1970'S DITTOS PANTS: GATHERING MATERIALS

Hi!  Today I thought I would spend a little time on the gathering of materials to sew your own 1970's version of Dittos Jeans or Pants.

1.  Fabric:  There are various different types of fabrics you could use to make Dittos Jeans or Pants.  Most Dittos that I saw at the time were made of a medium weight, soft, brushed, cotton twill fabric and they came in a plethora of colors - (so seldom can that word be used in a sentence).  As a reminder, the colors I saw at the time for the Saddleback Dittos which were the most popular of the Dittos designs were:  White, Light Lemon Yellow, Light Baby Blue, Light Baby Pink, Brown, Light Tan, Light Mist Green, Teal, Medium Blue, Forest Green, Red, Coral.  I think black existed, but I personally never saw these pants in the black color.

eBay:

This might be a good fabric for Dittos pants here.  At $4.95 per yard it's not a bad price.  Unfortunately, they won't ship it outside of the USA.

This might be a good fabric in pink.  This person ships outside of the USA and I think you would need to contact them for a shipping quote.

There are many colors to choose from, but they don't all come in stretch twill fabric.  You could use regular twill fabric or bull denim too and then just keep in mind to add a little to the seams here and there for wearing ease.

Here's another seller on eBay who has the regular twill fabric and many of the colors used in the original Dittos pants.

Another fabric I saw now and again is a thin, crinkle gauze fabric.  I guess the person could wear spanx or something as this fabric is pretty sheer or see through.  I saw these type of Dittos in white or coral.  There is an ad that shows a pink color too, but I did not see the pink color.

Here's a seller on eBay who has the white crinkle gauze.  You can see from one of the photos that it is very sheer/see through.  If you use this fabric you could sew it either in matching white thread or use a dark brown contrast thread.  I did not see any other contrast thread color other than dark brown.

Here's a seller on eBay who has a fabric I am considering for the Dittos Side Saddle jeans.  The Side Saddle jeans might look good on women who would like their hips to appear narrower or smaller.  The fabric used for these jeans was unusual in my opinion both in texture and weight.  These jeans only came in a light weight, thin, washed denim or a charcoal/black color.

Here's a seller who has a nice looking green corduroy.  I really don't remember corduroy fabric being used for Dittos; however there is a person who is selling an actual pair of 1970's Dittos in a light tan corduroy so corduroy was used.

This is just a small selection of sellers on eBay who are selling fabrics similar to those used in the 1970's Dittos as I remember them.  There are many other sellers online as well.  Check them out as well as Etsy.com.  The reason I didn't list Etsy is because many times they don't sell fabric by the yard, but rather by the piece or remnants until you get into the higher prices. 

2.  Zippers. The original 1970's Dittos pants zippers were in an aluminum or silver color rather than brass.  Of course you could use brass or even polyester.  This is up to you.  Find zippers on clothing in thrift shops, eBay, online stores, Hobby Lobby and fabric stores such as JoAnn's.  If you buy the zipper in a longer length than what you need, then they will be easier to sew in as you can zip them up to the top and have the hanging off of the top of the pants before the waistband is attached.  Then once the zipper is sewn in, unzip it down and then just cut the top extra off.

3.  Snaps/Poppers:  Copper or Brass heavy snaps were used as the top button.  You could also use a button of your choice or a jeans non-sew button.  There are many colors to choose from.  I got mine from eBay. I have to buy many things online as we live in an isolated area and we don't even have a Walmart in this town!

4.  Waistband interfacing.  It's a good practice to use interfacing in your waistband; however, I don't think, although I might be mistaken in this, that the original Dittos had waistband interfacing.

Please write and tell me what you think.

Thank you for reading and Happy Sewing!
Kathy