Try This Trend: No-Sew DIY Side-Stripe Pants

Inspired by casual style mixed with a dose of glam, today’s project is for DIY side-stripe pants that mixes lush velvet with basic denim. It’s so easy to recreate this look at home too. You don’t even need a sewing machine. It’s a no-sew project! Click through for the before and after photos, along with the quick and easy tutorial.

P.S. Total cost of this project (including the price of the jeans) was under $15!

Emma found these pants at a thrift store for $5 and the cost of everything else was less than $10. So the total for these side-stripe pants was just under $15. This is an easy and affordable way to try out this trend without shelling out a ton of money for a similar store-bought pair. Here’s how to make your own…

Materials and Tools

• straight leg jeans, wide leg pants, track pants, etc (whatever you like)
• 1 inch wide velvet ribbon (2-3 yards depending on how long your pants are)
• heat bond iron-on adhesive tape (1/2 inch to 3/4 inch wide)*
• straight pins
• thin scrap piece of cloth
• iron

*This iron-on adhesive tape is particular great for denim, suede, wool, and corduroy. Just FYI.

Instructions for Side-Stripe Pants Project

1. Steam or iron pants first to make sure there aren’t any wrinkles before your get started. And leave an iron on medium heat for the project.

2. Then, lay your pants out flat, starting with one pant leg. You want the seam line to go down the middle, so you have the most access to that area. See photo for reference.

3. Next, starting at the top of the waistband, start pinning the iron-on-tape and velvet to the pant leg. So, if it were layered like a sandwich, it would be pant leg on bottom, then iron-on tape, then velvet. Follow the seam line to make sure the strip will remain perfectly straight.

4. Once the stripe has been pinned all the way down the pant leg, place a thin scrap of fabric over the velvet ribbon (this is so the velvet isn’t damaged by the heat) and press the iron down on top according to the instructions on the packaging. We just did 5-10 second increments, checking in between increments to see if it was secure yet. You may also need to press down with your finger to help adhere it at first, after iron it. This seemed to work really well to help give that extra help for a strong bond.

The adhesion part took a little bit of trial and error. Some sections stuck down really fast, and others took longer. But the tape I linked to is the one I used and it works great. Just be aware you may have to leave heat on a section for a little longer than it says to.

5. When you get to the bottom of the pant leg, leave an extra inch at the bottom and cut off excess. Then wrap that inch of  hem tape and velvet ribbon at the bottom into the inside of the pant and secure it the same way as the rest, with heat.

6. Repeat steps 2-5 with the other pant leg.

Care Instructions for Finished Jeans: I would recommend machine washing but hang-drying any items that you use iron-on adhesive tape on. The heat of the dryer could case the adhesive to come up over time. But that’s one of the reasons why this project is so perfect for jeans because you don’t typically wash denim as often anyway.

Sewing and modeling Emma Spear // Photography Brittni Mehlhoff

Think you’ll give this trend a try? What do you think of side-striped pants like these? Hell yes or hell no!?

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