Willa Pant Hack: How to Remove the Side Seam for Seamless Prints
Ann Taylor, Anthropologie, Aratta, Tuckernuck, The Upside
I’ve been gathering inspiration for fun Willa Pant variations lately, and one style that keeps catching my eye is engineered prints — especially bold stripes and floral designs placed strategically along the pant legs.
If you’re not familiar with the term, an engineered print is a fabric print that’s intentionally placed on specific areas of a garment. Think vertical stripes running perfectly down the side of each leg, or florals blooming only along the hem or outseam.
The only problem? It’s tough to match engineered prints when there’s a side seam — it can break up the design and look unintentional.
But good news: removing the side seam from the Willa Pant is super simple, and I’m walking you through it step-by-step!
✂️ How to Remove the Side Seam:
1) Lay out the back pant pattern on your fabric, following the original cutting layout.
2) Place the front pant pattern next to it, aligning the outseams.
3) Fold under ½” on the front outseam to remove the seam allowance. (You could also trim it off, but folding lets you reuse the pattern later.)
4) Align the front pant along the back pant, overlapping the back piece by ½” to remove its seam allowance as well.
📝 Note: You’ll see a little notch along the top edge where the pocket usually goes — we’ll clean that up in the next steps.
🧵 Adjusting the Pocket
5) Fold the pocket pattern in half along the “fold” line.
6) Use the folded pocket piece to fill in the notch at the waist by aligning it behind the front pant piece. This smooths the waist.
7) Cut around your new pant piece, making sure not to cut along the original side seam line.
✅ Tip: Add a notch at the top of the original side seam location — this will help with waistband placement later on.
✂️ The new cutting layouts will look like this:
44″ Width: Sizes 2-6 (2 3/4 yds.)
44″ Width: Sizes 8-14 (3 yds.)
53″ Width: Sizes 2-10 (2 3/4 yds.)
53″ Width: Sizes 12-14 (2 3/4 yds.)
🧵 Adjusted Sewing Steps
1) Start with Steps 1–2 from the original pattern (baste the pleats).
2) Jump to Steps 8–9 and sew the front and back rise seams.
3) Skip Step 10 — the outseams are already connected!
4) Continue from Step 11 onward, using your side seam notches in Step 18 to help align the waistband properly.
🧶 Final Thoughts
That’s it! This simple hack opens up so many design options and works beautifully with directional or engineered prints. I can’t wait to see what you create!
Happy Sewing,
Sarah Jo
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