When my Aunt Nancy asked me whether I could replicate her well-loved and patched light-weight yoga pants that she has been unable to replace, I told her I would give it a try. I borrowed the pants from her and observed their fabric and construction. According to the tags, they were “Alternative Earth” brand pants, a brand that seems to have gone out of business. They were size XL and made from a dark charcoal light-weight blend of 50% polyester, 38% cotton,12% rayon knit, similar to a triblend tshirt. The pants had no side seam and thus were constructed from just four pattern pieces: a left and right leg piece, a waistband tube, and a drawstring. They are super simple, not fancy: thus I’m calling them the Not-so-fancy Nancy Pants.

I decided to make a digital pattern for the pants by tracing them using my ipad and projector. I setup a blank document in Affinity Designer, drew a square, and calibrated the zoom setting so the projected square matched the size in the document. Then I folded the pants and put the pants on my cutting table and drew a series of rectangles, stretching them so their projections covered the pant leg and crotch. Once the rectangles were situated, I used the pen tool on my ipad to trace the outline of the folded pants. If the pants’ legs were symmetrical, I would have been able to make a mirror image copy and connect the front and back. However, I realized that the front rise was quite a bit lower than the back rise. Thus, I spent some time rearranging the pants and tracing until I had the whole crotch area drawn correctly. This would have been much easier if I had taken the pants apart, but I enjoyed the challenge of my non-destructive approach. Another option that might have been fun would have been the painter’s tape method, which I’ve heard about but never tried.

Once I got the pants leg traced, I added a quarter-inch seam allowance and 1-inch hem. I measured the waistband and drawstring and drew the corresponding rectangles.

Then I cut out the pants from black 190GSM 95% modal / 5% spandex knit fabric. This is a super soft, lightweight, and breathable fabric with a lot of stretch. I wouldn’t use it for anything with pockets, as it is too stretchy to support a pocket well, but the Not-so-fancy Nancy pants do not have pockets.

The pants were very quick to sew together. I studied the original pants to determine the correct sewing order. I serged the left and right legs together at the front and back crotch seams. Then I aligned the front and back crotch seams, right sides together, folding the legs in half vertically, and clipped the inseams together. I surged up one leg and down the other.

I cut two small notches in the center of the waistband for the drawstring. As this fabric doesn’t unravel, I didn’t bother reinforcing these holes. Then I joined the short ends of the waistband piece to form a loop and folded it in half horizontally. (The original pants had a continuous waistband that must have been cut from a fabric tube, so it doesn’t have a back seam — this is the main difference between my pattern and the original). I clipped the waistband to the top of the pants and serged it all together.

I folded the drawstring piece in half vertically, wrong sides together and serged. Then, I used a loop turner to turn the drawstring right-side out. I threaded the drawstring through one of the holes in the waistband, around the band, and out the other side. I knotted the ends of the drawstring. Finally, I turned up the bottom of the legs one-inch and hemmed them with a shallow zig-zag stitch on my sewing machine.

Here you can see a side-by-side comparison of the old and new pants modeled by yours truly. The top row is the old pants, and the bottom row is the new pants. Note that the pants are too, because my Aunt Nancy is actually several inches taller than me, but you can still get the idea. The modal fabric I used for the new pants is darker, stretchier, and fits closer to the body, but otherwise is a pretty good dupe.

After I finished the pants, I packed the new pants and the originals up and mailed them to Aunt Nancy. A few days later, she sent me these photos and asked for a second pair. They are soft and comfy and a perfect fit.