I’m seeing these flared harem pants EVERYWHERE on belly dancers these days and getting many requests to do a tutorial!
These flared harem pants are so stylish and fun, and they are actually quite easy to make! Today you’re going to see how I made these pants. Let’s get started!
To make these flared harem pants I used:
Pattern paper – about 1.2m x 1.2m (47in x 47in) and 50cm x 50cm (20in x 20in)
Fabric – about 4x your pant length + 50cm (1/2yd). I used chiffon here, but you can use lightweight lycra as well. Lightweight lycra would be much easier to handle and sew these flared harem pants with.
2.5cm (1in) wide elastic – about 1m/yd
1cm (3/8in) wide elastic – about 1m/yd
(Optional) fishing line
Loose-fitting pants – We will use these pants as a pattern. Low-rise ones like pajama shorts work really well, but you can use any loose-fitting pants.
Matching color thread
How to Make Flared Harem Pants (Modern Flared Belly Dance Pants with Side Openings)
Take Measurements
First, take 3 measurements:
- Beltline to Floor – The beltline is where you want the waistband of these pants to go. Measure from here to the floor.
- Above knee to Floor – Above knee is where the gathered part of the pants will go. Measure from here to the floor.
- Hips – This is the largest part of your hips. Measure the circumference of your hips.
Pattern Making
Let’s make this easy pattern. First, leave about 60cm (25in) to the right of your paper, and draw a vertical line. And draw a horizontal line at the top leaving a few cm or an inch, or so, above it.
Take your pattern pants, turn them inside out, and place one of the legs into another one like this. This way you can see the seams of the pants really well.
If you look at this crotch area, one side is deeper than the other side. The deeper side is the back side, and the shallower side is the front side.
Place the pants on the paper, and fold the front side out of the way so you can see the back crotch area well. And align the end of the crotch to the vertical line.
If the height of the waistband of your pattern pants is exactly where you want the waistband of the flare pants to go, align the top of the crotch seam to the horizontal line.
If your pattern pants are high-waisted, just fold them to your preferred Belt Line height, and align that point to the horizontal line.
And trace the crotch curve. Remove the pants and smooth out the line.
Next, take your hip measurement and divide it by 4 and add 5cm (2 in). Measure this from the top of the crotch line, and, from there, draw another vertical line.
Now I made a mistake here. Instead of measuring from the top of the crotch line, I measured the number from the vertical line. So it appears much narrower than it should be. I’ll be fixing this later, so for now, know that your pant pattern should look wider than mine here.
From the top horizontal line, measure your Belt Line to Floor measurement plus 10cm (4in). And draw a horizontal line there.
From the horizontal line at the bottom, measure your Above Knee to Floor measurement and make a mark on each vertical line.
At one of the marks, measure 30 degrees and draw a line. If you don’t have a protractor, fold a corner of a paper in 3s, and you have yourself a protractor to measure 30 degrees and 60 degrees.
If you want extra volume at the bottom of the flared harem pants, you can go 45 degrees here. In that case, you can fold the corner of your paper in half and measure 45 degrees.
Now from the top of this line, measure your Above Knee to Floor measurement and make a mark on the line.
Pivot your measuring tape and make another mark. Pivot again and make a mark. Repeat until you reach the bottom line.
Connect the dots, and you’ve added a beautiful flare to your harem pants! Smooth out the top of this section so the outline flows nicely.
Repeat this process on the other side.
Before you cut this pattern, measure the distance from the top horizontal line and the end of the crotch line. Make a note of this measurement.
Then cut along the lines. And here I have fixed the width of the pattern, so it’s wider now, and yours should look something like this. And you have the back panel pattern for your flare harem pants!
Take another paper and we’ll create the front panel. It’s super easy.
First, draw a horizontal line at the top, and a vertical line on the left side of the paper.
Then from the horizontal line, measure the distance you measured on your back panel a few seconds ago. And make a mark on the vertical line.
Place your pattern pants on the front side or the shallower side touching the vertical line. Match up the end of the crotch line and the mark on the vertical line.
And trace the crotch line. Again, fold the waistband of your pants to your preferred belt line, which is very likely below the horizontal line at the top.
Just like we did before, measure your hip measurement divided by 4 plus 5cm (2in) from the top of the crotch line and draw another vertical line.
And connect the top of the crotch line with the top corner up here with a smooth gentle curve.
Since the rest of the pattern is the same as the back pattern, I’m going to skip the rest and cut out the pattern leaving about 10 cm (4in) below the crotch area.
Alright, let’s move on!
Cut Fabric
Lay out your pattern on your fabric and cut the fabric while adding a 1cm (3/8in) seam allowance. And make marks where the flare starts on both edges.
The pattern is for the left side of the flared harem pants when you cut the fabric on the right side up. To cut the right side, flip the pattern and place it on the fabric’s right sides together.
To cut your front panel, fold the back panel at the crotch level, and align it at the crotch of the front panel pattern. Cut out this side while adding a 1cm (3/8in) seam allowance, then shift the bottom pattern to align with the other side of the top pattern. Continue to cut while adding a seam allowance.
Repeat this for the right side.
So in the end, you should have 2 pairs of front and back panels like this.
Also cut out a strip that is 8cm (3 1/4in) wide, and the length is your hip measurement plus 10cm (4in). This is going to be the waistband.
Let’s start sewing!
Sew!
First, if you’re using chiffon like I am here, the panels will start to shift as soon as you move them. So finish the side edges right away. You can do a rolled hem or a zigzag stitch here. You can leave the top and bottom edges for now.
Next, match up the corresponding front and back panels right sides together, and do a straight stitch with a 1cm (3/8in) seam allowance along the inseam, which is from the crotch down to the bottom. Also, sew from the flare mark to the bottom on the other side.
Again, if you’re using chiffon, the edges may already have shifted and may not match up well. That’s okay, do the best you can, and trim the bottom edge if you need to. If you want to avoid this kind of problem altogether, I recommend you use lightweight lycra for this project!
Now flip one of the legs inside out, so the right side is showing. Place this leg inside the other leg like this, so the right sides are facing each other.
Match up the crotch area, and do a straight stitch with a 1cm (3/8in) seam allowance.
Alright, now it’s looking like pants! Let’s add the waistband.
To prepare to add a waistband, do a basting stitch with a 5mm (1/4in) seam allowance along the top edges of both front and back panels.
A basting stitch is a simple straight stitch with the longest stitch length setting. Don’t backstitch here, but instead, leave long tails of threads at both ends.
Next, take the waistband strip, fold 1cm (3/8in) from the long edges towards the wrong side, and press.
Then fold it in half and press.
Now open it up and fold it in half right sides together. And match up the short edges. Do a straight stitch with a 1cm (3/8in) seam allowance.
Let’s quarter-mark this waistband. First, fold it nicely so we can find the center point. Mark it with a pin.
Then match up the seam and the pin. Mark the folds with pins.
So this seam is going to be the center back, and the pin opposite from the seam is the center front. The other ones are the side seams.
Place the pants inside the waistband right sides together. The front side of the pants has a deeper dip in the center. Match up the center front and center back of the pants and the waistband.
Now we’re going to decide how wide the side openings are going to be. I like my backside to be covered completely, so I’m going to line up the back panels at the side seam marks. Place the front panels 5cm (2in) away from the side seam marks. You can make the opening as wide as you like.
To match up the panels to the desired length of the waistband, remember the long threads you left up here? Pull these gently, and guide the fabric with your hand to create a gathering. Gather until the length matches the length on the waistband. Place pins.
And do a straight stitch with a 1cm (3/8in) seam allowance.
Next, fold the waistband towards the wrong side according to the creases you made. Encase all the raw edges, and align the fold with the stitches. Place pins.
At the side openings, match up the folded edges and place pins.
To make it extra pretty, replace the pins from the right side, so we can do a straight stitch right along this seam while catching the waistband on the wrong side. This is called “stitch in the ditch”
So do a straight stitch along the seam and at the side openings, sew very close to the edge. And leave a few-inch gap at the back.
Now take your 2.5cm (1in) elastic, and figure out how much you need for it to be snug around your belt line. Add 2.5cm (1in) to it, and cut.
Insert it through the casing. I’m using a safety pin to do this. Make sure it’s not twisted anywhere, and overlap the ends by 2.5cm (1in). And sew the ends together.
Then do a top stitch to finish the waistband.
Now let’s add elastic to the knee area to create the gathered effect. Take your elastic, and place it around your knees to find a very snug length. Make this one pretty tight. Add 1cm (3/8in) to it, and cut 2 pieces.
Overlap the ends by 1cm (3/8in) and sew the ends together.
And mark a halfway point which is the opposite from the ends.
Turn your pants wrong side out, and find the marks indicating the flare. If you can’t find them anymore, refer to your pattern and make marks again. And draw a line connecting these points on each side.
Place the elastic through the leg, and match up the halfway points with the marks on the seams. And eyeball the midway points along the lines and the elastic and match these points too.
And do a zigzag stitch while stretching out the elastic. By stretching it out, you can match up the line on the leg and the elastic.
Now your flared harem pants are gathered midway!
Finally, all you have to do is finish the bottom edge. When you use chiffon that’s cut in the bias like these pants, I recommend you hang them for a few days because the fabric will stretch out. Then trim the pants to the right length then finish up.
I still recommend you do that, but I had no time for this project, so I went ahead, still measured the knee to floor measurement plus a 1cm (3/8in) seam allowance from the gathered area, and trimmed the parts that stretched already. And I finished the hem with fishing line.
You can create this cute, curly lettuce hem with fishing line. I have a tutorial on this technique here. The fishing line adds volume to the hem and can camouflage an uneven hem too.
And the flared harem pants are complete!
Of course, you can finish the hem without the fishing line or with a horsehair braid for a modern look. These are comfy, stylish, and super fun! You can wear them with only a belt or layer some beaded swag or flounces over the cutouts. A perfect option for spicing up your regular stage outfits!
And if you’re curious about the belts I’m wearing these flared harem pants, I have good news!
You can learn to make these belts in my Swirly Belt & Appliques premium course! A new bonus lesson will be added this month, which shows you how to make this brand-new belt design plus these cute three-dimensional appliques!
You see these 3D decorations on belly dance outfits everywhere these days, and you can learn to design and craft these modern belts and appliques yourself!
Learn more and join the course here!
Hope you liked this modern flared harem pants tutorial, and if you did, please share this tutorial with your dancer friends!
Thanks for reading, and keep sparkling!
P.S. Pin this on your decoration idea board 😉
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