How to Eliminate the Side Seam on the Inspire Tights - By Brenda Schultz

I recently received this 42” cut of ‘Carta Marina’ on athletic brushed poly from Zenith and Quasar and knew I needed a pair of leggings. 

And while I love my Stride and Inspire tights – they have a lot of seams that would interfere with the beauty of the print.  So, I eliminated a seam on the Inspires to make a pair of leggings with only one inner leg seam.  I know some of you are quaking in your shoes – but really, it’s not that difficult.  As long as you are careful – you can be successful.

First – I grabbed both front and back legs of my inspire tights pattern and identified the outer leg seam line.  Then, I marked a 3/8” seam allowance the ENTIRE length of this edge.

Next, I taped the front to the back, overlapping to the 3/8” line that I marked – thereby eliminating the seam allowance (so my fit will be exactly the same as my Inspire tights). 

Then, I cut out my fabric.  Note that the back leg appears to be a smidge shorter than the front (perhaps due to my folding of the pattern)…I just cut it even with the front.

Now, you are ready to sew – just follow the instructions from the pattern (but you get to skip multiple steps)…

Step 1) Prepare the pant leg for the gusset, SKIP steps 2 & 3 (as I’m skipping the back of knee inserts) Step 4) Stitch on the gusset and then step 5 stitch the back seam together.  Again, since I’m not using the front angled insert skip ahead to step 10 and stitch the front seam.  SKIP STEP 11 (as you already have a combined front/back piece) then step 12 sew the leg inner seam.  At this point, I decided I wanted the high waistband from the Stride tights – so I cut out my waistband and followed the instructions to assemble and attach…no other mod necessary! 

Now I have a beautiful pair of athletic leggings with a great design.

So, even with the gusset – these tights took me less than an hour to cut out and assemble…but because they are an athletic cut, I know they will stay put when I finally get to wear them to the gym!