Friday, March 4, 2011

$3 Wool Longies: A Naptime Sewing Project

Today I made the cutest little wool pants for my youngest. It's a great little project that's made with a thrift store sweater that was half off, so it cost about $3. A fun and easy project that can be made during a nap. I plan on using them as an overnight diaper cover but really these could be for just daytime use. .These took about 20 minutes total of work, though my little munchkin woke up half way through.
The pics aren't the greatest, but bear with me, this is the first tutorial I've ever done and I was trying to be quick.


Take your sweater and cut the sleeves off right at the seam lines.










Find a pair of pants that fit your child well. I chose a baggier pair with a little room to grow because I wasn't using an exact pattern. Once you cut, you can never get it bigger, I can always take these in a little or just deal with a little room and get more use out of them.




Cut a piece of elastic that's about 1 inch smaller than the waist line of the pants (remember, we want a stretchy waist band)







With the sleeves inside out, fold the pants in half, right sides in. Smooth them out and line them up with the seam of the sleeve like in the picture and trim the sleeve with the curve of the pants. I put the seam on what will be the inside of the pant.


















Flip the pants over, and repeat with the other side.

 




 I've left enough room on the cuff so they can be folded up now, and down when my munchkin gets a little taller






 Now pin the part you cut, right side facing in to form a little ridge, taking care at the crotch area to make sure it's lined up well.












 Starting at the top, I zigzagged the edge, as close as I could get to the edge, to prevent unraveling later on. These aren't felted at all and would be way to thick if I did that, so I took this extra precaution.







Again, take care at the crotch seam to make sure you're getting everything in there. Otherwise you could end up with some pretty funky looking pants.












I then did a straight stitch directly next to the zigzag to keep it from pulling apart. Avoid the temptation to make your stitches very tight and small. If you do, the seam will not be very flexible.



This is where Miss Grumpy Pants woke up, so I took the opportunity to put the pants on her real quick to see where I needed to fold down the top to make the waist band. I ended up needing to trim about an inch off the top so the waist wasn't incredibly bulky or up too high like old man pants.


After trimming the top I again zigzagged the edge and then folded over and pinned where I was planning the elastic to be. I laid my elastic on top of my work to double check there would be enough room for the elastic to be in there with a little wiggle room.






I straight stitched the waist band around leaving about an inch un-stitched so I could get my elastic in later.


Hook a safety pin in the end of your elastic to make pulling through the elastic something you wont pull your hair out over. It gives you something to hang on to. I also pinned one end to the opening to avoid pulling it all the way through and making me cry...I hate doing elastic >.<







I then used a crochet hook to shove the elastic through. It takes a little wiggling, but it works. You could also use a chopstick or even the handle of a spoon to do this.





Tada! My elastic is through. Lay the ends of the elastic flat over each other and do a wide zigzag to make it all one happy piece.










That's it! Now put the pants on your baby and let her parade around in them while you chase her with a camera to show the world what a great job you did.








1 comment: