Palazzo Pants Tutorial

These pants were a long time coming! 1) procrastination got the best of me 2) there were a few other projects I wanted to do aka avoid making my first pair of pants 3) I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. But I was so rewarded.

So I’m a bad little kid at heart and when I was raiding JoAnn’s red line fabric 50% off sale I looked for a palazzo pant pattern with no intention of buying it. Really what I was looking for was a little help. How much fabric am I going to need? How wide should the leg be at the bottom?

I found pay dirt! Couldn’t tell you about the pattern, who made it or any other details but you’ll find a quick tutorial below so deets on the pattern are not necessary. I made mental note of the yardage (2.5 yds), 33 3/4″ circumference and off I went. I bought some great rayon fabric. It’s bright, it’s flowy, and it screams HELLO! I was instantly excited.

Let the pants making process commence! I used a big roll of paper, a pair of jeans, yardstick and a pencil to make my pattern. I made sure to grab a long pair of jeans because I want to wear heels with the pants. Fold the pants in half at the crotch area and lay it in the middle of your paper. Trace around the pants.

I found the center of the leg at the bottom and made a mark 16 7/8″ to both the left and right. This gave the 33 3/4″ width at the bottom of the pant leg. Make a line connecting all three marks.

From the butt and crotch, extend a line down to the new pant leg width. This is a quarter of your pants with no seam allowance. I added 5/8″ marks all around the pants, and connected the dots. Insta-seam allowance!

The waistband of the pants I did separately. You need two pieces of fabric the width of your elastic (I used 2″) plus 1 1/4″ for seam allowance on each side. The length is your hips plus the 1 1/4″. Gotta be able to get the pants up over your behind ya know?

Down to cutting… Take your fabric fold in half width wise and then length wise. One long side should have two folded edges the other long side should have 4 layers. Put the butt side of your pattern along the folded edge. Pin it down or however your normally tackle a pattern piece. Carefully cut it out. You should have two pieces.

Sew up the inseam on both.

Flip one pair right side out. Put the right side leg into the wrong side and sew together the crotch.

Take the two waist pieces and sew them together along the length. Sew the width together to create a loop.

I sewed the elastic to the waistband so the elastic didn’t move about. For this you have to stretch the elastic as you sew.

Attach the waistband to the pants. I sewed the right sides together for the outside then hand stitched the inside down. You can stitch in the ditch but it never comes out looking nice for me.

Lastly, hem the pants. I sergered the edge, folded over twice and top stitched. I didn’t have to finagle with the length because the pants I used were the perfect length.

One adjustment I did make to all this was, I added two front darts to the pants. I was getting this saggy crotch thing from too much fabric gathering. I also took some length out of the waistband otherwise the two pieces wouldn’t have matched up.

Look at the awesome width to the legs. It nice because the flare starts from the waist so the only fitting you really have to do is to the waist.

See no butt hugging. Rayon soft and flowy drape.

I think that is the “Are you getting this?” face.

Piranha Plant Wine Glass

This little Mario inspired craft I’ve made many times. It’s probably about the fifth set of glasses I’ve made. I end up changing the technique every time too.

There’s three colors of paint. Red for the flower, white for its spots and green for the stem. I use two different kinds of brushes for this project. I use an angular brush and a teensie weensie little brush for any corrections.

I find the easiest way to start is to draw the lines on the glass with a washable marker. This way I have an idea of where I need to paint, the proportions come out right and I can easily wipe it away.

You can see the lines on the glass. I’ve already started to paint the white spots and I’ve got a coat or two of green on the stem of the glass. I paint the entire bottom of the glass too. Without painting the bottom, you can see through the glass and it makes it look streaky. Once I put on a coat of white, I wiped away the marker with a damp paper towel.

For the majority of the project, I use the angular brush. I used to paint the red portion of the flower first and then paint the spots on top. I find that makes the white spots a little pink. I also do all my brush strokes in the same direction (This may be an OCD moment 😒). I find it easiest to make them all vertical.

Paint the red and then I touch-up the white with the teensie weensie brush. It took about 3 coats to get a solid color. If you need to, you can scratch off the paint around the edges. I took a small pin and gently scraped any paint that went outside my original lines.

The bottle doesn’t say how long to let dry between coats. I do a coat in the morning and then again in the evening. If you add a second coat too soon, it will wipe away your first coat and kinda clump. Once everything is all painted you’re supposed to let it sit for 4 days to cure. I let it go a couple days and call it good enough. Bake the glasses to set the paint.

All done and ready to use. I hand wash my glasses (I don’t have a dishwasher so there’s no other option). I haven’t had any issue with the paint chipping off. You can adjust the design of these by adding teeth or leaves. Everyone that I’ve gifted these to are always excited to receive them. Of course, we’re all a little dorky too!