to do it the least I can. So, I'm going for a shirt that's 20 in by 20 in. With it folded in quarters or halves, I'm going to cut 4 in x 4 in in that top corner curved. That'll be half of the neck hole. Then, I'm going to cut down 2 in at an angle from that neck hole to give myself a shoulder drop. Measure 9 in down from there and cut into it one inch. That's what's going to separate your side from your sleeve. And I want it to be a total of 20 in long and 10 in wide here because it's going to open up and be 20 by 20. Once she's all cut out, I'm going to flip her inside out and then zoop down the side seams. And my phone died. So here's what those side seams look like. Also straight stitch down the shoulder seams. Then double fold the bottom and make a nice straight stitch hem. My phone died again, so you're just gonna have to imagine. But now it's time for neck facing. As with most things, there's probably an easier way to do this than the way I do it, but you're learning the way I do it. So I lay my top on top of some fabric, and I trace around the neck hole and then about three inches on either side. If the back is different from the front on the one you made, you'll need to trace separately. But because I made the front and back identical, I'll be able to use two of the exact same piece. Now, I'm cutting out that line that I drew so I can get a better idea of what I'm working with. And I'm going to give myself about 2 3 in all the way around. So, I'm cutting off that excess excess excess following the same curve as the top of the piece. Then I'm getting another piece of fabric and folding it in half and then just cutting out half because then it's symmetrical and it involves less cutting. Open them up. Satisfied with my little U's here. Take the shirt cute side out. Put the cute side of the neck facing and pin it around the edge. Then do it on the back side. Same thing. Bring it over to the machine. I'm reminding you that you want to sew as close to the edge as you possibly can, but you also want to make sure that you're getting both the facing and the neckline attached in this step. That's called foreshadowing. So, now we're back over to the iron where we are going to press the facing into place. We flip it around and realize, oh, we didn't follow our own instructions. So, we get these little guys fixed and then we're back over here. We've got it inside out. But we've steamed it down flat. Now we are turning it the right side. Putting that neck facing back in. And my phone died again. So what you missed next is me top stitching a centimeter from the edge. And then doing another top stitch about a centimeter below that. And I also stitched together the front and back of the facing to the shoulder seam so they wouldn't flip floop around. Dag nab it. I forgot to hit record for a minute. So, what you missed is cutting two pieces of fabric that are 2 in wide and the same length as your arm holes. You are going to fold those in half like a hot dog, cute sides out, and then press. Then, you are going to attach the raw edges of that to the raw edges of your sleeve using a straight stitch or an overcast like I did. From there, you're going to open it up, press it again, and then we're going to do a thing called stitch in the ditch, which is a top stitch in that seam line there. I switched my presser feet out for this to a straight stitch presser foot. That just kind of helps me focus and keep that line straight. And then it's just all the way around. Then you'll do a quick zoop around the other sleeve and trim any loose threads. Make sure there's no holes. And that's it. You freaking did it, baby. I'm so proud of you. Now go make some more [ __ ] you amazing weirdo.

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