Ashley A-Line Shorts: Sewing Instructions
Before You Start
Ashley is designed to fit me, the designer, perfectly out of the box. Some of the Titan block’s style options have been changed from the defaults you’ll see on other patterns. If you’ve never made anything derived from Titan before, start with the default Ashley options, make a muslin to check the fit, and then look at changing the yoke angle, waistband angle, and waist height to better suit your preferences.
Assemble the front pockets
Take a second to evaluate what the pocket pieces all look like.
The body front pieces have a curved chunk taken out of the top outer corner. If you lay the pocket piece under or on top of this, the top corner of the pocket completes that corner of the waist and outseam. The pocket facing matches the pocket piece along the sides and bottom of the pocket bag, but it’s also missing that corner.
If you lay all three pieces on top of each other in the way they’ll be constructed, it’ll go:
- pocket piece (visible only on the top corner)
- pocket facing (completely invisible from the front)
- front (completely visible from the front)
Take all 4 of your invididual pocket and pocket facing pieces and zig-zag stitch, overlock, or serge the curved edges on the bottom and left of the pattern pieces. The parts of the pocket that will be enclosed in the waist, the outseam, and the curved pocket edge don’t need to be finished this way, but you can do it anyway.
Take one front piece and one pocket facing piece. Lay the front piece right side up, and lay the pocket facing piece on top of it right side down, aligned along the pocket curve. Sew with a straight stitch along the pocket curve.
Clip along the curve to free up the seam allowance - careful not to cut the thread of the seam - then open the two pieces out flat like a book. Press the seam allowance towards the pocket facing piece. Sew the seam allowance down to the pocket facing piece with a straight stitch along the length of the pocket curve. This will keep the seam from rolling and showing the pocket facing from the front.
Fold the pocket facing piece around to the wrong side of the front piece and press the pocket curve seam.
Baste the top of the pocket facing to the top of the front piece at 1/2 the seam allowance.
Lay the front piece down so the front piece is wrong-side up and the pocket facing is right-side up. Place the pocket piece on top of the pocket facing, right side down.
Sew the bottom curved edge of the pocket and pocket facing together, .
Baste the pocket, pocket facing, and front together along the outseam, from the bottom of the pocket pieces up to the edge of the pocket curve.
Repeat all that on the other front piece. The pockets are done!
Join the front pieces at the fly and crotch seam
There are several valid orders in which you can assemble a pair of pants. These instructions join the front to the front at the crotch seam and close the fly, then join the back to the back at the cross seam, then the outseams, then the inseams. Other trouser patterns on this site like Charlie join the fronts to the fronts at the outseams, then close the inseams to turn each leg into a tube, then join the tubes to each other at the cross seam and close the fly.
Both of these methods yield the same result, but for Ashley’s order, constructing the fly happens first, and for Charlie’s order, constructing the fly happens last.
Close the fly extension and serge
Fold the fly extension on its fold line with good sides together.
Now sew along the bottom, to close the fly extension.
Trim back one half of the seam allowance to remove bulk before turning it good side out and pressing.
Serge the fly extension and fly facing
Serge (or zig-zag) along the open side of the fly extension. No need to serge the top as that will get caught in our waistband.
While you’re at it, also serge along the entirety of the fly facings J-shaped edge.
Attach the fly facing
Sew fly facing to left leg. You will be sewing slightly past the cross seam point, so be careful to keep the right leg seam allowance out of the way and aim to sew directly on top of the cross seam line.
Finish the fly facing
Trim the fly facing to half of the seam allowance. Tuck in the tip of the fly facing and secure it with a few stitches. Edge stitch the fly facing to the seam allowance. Press the seam allowance toward the facing and understitch the facing for a clean finish. Again, keeping the right leg seam allowance out of the way.
Edge stitch the zipper to the fly extension
It’s a good idea to ensure your zipper stop ends before the indicated stitch line on the pattern. This will ensure you don’t sew over your zipper stop and reduces tension on the bottom of the fly. If your zipper is too long, you can do a 0 length zig zag stitch to create a new stop (on just the zipper itself).
Edge stitch along the left edge of the zipper to the serged edge of the fly extension to hold it in place.
Top stitch the right leg to the zipper
Start by pressing the right leg seam allowance to the back.
Remember that the seam allowance starts slightly right of the center front, the center front is marked in purple in the image, make sure you don’t fold along the center front line by mistake.
Ensure you place the folded edge of the right leg just left of the zipper teeth to prevent fabric from being caught in the zipper.
Stop sewing at the top ‘fly extension’ notch, slightly above the cross seam, and be sure to backstitch. If you don’t do this you won’t be able to keep the extension out of the way when sewing the J-Seam.
Attach the zipper to the fly facing.
Be careful to align the leg left on the right center front. It can be valuable to pin or baste through the facing and right side of the zipper tape. (We need to sew the left side of the zipper tape to the left leg). Ensuring everything is lined, sew the fly facing to the left side of the zipper. Try to get close to the zipper, but not too close.
Sew the J-seam of the fly
Use a piece of paper as a guide to sew the J seam, this can be cut from your pattern along the indicated stitch line.
Now topstitch the so-called J-seam of the fly. Make sure to keep the fly extension out of the way. Since you didn’t sew all the way along the fly extension, you should be able to pin it out of the way.
Bar tack the bottom of the fly
Now, bartack the very bottom of the J-seam (the horizontal part) but this time make sure to also catch the fly extension. You can choose to add an additional bar tack along the J-Seam as well.
Sew the rest of the cross seam
Close the rest of the cross seam below that bar tack and flat fell this seam.
Attach the yokes to the back pieces
Sew the bottom of the yokes to the top of the back pieces, right sides together.
The wider end of the yokes goes on the cross seam, the narrow end goes on the outseam. There are two notches on the bottom of the yoke and top of the back to help you.
Once you’re sure you have them aligned and sewn down the right way, trim the seam allowance on the yoke down to 1/2 its width and flat fell this seam.
Join the back pieces at the cross seam
Place the combined back and yoke pieces on top of each other, right sides together, and sew along the cross seam. Flat fell this seam.
Prepare the patch pockets
Zigzag stitch all the way around the patch pocket pieces.
Fold over the edges at the seam allowance along the bottom and sides of the pockets. Press these so they hold a crease.
Fold the top of the pocket over twice like you’re making a hem and sew a straight stitch along the bottom edge of the fold to hold it in place.
Attach the patch pockets to the back pieces
Put your combined back piece down, right side up. Place the two back pockets on top of it, right side up, at an angle that looks good to you and pin them at the corners. Sew a straight stitch around the sides and bottom of each pocket piece to affix them to the back of the pants while leaving the tops open.
Join the fronts and backs at the outseams
Lay your combined front pieces on top of your combined back pieces, right sides together. Double check to make sure the tops are together before you pin the outseams together. It’s very easy to accidentally sew an outseam to the top or the hem of the other piece and produce something that is not pants.
Sew both outseams and flat fell these seams. You’ll capture the outer edge of the front pockets in the seam allowance along the way, so there will be an extra layer to fold around when you flat fell them.
Close the inseam
Find the bottom of the cross seam and the bottom of the cross seam and line them up at the bottom of the pants, right sides together. Sew the inseams together and flat fell this seam.
At this point you can pull on your partially assembled pants to see if you’re getting in the right ballpark for the fit.
Interface the waistband pieces
Fuse the curved back waistband interfacing piece to the wrong side of one of the two waistband back pieces.
Interface one half of each of the waistband left and waistband right pieces.
Attach the back waistband pieces at the top seam
Place the two waistband back pieces on top of each other, right sides together. Sew along the top curve to join them. Trim the seam allowance close to the seam, turn the pieces so the wrong sides are facing, and press this seam flat.
Attach the side waistband pieces to the back and close the ends
This is the part where you have to pay attention to which side of the pieces you’ve interfaced. The half of the waistband that the interfacing is fused to will be the half of the waistband that faces outwards towards the world when the pants are assembled and worn. The half of the waistband pieces that are un-interfaced will sit against your skin.
TODO: This bit is going to need drawings to show which side the interfacing needs to be on for each end of the waistband, because I can’t keep it straight in my head.
The waistband right piece is slightly longer than the waistband left piece, because it extends beyond the center front of the pants to cover the fly.
Open up the back waistband piece and pin the right waistband piece to one of the ends so that the interfaced halves are aligned with each other, right sides facing. Join them with a straight stitch and press the seam allowance open.
Repeat with the left waistband piece on the other side of the back waistband.
Sew the belt loops
The belt loops are drafted on the pattern as a single long strip, 7x the length and 1x the width of a single belt loop. Keeping it as one piece will make this next step more efficient, but you can cut each loop separately from scraps if you’re running low on fabric.
Also Note
Charlie uses 8 belt loops by default. Ashley uses 7. This is easily changed in the settings if you would rather add an additional belt loop at the center back. Make sure you’re not cutting a strip intended to be 7 belt loops into 8 instead, or each loop will be shorter than intended.
Serge (or zigzag) the long edge of the strip on both sides.
Fold one side inwards, and the other side over it. Then press down with your iron. The end result should be a long strip about 1cm wide.
Now sew along the entire length of the strip, smack in the middle of it. Make sure to use a generous stitch length for this.
Finally, cut your length belt loops strip into 7 equal parts to make 7 belt loops.
Baste the belt loops to the top of the pants
We’re going to divide our belt loops along the waist:
- 1 at the center back
- 2 at the halfway points of the yokes on the back
- 2 on the side seams
- 2 on the front, between the edges of the pocket openings and the center front. They should be far enough from the center front to leave enough room for belt buckles, but without obstructing the pocket openings. (The front pieces have a notch for suggested placement.)
Place the belt loop at these places with their good side down (against the good side of the fabric of your shorts, and the top aligned with the waist). Baste these down in the seam allowance of the waist, making sure that they are perpendicular to the waistband.
Attach the waistband to the outside of the pants
Place the waistband with good sides together along the waist. The interfaced side of the waistband should face the right side of the pants. The seams attaching the waistband sides to the waistband back should align with the side seams, and the right waistband should extend beyond the center front to lie over the fly extension.
Also make sure to leave sufficient seam allowance beyond the start and end of the waistband sides, so you can close them in the next step.
Sew along the entirety of the waist, attaching the waist band and sewing down the belt loops in one go.
Double-check that none of the belt loops are folded up into this seam before you proceed. If they are, you’ll need to unpick and resew a small section of the waistband to free them.
Press the seam you just sewed, pressing the seam allowance up into the waistband.
Fold over the waistband and close the ends
Now fold over the waistband at the correct width, wrong sides together, and press in the crease. This will run along the top seam of the back pieces and the halfway point of the waistband side pieces.
At the start and end of the waistband side pieces, fold the waistband over so it has its good sides together.
Now sew the end shut by sewing top to bottom to just the point where the waistband seam ends.
Trim the seam allowance at this corner at a 45 degree angle, then turn it right sides out. Push the corner out using the tip of a pencil or a similar tool.
Attach the waistband to the inside of the pants
With the waistband folded over, the end of the fabric on the inside of the pants falls below the seam where it was attached on the outside. Working all along the inside of the pants, fold this seam allowance up into the waistband so the fold lies right on this line of stitching and pin it in place. The seam allowance should be fully enclosed within the waistband from one end to the other.
Working from the outside, sew a line of stitching 1/8 inch (0.3 cm) from the bottom of the waistband all the way around the pants. This will go through the waistband outside, all the seam allowances, and the waistband inside, and hold them all together in one seam. Make sure you’re not catching any of the belt loops in this seam.
Bar tack the belt loops
The 7 belt loops should be dangling from the waistband at this point, with one end secured inside the seam and the other end free.
Take the free ends and fold them down at the seam allowance before pinning them at the top of the waistband, directly above where they’re secured in the seam. Press them flat. Sew a bar tack at the top through both sides of the belt loop and the waistband. Repeat this for all 7 belt loops.
Once the belt loops are secured at the tops, press them flat so a crease forms at the bottom of the belt loop below the edge of the waistband. Bar tack them in place again at the edge of this fold.
Finish the button and buttonhole
Create a buttonhole on the left side of the waistband. Either by hand (it’s worth practicing) or with a machine.
Mark the point where you’ll attach the button on the right side of the waistband by drawing through the buttonhole when the pants are closed. Attach the button there with just a few stitches, and put the pants on to check the alignment before you secure it the rest of the way.
Hem the legs
The legs are drafted with extra hem allowance at the bottom. By default, this is 6 times your normal seam allowance. Fold up the bottom hem by 3x your normal seam allowance and press flat. Then fold it up again, press it flat again, and sew a straight stitch along the fold on the inside to create a hem.