• Prerequisites: a fitting block and a toile (Part IV); laying out and cutting (Part VI).
• Time: an hour to rotate and re-mark a pattern; overnight hanging for bias.
• Difficulty: beginner for cross grain; intermediate for bias and chevrons.
• Tools: pattern paper, a protractor or 45° set square, a long ruler, pattern weights, sharp shears or a rotary cutter, stay tape, a fabric marker.
• Budget: an old cotton saree is ideal for testing bias and border placement.
• Fabric: pre-wash and press first; bias tests are useless on unwashed cloth.

• Chevron legs: split each leg along the crease into two panels, cut at +45° and –45°, so stripes meet in a V.
• Bias yoke: a straight-grain trouser with a bias-cut yoke; stripes turn diagonal at the hip.
• Cross-grain waistband: stripes run up and down the band for contrast.
• Selvedge as a feature: place the selvedge on the outer leg as a finished slit edge or a visible stripe.
• Half-bias churidar: leg on the bias, top (seat) on the straight grain, joined at a seam below the crotch; a common studio method for stability (sources differ).
• Left-handed: no change in method; cutting direction is your choice.

1. Decide the effect: hang, stretch, stripe direction or border.
2. Check the fabric: width, border position, print direction, nap.
3. Lay the pattern pieces on a scaled sketch of the fabric to check they fit at the new grain.
4. Plan matching points (notches) for stripes and chevrons.
5. For bias: plan extra fabric (bias layouts use much more cloth) and time to hang.

• Never pull bias edges while sewing; let the feed dogs carry the cloth.
• Use a slightly longer stitch and a little stretch in the seam on bias, or the seam will snap.
• Match stripes by pinning at every notch, then at each stripe between.
• Press, do not iron: lift and lower the iron on bias.

• The churidar is the best-known bias trouser in India; the bias lets it fit the calf and ruche at the ankle.
• Border placement is everywhere in Indian festive wear: saree borders on sharara hems, palazzo hems and kurta hems.
• Stripes and checks in handloom cottons and ikat are often turned for chevron effects in contemporary Indian ready-to-wear.
• Men’s wear: cross-grain border strips on kurta pyjamas and Pathani suits.

• Women: bias legs and border hems suit festive and evening trousers.
• Men: keep formal trousers on the straight grain for a crisp crease; use grain play in pockets, waistbands or casual trousers.
• Children: straight grain is most durable for play; bias legs stretch and bag at the knee. Use grain play in small parts (pocket, cuff, patch).

1. Mark the crease line even on bias pieces, so the leg can be pressed and checked.
2. Cut bias single-layer; double layers slide.
3. Use tissue paper under bias seams on slippery cloth; tear it away after.
4. Cut a 10 in (25 cm) square on the bias and hang it to see how much it drops before committing.
5. Chevrons need perfectly even stripes; check the stripe spacing across the width first.
6. For borders, plan the hem with the border. Do not turn up the border; face the hem instead.
7. Stabilise the waist of a bias leg with stay tape cut to the pattern length.
8. Professionals true bias pieces after hanging, re-cutting the seam allowances.
9. Use a walking foot or slightly lighter presser-foot pressure for stripes.
10. Photograph the layout before you cut; it is easy to flip a bias piece the wrong way.

1 · The leg twists after washing

1. Unpick the side seam and re-sew on the grain.
2. Press the crease to the grain, not to the old crease.
3. Prevention: keep grain lines exactly parallel to the selvedge; pre-wash.

2 · Bias legs are longer on one side

1. Hang again and re-level the hem.
2. Trim the longer side to match.
3. Prevention: hang both legs 24 hours before hemming.

3 · Chevron stripes do not meet

1. Unpick and re-pin at each stripe.
2. Recut one panel if the error is large.
3. Prevention: mark matching notches on both pieces; cut panels as a mirrored pair.

4 · Cross-grain leg cockles

1. Press with steam and a cloth.
2. Add a light interfacing to the hem area.
3. Prevention: test the cross grain first; some cloths are weaker that way.

5 · The border does not fit the hem

1. Join two border pieces at the inseam.
2. Add a border band instead.
3. Prevention: measure border length against hem width before cutting.

6 · Bias seams snap

1. Re-sew with a slightly longer stitch and a little stretch.
2. Use a narrow zigzag.
3. Prevention: test seam stretch on scraps.

7 · The waist grows on a bias trouser

1. Ease it onto a waistband cut to the pattern length.
2. Add stay tape and re-sew.
3. Prevention: stay-stitch the waist at once after cutting.

8 · The print runs the wrong way

1. Recut the piece if fabric allows.
2. Make the reversed piece a deliberate contrast panel.
3. Prevention: mark print direction on every pattern piece.

• Mistake: rotating the grain without re-checking that the pieces fit the fabric.
• Mistake: sewing bias straight after cutting, before it has dropped.
• Mistake: turning a border up into a hem and losing it.
• Myth: “Bias makes any trouser fit better.” It changes drape and stretch; it can also bag at the knee and seat.
• Myth: “Cross grain is the same as straight grain.” It behaves differently in most woven cloth.

1. Beginner: cut three 10 in (25 cm) squares (straight, cross, bias), hang them, and note the drop.
2. Beginner+: cut a child’s pocket on the bias of a striped fabric and sew it to a straight-grain trouser.
3. Intermediate: make a half-scale chevron leg in striped cotton.
4. Advanced: make a full trouser with a saree border along the hem, cut on the cross grain.

As a hobby: one striped fabric and three grains give three very different trousers.

For earning: turning a client’s old saree into trousers with the border at the hem is a popular studio request.

For teaching: the three-square hanging test is a memorable first lesson on grain.

• Fold bias trousers over a padded hanger or store flat; hanging long-term stretches them.
• Wash striped and bordered trousers inside out, cold, to protect colour and border yarns.

• D&D ebook ch. 11 (grain, bias) and ch. 15 (drape and hand); general pattern practice.
• The half-bias churidar method is a studio practice; methods differ between tailors.
• How much bias drops depends on the fabric; always test.

1. Can you describe how straight grain, cross grain and bias each behave?
2. Can you rotate a grain line through the knee point?
3. Can you place a border along a hem and check it fits?
4. Do you hang bias pieces before hemming?
5. Can you plan a chevron with matching notches?

• Warp: lengthwise threads; the straight grain.
• Weft: crosswise threads; the cross grain.
• True bias: 45° to the warp and weft.
• Chevron: stripes meeting in a V at a seam.
• Selvedge: the woven edge of the fabric.