How to Make your own Lederhosen: A Step-by-Step Tutorial

UPDATE 10/23/10- See the lederhosen in action here.

It's fairly simple to make Lederhosen for yourself or a loved-one. I made a pair for my husband's birthday last year, and they were such a hit, that my brother-in-law requested a pair of his own. I tried to document the process as clearly as possible. If anyone actually makes a pair, following this tutorial, please share!!! I would absolutely love to see your handiwork!!!
Step 1: The Materials
Start with a pair of corduroy pants (green or brown work great). You can either use an old pair, or go buy a pair from a thrift shop. They need to fit in the waist, but it doesn't matter if they are the right length.

You'll also need 2 shank buttons, felt in various colors, embroidery floss, 2 matching hair elastics, and you may need about 1/4 yd of plain cotton fabric.

Step 2: The Pieces
Lederhosen are essentially a pair of shorts with suspenders and a chest piece.
Try on the corduroy pants and mark the length you want the shorts to be. While the pants are on, measure how long each suspender needs to be--from the back of the shorts, up over the shoulders, down to the front of the shorts--write this measurement down and set it aside.

Then, take off the pants and cut off the legs where marked (remember to leave about an inch extra for seam allowance). Take each leg and use your seam ripper to open up the bottom hem. Cut each leg bottom up the side, and iron flat.
Step 3: The Shorts
Hem the shorts--fold up the seam allowance evenly on each leg, pin, and sew-using a straight stitch. While you're working on the shorts, hand sew matching shank buttons on the 2 front belt loops--these will be used later to secure the suspenders.

Step 4: The Suspenders
Get out your measurement of how long the suspenders should be. For my brother-in-law, each suspender needed to be 42"+ 2" seam allowance=44". Cut one of the leg bottoms into as many 2" wide pieces as you can (this includes a 1/4" seam allowance).
Sew the 2" pieces together into one long strip. Measure your strip to see if it is long enough to use your corduroy for the front and back. For my brother-in-law, each suspender needs to be 44"--times 2 suspenders is 88"--times 2 for the front and back is 176". I didn't have enough corduroy for this, so I will just use corduroy for the front. I used some black cotton for the back of the suspenders--I cut it into 2" strips and sewed them together to be 88" long.

Put the corduroy and the backing right sides together, and sew the 2 long sides with a 1/4" seam allowance. You should have 1 long strip. Cut it in half, each section should be at least the length of your measurement--for my brother-in-law 44". Now comes the fiddly part--attach a safety pin to the end of each suspender and turn the tube right side out. Because the corduroy is thick, this may take some patience!

Once each piece is right-side-out, iron it flat, then topstitch along the long sides. I also used an overlock stitch on the short ends, you could also use a zig-zag stitch, to prevent raveling and encourage the short ends to stay flat.

Step 5: The Chest Piece
Now, we're going to work on the chest piece. This is the part that you can get the most creative with.From one of the cut-off leg pieces, cut 2 chest pieces. Look at my picture to get the shape for this piece, but you can modify yours however you want--mine is approximately 15.5" long, 4" wide on the ends, and 5.5" wide in the middle (this includes a .5" seam allowance).
Then, get to work on the design. I use felt for my designs because it is so easy to work with, and it doesn't ravel. You're welcome to look what I've done for design inspiration, but you can make whatever design you like--I think a nice floral motif would look good, or maybe a tasty pretzel!
I suggest drawing your chest-piece-shape on a piece of paper (remember to draw it .5" smaller because of seam allowance), and then play around with designs and placement.
Once you have a design you like, use embroidery floss to sew the felt pieces onto 1 of your chest pieces. (Again, be aware of your .5" seam allowance.)
Put your 2 chest pieces right-sides together. Pin, and sew along the long, curvy edges. Turn right side out, and carefully iron the edges to make it lie flat--try to avoid ironing your felt embellishment.

I then used an overlock stitch on the short ends, you could also use a zig-zag stitch, to prevent raveling and encourage the short ends to stay flat.
Fold each end back to form a tunnel at least 2" wide--this is where the suspenders will pass through. Hand-sew the ends down--only catch the back chest piece, so you don't see any of the stitches on the front side with the embellishment.

Step 6: Put it All TogetherSew the suspenders to the back of the shorts. Slide the suspenders into the chest piece. Have your model try it on. Based on how long your suspenders are, you can either sew a button hole into the bottom of each suspender to attach to the shank buttons. Or, you can fold up the bottom of the suspenders, enclose a piece of elastic (I just use a pony-tail-holder hair elastic), and sew closed. In this case, you will hook the elastic onto the shank buttons.

That's it! Frolic around and maybe dance a polka!