Style Arc Kew Pants --Step-by-Step Construction in Pictures

I have lost count of how many times I have sewn this pattern because I love the silhouette so much! There was a lot of head scratching the first time because of how confusing the instructions were even with the accompanying illustrations. But subsequent versions were a breeze as I had my notes to refer to. I decided to take pictures of each step as I was sewing my fifth version. Hopefully, this post will prove helpful not only to me but others who may be struggling trying to understand the instructions.

*My detailed review of the sewing pattern itself can be found HERE at the Pattern Review website. 

The order of construction is as follows:

I. Pockets

II. Fly/Front Zipper

III. Legs

IV. Waistband

I. Pockets

For the pocket construction, the detailed photo tutorial can be found in a separate blog post HERE under Sewing Techniques. 

Two front legs with completed pockets. 

II.  Fly/Front Zipper

I labeled my cut fabric pieces with masking tape. Kindly refer to the following legend:

R10--right (meaning fashion side, not wrong side) side, fly bearer

R9-- right side fly facing

Encircled R Front--right front leg as opposed to left

Encircled L Front--left front leg

This is the fly bearer. 

Fold in half lengthwise with wrong sides together. 

Sew the long raw edges together and the bottom short edge using 3/8" seam allowance. Finish edges as desired. 

After fusing interfacing to wrong side of fly facing, finish the curved raw edge as desired.  I chose to serge.

Before proceeding, best to finish (serge) raw edges of the center front. 

Lay the fly facing over the right front leg along the center matching raw edges along the top and center. Sew in place. 

Fly facing sewn in place. 

Understitch fly facing as shown. 

Baste a straight line along the 3/8" seam allowance on the top edge of both front leg pieces. This will serve as a guide for zipper stop placement. 

Align the zipper tape right side down along the raw edge of the left front center.  Make sure the zipper stop on top clears the 3/8" seam allowance.

                                                      

Baste in place. 

Lay the fly bearer over left front aligning the serged long edge with the raw edge of the center. sandwiching the zipper in the middle. 

This is what it should look like. 

Sew in place using zipper foot. 

View of the wrong side after sewing in place. 

View from the right side with fly bearer turned to the right side. 

Edgestitch on the right side, making sure the fly bearer is out of the way. 

Sew the right and left front leg pieces together along the crotch. But don't do it all the way to the edge like I did. I had to unpick so I could sew the front and back together along the inner legs. Just sew about an inch down from the bottom of the zipper. 

View from the right side after left and right were sewn along the crotch. 

Lay out the remaining zipper tape over the fly facing on the right front. Place the zipper tape about 3/4" away from the seamline. 

Zipper sewn in place. 

Fly facing folded to the inside. 

I used a Button-Fly guide template to help with topstitching a nice curve along the right front opening. 

I traced the template on tracing paper so I could pin it  as shown in the succeeding pictures below. 

Keep the fly bearer out of the way when topstitching up to the start of the curve only and then put the fly bearer back underneath so it could be stitched to the fly facing along the curve.

After topstitching. 

View from the inside. The fly bearer is caught in the topstitching along the curve only. 

Reinforce front crotch seam with straight stitches. 

III. Legs

  1. Assemble back.

Sew each side back piece to corresponding center back piece. 
Serge raw edges together. 

Press serged seam towards side (away from center).

Topstitch. 

  2.  Sew front and assembled back along inner leg. Serge seams together and press to front. Topstitch. 

  3. Sew crotch. Serge seams together and press to one side. Optional, topstitch. 

  4.  Sew front and back together along side seams. Serge seams together and press to back. 

  5.  Hem. I deviated a bit from the Style Arc instructions and applied a 3/4" wide bias tape to finish the curved edge of the front hem for a neater look.

Sew the bias strip right sides together with the curved edge. Start 1-1/4" above the edge  (assuming this is your hem allowance). This ensures that the area will not be bulky once hem is folded in. 

Press sewn bias out. Turn the hem allowance to the right side, pin in place and sew following the 3/8" seam allowance of the curved edge. 

Turn bias to the wrong side, fold once and stitch in place. 

View of the finished area after dart is sewn. 

IV. Waistband

    *Again  I deviated from the instructions which tell you to sew the belt loops to the top edge of one waistband. Instead this is what I did:

I basted the belt loops to the waistline, right sides together, within the 3/8" seam allowance.  
Since the notches for the belt loops are on the waistband pieces, I had to pin the waistband to the waistline first and transfer the notches. 

Sew the interfaced waistband to the waistline as shown above. 

View of the right side. 

Sew the remaining waistband to the interfaced one  along the top edge using 1/4" seam allowance.
Understitch and then press to the wrong side. 

To secure inner waistband in place, stitch in the ditch from the right side. 

View of the finished waistband after stitching in the ditch. 

Fold the remaining free edge of the belt loop about 3/8-5/8".

Pin in place. 

Sew using tiny zigzag stitches. 

Make buttonhole and sew in button.