HOW TO HACK YOUR FAV PANTS PATTERN INTO OVERALLS

This may come as surprise to you… but i love overalls. They are cute, they make a whole outfit, they’re comfortable. What’s not to like? 

In my quest to finding the perfect overalls my pattern hacking gears started turning which led to the amazing conclusion that you can make overalls out of any pants pattern you already have!

Since I’ve already found my perfect trousers pattern (you can find all about my TNT patterns here) it was all a matter of figuring out the upper part of what would soon be overalls! Which I did and since I want to make your sewing life easier, I’ll share. 

First things first, here’s what you’ll need:

  • A pants/slacks/trousers pattern you love (I’m using the Tatjana trousers by Just Patterns);
  • Fabric (I’m using this one by Divazus);
  • A zipper;
  • Whatever closure you’d like to use for the straps, buttons, those metals thingies that slide. Idk, you do you boo.
  • Something to measure with, a ruler or a measuring tape.

  1. Grab your pants pattern and measure the waist. If your pattern has pleats or darts you’ll have to take those out.

This is the back of my pattern and my measurements are:

  • Full width – 22.7 cm
  • Darts – 2 + 2.5 = 4.5 cm
  • Seam allowance – 1 cm (you need to take the middle seam seam allowance out since you’ll be sewing the two back legs together and then attaching the upper part of the overalls)

22.7 – 4.5 – 1 = 17.2 cm

Now onto the front. This will depend on how your pattern is drafted but usually there’s a pocket. You need to take into account the width of the pocket to find the full width of your front pattern piece.

Something else you need to check is if your pattern piece has a fly extension. If it does, fold it out of the way since we won’t be adding a front fly zipper.

My measurements are:

  • Width – 26.5 cm
  • width of the pocket piece – 5 cm
  • pleats – 2 + 6.5 = 8.5 cm
  • seam allowance – 1 cm
  • Fly extension – 4 cm

26.5 + 5 = 31.5 cm

31.5 – 8.5 – 1 – 4 = 18 cm

2. Alright, we’ve figured out how wide our pattern pieces will be at the waist. Now it’s time to draft them. I’ll show you what shape and measurements I chose for mine but this will depend on the design you’re trying to achieve and on your own measurements.

  • (A) how tall you’d like the side seams to be.
  • (B) the side seam seam allowance. I like to work with a 1 cm seam allowance.
  • (C) This is were your straps are being attached so this measurement will depend on how wide you’d like your straps to be. Mine will be 4 cm wide.
  • (D) How tall the upper part of the overalls will be. I’d recommend taking a measuring tape against your torso. If you have bigger boobs these part will have to be longer since the fabric will have to accommodate for the curvature of your chest.
  • (E) how wide your front is at the top. Same thing, hold a measuring tape against your chest and see how wide you’d like it to be.
  • (F) These will be the measurements we figured out earlier.

For the straps you just need to figure out how wide and how long you want them.

Mine have these measurements:

3. Woop woop! It’s time to cut our fabric! As you won’t be doing a front fly zipper you don’t need to cut those pattern pieces. The same for the waistband.


Interface your pattern pieces like shown.

4. You’ll sew the legs following your pattern instructions.

The things you’ll leave out are the following:

  • Front fly zipper;
  • In seam;
  • side seams;
  • waistband.

5. At this point you should have two front and two back legs. Time to work on the upper part of the overalls. Grab your straps and fold them right sides facing. Sew them lengthwise.

6. Turn the straps inside out and press.

7. Grab one of the back pieces and lay it right side up. Align the straps at the top. Then pin the remaining back piece right side down. Sew leaving the sides and bottom open.

8. Turn everything inside out and press.

9. Put both front pieces right sides facing and sew leaving the sides and bottom open.

10. Turn them inside out and press.

11. Pin the front legs and front upper part right sides facing and sew.

12. Press the seams downwards and topstitch.

13. Put the back legs and back upper part right sides facing and sew. Then press and topstitch like you did for the front.

14. Put front and back right sides facing and sew the in seams.

15. Time to install the zipper! To do it, choose which side you’d like the zipper to be. I put mine on the right. You’ll baste the top of the side seam the same length as your zipper and sew the rest on both sides.

16. Sew the zipper.

17. At this point the only things left to do is figure out the front closure and hem. I chose to do buttons. Oh also, you’ll need to finish the straps but that’ll depend on the closure you choose. For mine, i just folded the ends of the straps inwards and topstitched.

🌼 TA DA! YOU’RE DONE 🌼

Hope you find this somewhat easy to follow and if you do end up making overalls out of a pants pattern let me know! Just use the #madewithcoolstitches or tag me @coolstitches 💗

GET TO KNOW MY TNT PATTERNS

There are few things in the sewing world that feel as good as finding a tried and tested pattern. Ok, maybe I’m being dramatic, but isn’t it amazing when you realize that you’ve made a pattern several times and that it just works? Well, it is for me. I’ve come across a few so I thought I would share them with you.

I have a pretty basic style and my closet consists of t-shirts, tank tops, shirts, turtlenecks and pleated pants (to be honest just by listing these 5 items of clothing I feel complete). So obviously my list of TNT patterns contains exactly these types of garments.

TYRA TEE – JUST PATTERNS

Available from sizes 34 to 56

“Bigger is better! The Tyra Tee is a structured boxy t-shirt with an intentionally oversized fit, dropped shoulders, and subtle waist shaping for a cool, relaxed look. The neckline is finished with ribbing.”

The Tyra tee is my perfect t-shirt. Works so well styled with high waisted pants which is a must for me. It’s also such an easy and quick make. You can make it in black or white for that basic look and also make it with contrasting ribbing or sleeves for something more fun.

TURTLENECK BODYSUIT – ISABELLE SCHULTZ

Available from Sizes XS/34 to 3XL/46

This turtleneck bodysuit pattern was actually the second pattern I’ve ever bought and I obviously didn’t regret it! I’ve never actually made it as a bodysuit, I cut it to work just as a good old turtleneck and I love it.
It’s easy to make and a great basic. I’ve made quite a few versions and I’ve even made a swimsuit with it!

Trousers 121 – Burda Style 09/20

Available from sizes 34 to 44

This was the first trousers pattern I fell in love with. I only have a little problem with it… it has fake back pockets. I was super excited when I first saw the design because I thought I was going to learn how to make welt pockets, turns out, they were a lie.
The original pattern is actually for a cargo style but I omit the side pockets and the back pockets because I like to keep the fake out of my life.

TATJANA TROUSERS – JUST PATTERNS

Available from sizes 34 to 56

“Tailor up! The Tatjana Trousers have a flattering high rise, soft pleats, a straight leg, and a floor-grazing length. The front features 2 flat pleats on each side, slant pockets, a fly. On the back, there are 4 darts to provide shaping. The buttoned single welt pockets are functional and also provide visual interest. The waistband has belt loops, and an extension closed with an internal button and hooks and bars.”

Now these… these have actual welt pockets and the instructions are amazing. I love the fit, love how high waisted they are, how high end they look. They’re overall the best. Can’t wait to make more!

PUA TANK – PARADISE PATTERNS

Available from sizes 0 to 16

Oh man, this is just the best basic. I absolutely love the thick binding, it’s the best detail in my opinion.

This pattern is actually available for free if you sign up for Paradise Patterns’ mailing list so there’s no reason for you not to try it.

JENNA SHIRT – VIKI SEWS

Available from sizes 34 to 52

This is my favorite shirt pattern. Love the lapel collar and the loose fit is so classy.
The downside to this is the pattern is available only in Russian so if you don’t understand the language you’ll need to follow just the photos. The first time I made it I had a bit of a hard time with the collar construction but I’ve understood how to do it since then.

The original pattern is for a long sleeve but I always end up making short ones.

Any suggestions on patterns I should try? Would love to know what your TNT patterns are 🖤

BEST FREE UNDERWEAR PATTERNS + FREE UNDIES PATTERN

Welcome to my first blog post!
I found that instagram character limitation wouldn’t work for this type of content so I resorted to my little corner of the internet to bring you a review of three different free underwear patterns.

Something that I want to do this year is to sew more practical items of clothings. I’ve sewn pretty much every type of garment and at this point it feels really weird to buy clothes, even if it’s just a pair of undies. And so I began my quest to find my favorite underwear pattern.

Underwear is obviously very personal so I’ll tell you right away what I look for in it: I want it to be a bit highwaisted and high cut at the legs. When it comes to the back, I personally don’t really like thongs and I also don’t like for it to be too big, so a Brazilian cut would be what the internet tells me what I like is called.

Now, when it comes to my body shape, my waist and hips aren’t very proportionate according to size guides (my waist is 64 cm and my hips 97 cm) so I knew that when working with lower rise undies, I would have to go by my hip measurement and completely ignore the waist. And when working with something highwaisted I would probably need to consider my waist measurement.

I browsed through the magical place that is Pinterest and found some patterns. I wanted to try out different types of fit so here are the ones I’ll show you today:

Something that you have to keep in mind when I tell you what size I’ve chosen is that this will vary depending on the fabric you’re working with. Something with more stretchability will make the sizing less worrisome. I tried the patterns in a few different types of fabric which were a cotton jersey with 8% elastane, a modal which had very little stretch to it, a cotton rib knit with 60% stretch and finally a cotton jersey with the same characteristics as the modal.

EVIE LA LUVE – MAXINE PANTIES

I chose a size XXS and I made them in the cotton jersey with 8% elastane. If I were to make them in either the modal or the cotton jersey with minimal stretch I would have gone for the XS size and taken it in at the waist more.

The instructions on this one are cristal clear but undies tend to be all constructed the same way. The only thing that usually varies is if it’s a singular gusset piece or double. These ones are double gusset and I found that the burrito technique was very well explained so if that’s something you’ve never tried fear not because there won’t be any questions with these.

The instructions also explain how to finish these with both a fold over elastic and a knicker elastic. Personally I prefer the lather just because I feel like I haven’t mastered the application of fold over elastic. I do prefer the look of it.

I made mine using the elastic free technique (very well explained by @betterhaldhandmade in this video) and it worked perfect with the rib knit fabric.

So, everything is pretty much perfect about this pattern. What I don’t like about it is a matter of personal fitting preference and it’s how low cut they are in the legs. But they are really confortable and very well drafted.

OHHH LULU – CELESTE BIKINI

These are quite low rise so I went for the size that better matched my hip measurement which is the size Medium. I used the cotton with 8% elastane and they fit pretty much perfectly.

These were definitely my favorite in terms of fit. The back as a little less coverage and although they’re pretty low waist I found them very flattering on my body shape as they didn’t cut me as much in the legs. I found that these were the ones that didn’t accentuate my hip hips as much.

The thing I like the least on these ones are the fact that they’re constructed with a single gusset which I find looks a little more cheap in terms of construction. The double gusset is a better finish in my opinion but this is something that you can easily alter in the pattern if it bother you aswell.

The instructions on these ones explain you how to finish them with a lace trim. I would have gladly made them like that but I didn’t have that sort of material on hand so I went with a fold over elastic which works perfectly as well.

On the undies above I used this exact pattern and just did the elastic free method to add a bit of height to them.


Once you make a few undies you realize that all the finish methods are pretty much interchangeable and you can just use the pattern as a shape guide, the rest is up to you. You migh need to change seam allowances but other than that, the basic shape is what matters.

PAPER THEORY – STEVIE KNICKERS

At first I cut a size 6 and made them in the modal fabric but as is doesn’t have much stretch I found them to be too tight. I ended up making a size 8 which fit me perfectly. The ones on the picture above are a size 8 aswell but they’re made in the cotton jersey with 8% elastane.

Instruction wise, there’s both a blog post and a video explaining how to construct them and they’re both very easy to follow. Something that was helpful was the measurements provided for elastic for each size. So if you want to know how much elastic to cut for the waist or leg holes for your specific size that information is provided. This will obviously depend on the type of elastic you’re using but it’s a great starting point specially if you’re using exactly the materials the pattern calls for.

Something that I really like about these undies is how confortable they are. I personally don’t find them the most flattering on myself but they are soooo confortable and they’ll for sure become my period undies.

I don’t find that they look great on me due to the low cut at the legs and also because the back is quite big but they’re the type of underwear that has a time and a place in my life.

So, my conclusion on the best free underwear pattern that I’ve tried is that underwear is very personal and these are all great. Through all this journey to find the best one I ended up creating one as well because I couldn’t find anything quite as high cut as I like. Or they were either for thongs or briefs which isn’t the shape I prefer to see on my bottom.

I ended up drafting a pattern for a highwaisted pair of undies that are high cut and with a Brazilian fit in the back. And, as I drafted them for myself I thought I’d grade it and put it out for free for you folks to give it a go as well!

I hope you like the Peachy Undies and if you give them a go don’t forget to tag me @coolstitches because I’d love to see them 🙂