advice on alternatives to vinyl when sewing pants.....and patterning

By Icewolfnz. 11/07/14, 01:42 pm

okay so I've found out how much of a nightmare vinyl (maybe it's PVC - certainly sounds like it when you try walking around with it on) can be to try and sew a pair of pants with. Further made difficult by being a complete novice on a sewing machine. Basically I wanted to make leather looking pants and try and forego the price of actual leather, so being the novice I am, I called into Geoffs Emporium on a recent weekend in Auckland after hearing it was a cool place to check out for materials etc. Found what I thought to be a cool looking material for $7 a metre so I grabbed 3 metres of it and came home to begin the next stage of my costume build....

there began the nightmare, but after much coffee and near reverting to being a smoker again, countless scoldings from my partner because apparently trying to sew vinyl pants steals far too much time, and many other hiccups inherent to costume making when ya don't really know how, I'm finally up to adding the zip and completing the pants.

the problem now is the squelchy sound they make when I walk around in them is pretty ridiculous which won't do the char I'm having a go at any justice at all

so saying, does anyone have any advice on alternative material, or shall I just go with leather (bearing in mind, as previously stated, I'm no seamstress, hence my wanting to go with something cheaper....cause I've used virtually the whole 3 metres I bought lol)

also, greatly against the advice of my partner (because I simply have no ears it seems), does anyone have advice on patterning for pants....you don't wanna know how I attempted it!!!

By Rolly. 12/07/14, 04:04 am

The surface of vinyl sticks to the sewing machine foot, you can use a bit of vaseline in the path that you are going to stitch on to help it walk better. otherwise, you can also put a thin, easy to tear away piece of tissue paper or something inbetween the foot and vinyl to help it walk too.
If you have a walking foot attachment for your machine, you can try using that to help the fabric push along while sewing.

Pants are made from 4 main pieces, not two... you can take an existing pair of pants close to the ones you want to make, fold along the seam lines and trace it onto your fabric. The back two panels should have a deeper/longer curve to accomodate your butt. Very Happy

Try googling 'pants pattern sewing', it should give you pictures of what a pants pattern looks like.

Here is a helpful page to help you sew... http://timestitcher.tumblr.com/post/60455153018/how-to-sew-vinyl-faux-leather-with-minimal-crying
If after sewing and your seams don't lie as flat as you like because of the thickness/stiffness of the pleather, do some top stitching or edge stitching on it to lock it flat into place.

Good luck!! :)

By Kicho. 12/07/14, 06:14 pm

You could probably find so e cheap patterns for pants at an op-shop. As for an alternative to leather, try leather-like spandex or faux leather with some stretch. Materials with some stretch might be easier to see if you want something right but you aren't very experienced with sewing. Just remember that the holes are permanent and that you need to sew stretch material with a zig-zag stitch.

By Paul. 13/07/14, 09:10 am

I have been using these vinyl fabrics for making cosplay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/220754668401
http://www.ebay.com/itm/220992889433
http://www.ebay.com/itm/220998980534

They are soft and thin enough to make clothing that is not noisy and annoying.
I have no idea if it is possible to get something similar locally.

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