from the julie-bird.com archives
UPDATE: Thanks to the Craft Magazine blog for their link to my pattern!
I’ll say right up front, this isn’t an original idea. There are lots of tutorials on the web on how to make kids pants, like here and here. There’s also a cool how-to in The Creative Family.
I also need to note that my daughter really doesn’t need any more pants. She has plenty, and it’s too hot to wear them now anyway. So, I did the next best thing. I made her shorts! (Shhh… she has plenty of shorts, too. I just really wanted to sew these and was looking for an excuse!)
They turned out nice. The t-shirt fabric is from one of my old Gap shirts that has a little stretch to it. I didn’t make them too snug, and hopefully they’ll last through the rest of the season.
I used a pair of her shorts as my pattern and traced them onto paper first. The template fits on an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper, so I figured why not share it with the blog world? You can download it here.
Drop me a line and let me know if you make a pair. I’d love to see a photo if you do! Also, this is my first attempt at writing a sewing pattern. Please let me know if something isn’t clear!
recycle: Use large t-shirts instead of new fabric to make soft, comfy kids clothing.
I ran across this tonight looking for some simple shorts solutions (my kids grow out of their clothes way too freakin’ fast!) and decided to give it a try. It wasn’t difficult in the least, and since the leg hems are already done, thank god (I hate hemming… just making the casing for the elastic made me want to rip my hair out) it took no time at all.
Here are some pics of the finished product:
Pieces Cut – http://img40.picoodle.com/img/img40/2/7/9/scuzoid/f_shortsstartm_40e7bf8.jpg
“A” Sewn – http://img40.picoodle.com/img/img40/2/7/9/scuzoid/f_shortssewam_d0f575f.jpg
“B” Sewn – http://img33.picoodle.com/img/img33/2/7/9/scuzoid/f_shortssewbm_cf39ff6.jpg
Finished – http://img37.picoodle.com/img/img37/2/7/9/scuzoid/f_shortsfinism_6a30ce5.jpg