PJ Pants for the Little Guy

I'm absolutely loving the trend on craft blogs to take adult clothing on clearance and turn it into cute kids' knock-offs.  I came across this tutorial on Craft Gossip last week, and I couldn't wait to make some Mini Boden knock-off baggies for my little man.  I absolutely love Mini Boden's baggies.  But at a clearance price of $21, I just can't bring myself to buying them.  They probably take less than $5 in the highest-quality material you can buy of the sort.  Just can't do it.  My mom found these mens' sweatshirts (the same exact ones as the tutorial I linked to) at her Old Navy on clearance for 47 cents each!  All of the clearance items were an additional 30% off, so the grand total for a grey and white and a blue and white sweatshirt was 72 cents which included tax!  Unreal.  

There was so much fabric left after making the baggies (which, by the way, have already garnered countless compliments - so simple and precious!) that I had to come up with a way to use it.  The comfy, cozy fabric screamed pj's to me.  So a quick project turned both sweatshirts' sleeves into 2 pair of jammie pants for the littlest member of the family.  Since the project took less than 30 minutes start-to-finish, I took the opportunity to photograph the steps to share with you.  I hope you'll link to your pictures in the comments if you make some for yourselves! 

1) First, fold the shirt in half, and line up the sleeves, one on top of the other.  If your shirt is striped, make sure to line up the stripes as best as possible.

2)  Grab a pair of pants that fit your child well.  Fold them in half making sure to get the shape of just one leg.  Lay them on top of the sleeves with the outside edge along the fold (top) of the sleeve.  Line up the cuffs.

3)  Use the well-fitting pants as a cutting guide.  You'll want to add a half inch on the inside for the seam allowance and 2 1/2 inches at the top to allow for the casing for the elastic as shown below.

You will now have two leg pieces as shown below.

4)  Open the leg pieces, and line them up on top of each other right sides together.

5)  Pin the crotch seam only.  If your fabric is striped, do your best to match the stripes on both fabrics.  Stitch along the crotch seam using a long stitch length to allow for stretching leaving a 1/2 inch seam.  In the picture below that would be from the top left corner down to the point on the left and from the top right corner down to the point on the right.  Backstitch at the beginning and the end of this seam.

6)  Open the legs, and lay them as shown below.  The two crotch seams that you just created should be lined up one on top of the other with the right sides facing.  Pin along the inseam again taking care to line up the stripes.

7)  Leaving a 1/2 inch seam allowance and using a long stitch, sew the inseam of the legs all the way from one cuff to the other.

8)  Fold the top waistband of the pants under a half inch then down another 1 1/2 inches, and pin.

9)  Using a zig-zag stitch to allow for stretching, sew 1/4 inch from the bottom fold of the waistband making sure to leave a 2-inch opening as shown below.

10)  Measure your child's waist, and subtract an inch.  Cut a piece of elastic to that measurement.  Pin a safety pin to one end, and thread it through the waistband you've created through the 2-inch opening.

11)  Grab the two ends of the elastic, and make sure that it is not twisted inside the casing.  Overlap them 1/2 inch, pin them, and zig zag stitch them together as shown below.

12)  Pull the elastic into the casing, stretch it a couple of times to even it out, and then stitch the opening closed using the same zig zag stitch.

 13)  Turn the pants right-side-out, and you're finished!

14)  I decided to add a little decorative tie in a contrasting color - bright green.  I used a 1/2 inch cotton webbing left over from another project.  I knotted both ends, and stitched it in place on the front center of the pants.

 Finally, try them on your sweet boy and let him test them out.  Love this little guy.

 Their stretch allows for just about anything my 2-year-old boy could throw at them, thankfully.

 Happy Sewing!!