I had some black linen fabric in my stash that I used to sew my first pair of Free Range Slacks, version 2 (straight leg, cropped). I cut it out and sewed the main pants pieces together — front, side, back, and pockets. Then I looked at my fabric again and thought, “Gee, the fabric is a little on the thin side, maybe the seat will get worn out fast. I should line them and make them last longer!” So I went to Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics to get some black Bemberg lining — and that’s what led me to lining the Free Range Slacks.
Pattern pieces for lining
You can line nearly anything by using the pattern pieces you already have. There’s a nice breakdown on Threads website on lining pants. Basically, you create two pieces, a front and a back pattern piece, using your existing pieces and make them a little shorter. The Free Range Slacks have a front pocket extension and a side pattern piece. I’m lazy so instead of tracing lining pieces, I pinned the front pocket piece to the front to make my front lining piece. Here’s the pattern piece pinned to the lining fabric — after I cut it.
I pinned the side pattern piece to the back piece to cut the back lining piece (sorry, I forgot to take a photo of that because I just wanted to finish the pants!). I cut the lining about an inch shorter than the pattern pieces. You don’t want to see the lining so it needs to be shorter than your pants.
Cutting Bemberg lining
Bemberg lining is quite slippery, which is what makes it a great lining fabric. You want something smooth so you can easily slip on the pants, jacket, skirt, etc. But it can be annoying to cut because it is slippery and shifty. I did some online searching about Bemberg and most sites say that Bemberg is dry clean only. But I knew I didn’t want to dry clean my linen pants. So I decided to take my chances and soak the lining fabric in water in the bathroom sink for 15 minutes or so and then hang it to dry over the bathroom shower curtain rod.
The soaking make the Bemberg rather wrinkly but I didn’t care because no one’s going to see it. Plus it cut down on slipperiness. Yay.
I pinned the pattern pieces to the lining, put one of my heavy-duty cast iron pattern weights in the middle to really make sure it didn’t move and cut the lining. Here’s what the 3.75 pound (~1.25 kg) weight looks like. I got two from Wawak last year. Each one is 9″ x 2.5″ (22.9 cm x 6.4 cm).
Then I followed the same instructions for sewing the front and back, except that I had fewer pieces — no side pattern piece or pocket piece.
Then I turned them right side out and then inserted them inside the pants — wrong sides together — and pinned them. Here’s my wrinkly Bemberg on the inside and my linen pants on the outside. As you can see lining the Free Range Slacks is simple.
Next, I machine basted the lining to the linen fabric at the waist. Then I just followed next step in the construction of the pants to attach the waistband. Below is the waistband attached and understitched. I hand-basted the bottom of the waistband before sewing the channel for the elastic. The red pins mark the opening for inserting the elastic.
I hand hemmed the lining with silk thread because I wanted a smooth finish next to my skin. I once machine-stitched the hem of some Bemberg lining on a skirt several years ago using Gutterman sew-all thread. The stitches felt rough against my skin.
Finished lining
Here are the Free Range Slacks inside out. The lining gives them a nice clean finish on the inside — plus it feels great.
And here’s a closer look at the waistband and the lining below …
… and the hem. How’s that for invisible stitches! 😉
I will take photos of the finished Free Range Slacks soon. Stay tuned!
Update on my Whole 30 Fabric Challenge progress— sewing these pants got me to 26.375 yards sewn, not including the lining. Does lining count as fabric? Well, I did not make it to 30 yards before buying the lining fabric. I did not have any lining fabric in my stash so I bought some. I did cut out two Odgen Camis a while ago and that’s about 4 yards. So I think I’ll include that in my total count. lol
In a case like this, I would not count lining as fabric, it’s something functional like it would be buying elastic, interfacing… but also, the way I see it, the challenge is not a competition, it’s a tool, so use it in a way that works for you, even if it might be different from how other people use it!
That is a good point – that lining is like interfacing. The challenge was more of a challenge to myself to not buy more fabric. It’s made me a lot more conscious of my fabric buying, which has been a good thing.