Hakama Series - Mompe Hakama/Karusan-bakama (Gathered Trousers) Part 2 - Sewing

 Continuing with our Mompe Hakama/Karusan-bakama we're going into some of the prep work for construction! See Part 1 for pattern drafting and design stuff. 

Waist Band Closures

A challenging part of this is that you WILL need closures. Because this is non-stretch fabric and we are not constructing traditional hakama, we must have an opening so we can get our trousers past our hips and up to our waist.

However, I personally did not want to have that "J" shape fly on the front of my hakama and I wanted to have the closures hidden. So how to do this? I have a couple of options. 

1. Buttons on the side Seams - I found a drawing I did where I drew a 1920s aviatrix with pilot pants and it had buttons up the side seams. I can hide the buttons easily enough and it is kind of like sasahida in traditional hakama. And the sides are usually not in focus or covered by haori. The downside is that it can interfere with the set in pockets. (Still possible.)
   
   
2. Hidden Button Fly - It will add to the pattern piece but there are ways to make hidden button plackets for pants. I can avoid the "J" shape by designing my own and doing some experiments.
   
   
   
3. Costume Zipper in Back or Side - I remember my uniform skirts having that stupid side zipper and button on the side, but it can also go on the back seam. Invisible zippers are made for this kind of thing. 
   
   
4. Stretch Fabric Waist Band - This would be the "easy way out". You can still attach belt loops to it, but there's no need to mess with any seams, but this does change the pattern pieces where the top waist line is basically the width of the hips. It also creates a bunching effect around that part. (Which isn't terrible honestly.)

When I first made my pleated wide legged trousers, I used a flat elastic waistband and it does the job. But this time around, I'm aiming for an hidden button fly. So, that's what I will demonstrate here. 

Prepare Pattern Pieces

Before I sew I'm going to add the button placket to the trouser front pattern pieces. 

We will have the following pattern pieces:

• 2 front leg panels
• 2 back leg panels
• 4 pocket bags
• Waist Band
• Belt Loops (using White fabric)

Lay these out on your fabric, preferably with the length of the legs parallel with the grainline. Cut out all your pieces. Mark the wrong and right side of the pattern pieces. 

Construction

Sew on Pockets

1. Place the pocket bags aligning the top edge and side edge on each leg piece. Make sure the right sides of the fabric are touching. Sew from the top edge along the side edge of each pocket piece. 
2. Fold the pocket bag around to the wrong side so wrong sides are touching and the seam is hidden. Press this down. (Optional to top stitch).
3. Fold the pockets back out. They are now considered part of the pant legs. 
   

Add Pleats

1. Find your pleat markings. Make mountain folds toward the crotch seam of each pant leg. 
2. Press the pleats and baste them along the top edge. 

Add Button Fly

This may be a bit complicated to explain. I'll also add a video tutorial for an alternative method. 
The plan is that the right side goes over the left. These button panels are as tall as the straight edge of the crotch curve  and about 2.5" wide. 

1. The button holes will be on the Right Front Leg panel and the buttons on the Left Front Leg panel.  Line up where the buttons and button holes will be. Mark the button hole side with horizontal lines. 
2. With the right sides together sew the button hole flap to the Right Front Leg panel. Fold open and press seams. Do the same to the button flap on the Left Front Leg panel. 
3. Align the  panels and sew in the buttons. 
   
   
   
   
   
4. For the Button hole flap, mark with 2 vertical lines 1" apart.  Fold A is the "first fold" and fold B is the second closest to the raw edge. 
5. Fold B towards the "wrong side" of the fabric and press. (Making a little "seam allowance".)
6. Fold A with a mountain fold to make the wrong sides of the fabric touch. Press.
7. Sew in the button holes at this point. 
8. Finally, fold along the seam towards the wrong side of the pant leg panel and press. 
9. Use and invisible hand stitch or a machine blind stitch to sew the folded "seam allowance" onto the front leg panel. (If you don't mind seeing stitches you can just stitch this down.) 
   
   
10. On the button panel, fold the raw edge toward the wrong side to make a hem. Press this hem. 
11. Fold to make a 1" panel by folding towards the wrong side. 
12. Stitch the little hem down along the seam of the crotch curve. 

Join Seams

Seam sewing

1. Join the two back leg pieces together at the crotch curve. Sew along the curve.
2. Sew the crotch curve on the front leg panels up to the lower edge of the button fly. 
3. Place front panels of the hakama on top of the back panels so the right sides of the fabric are touching. 
4. Stitch the side seams, up the leg, around the pocket bag, and across the top of the pocket bag. 
5. Stitch the inseam from the ankle line around the crotch curve and back down the other inseam. 

Gather Ankles

1. Fold the 2" ankle hem toward the inside of the pant leg. 
2. Stitch the hem down but leave a 1" opening. 
3. Cut a flat elastic to your ankle measurement. 
4. Use a safety pin on one end to help feed it through. Pin the other edge to the fabric by the opening. 
5. Feed the elastic through the "tube" created by the hem. Bunching the fabric so it fits. 
6. When the elastic comes out of the tube, sew the two ends of the flat elastic together to make it a ring. Unpin the elastic. 
7. You can now finish the hem to secure the elastic inside the casing. 
8. Repeat for the other leg. 

Alternative: You can make this a cincher by making the hem tube and making button holes. Feed a tie through one buttonhole and skooch it through until it comes out the other buttonhole. Once you put on the hakama, you will pull the cincher ties and bunch up the fabric then tie it down. This would be more traditional. (Shoe laces work well for this.)  

Add Waist band

1. Fold waistband lengthwise and press. *This would be the best time to add belt loops if you want to have them. 
2. Align the bottom raw edge to the edge of the pants with the right sides together. Stitch down with a 3/4" seam. 
3. Fold the waist band up. Fold the short edges towards the wrong side and sew them down. 
4. Fold a the long edge on top to make a "hem", then fold along the pressed lengthwise fold.
5.  Stitch in the ditch to attach the waistband. 
6. Add button hole to the right side of the waist band and add a button to the left one. 

Or this works

Hopefully this makes a pair of trouser-hakama. 

Note: I was able to finally make a pair of these with a hidden button fly. Made some adjustments to my instructions for a hidden button fly but I did make a pair of pants that fit! Still need to iron in the pleats though.