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My husband recently had a wardrobe malfunction involving a pair of not-very-old khaki pants.  There was no saving them for him, but the thought of just throwing them away was too much.  They really weren’t that old!  So, I dug out my favorite pants pattern, shortened the legs and made my son a pair of shorts – just in time for Easter. I started with my favorite pants pattern – skinny jeans from peek-a-boo pattern shop.  I measured how long I wanted the shorts to be and then folded the pattern to that length.  I made a size 8 and was able to get both legs onto one leg. On the other leg, I put all the other pieces.  I did have to piece the waistband, but that was OK – I just lined the center back seams up and everything was good.  I cut the pocket lining from the pants pocket lining.

I saved the zipper and buttons from the old pants.

Then, I had the perfect button for the new shorts.

Perfect Fit

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My kids have been having so much fun making gifts for family members.  It’s so nice to see them working on something for someone else.  They do it because they want to – I didn’t suggest it.  It’s inspiring!  So, I’ve been working on some gifts for them.  First up is a “new” t-shirt for my six-year-old.  His beloved armadillo shirt is two sizes too small and beginning to show it’s age.

First though, a funny story about how we got this shirt.  One time when we came to Florida to visit for a week, I discovered that I hadn’t packed any shirts for my youngest son (mom brain at it’s finest!).  How that happened I’ll never know, but Goodwill was one of our first stops.  I found this shirt and a couple others that were the right size and in decent shape.  For some reason this one caught his eye and he was so bummed when I mentioned that it was getting too small and worn.  So, on with the resizing.

I used the t-shirt as a pattern to cut a new, bigger body from some brown knit that I had. I cut the armadillo out of the front and then, I cut sleeves from the back of the old shirt. Except when I went to put it together I remembered that I didn’t cut the sleeves a little bigger. So, I added a brown stripe to the underarm.

The sleeves are hemmed with green thread to add a little color.  I did the same thing with the neck binding.  The patch is sewn on using a feather stitch, but you could use your favorite decorative stitch or even just a zigzag.  I did a rolled hem with my serger (one of my favorite things to do!  It’s just so easy!).  You could also do a narrow hem – turn under 1/4″ and then turn under 1/4″ again and sew.

 I’m sure he’ll be happy to see his new armadillo shirt!  Hopefully it will fit him for a bit longer!

Do your kids enjoy making gifts for people?  Have you ever remade a shirt or other beloved article of clothing?

 

Being modest in dress is something that I think we’ve lost as a society.  People seem to think that modest dress equals frumpy.  Not so!  I recently bought two skirts (one free, one for a dollar) from my local facebook flea market.  Pretty good deal if I do say so.  I knew that the two skirts were going to need a little work.  The just-barely-covers-your-butt look is not something I want my almost ten-year old sporting!  Just for the record – I don’t want her sporting that look at 19 either!

She picked out some material that coordinates with each skirt.  The turquoise skirt is going to be unique!  I told her I thought a solid color shirt would be a must!  The jean skirt is so pretty and it has shorts under it.  I think with a couple purple ruffles, it will look even prettier!

For the turquoise skirt, the material she picked out is actually from a fat quarter group. I cut each piece into quarters so I had four strips of material the length of the fat quarter. Then I sewed them together to make a loop. I sewed the two loops together and hemmed one edge. I used my serger and did a rolled hem, but you could just turn the edge under twice and sew it with a regular machine.  I gathered the other edge and sewed it to the lining of the skirt.
A much better length and such a fun skirt!

Of course, ruffles were made for twirling!

I was going to do the second skirt in a similar fashion.  Then I found this butterfly material and thought it would be perfect for a ruffle.

I made two ruffles and stacked them.  I cut the purple material almost two times the distance around the hem.  The light pink material is almost four times so it gathers more.  I did a rolled hem on both layers (I love my serger!  It makes hemming so easy!).

It’s a much better length now.  Not too short but not too long.

I talked about how to make jammie pants into shorts and how to make long sleeve T’s into short sleeves.  However, sometimes clothing is too short and needs to have something added to it.

My daughter (like most girls I’m sure) has certain items of clothing that she loves to wear.  When they get too small, she hates to see them go and on occasion will try to convince me that they really aren’t too small.  Sometimes, I can fix them.  One of my favorite fixes is sewing ruffles on shorts, skirts, or pants that have gotten too short.

These shorts were just too short.  So, I found some material that coordinated and sewed a band on each leg.  Presto, decent length shorts again.Another favorite outfit is her fleece set made with kitty material.  I think I made it in 2010 so it’s getting short again!

It was a little long when I made it, but after a couple years, they were getting short.  So I had some of the material leftover, but anything that coordinates would work.  Cut pieces long enough to make the sleeves or legs the right length and then add an inch and a half to allow for seams and hems.

Because fleece doesn’t unravel and fray, I just zig zagged the edges rather than doing an actual hem.  If you wanted to do a hem, you can just turn the edges under and sew it with a straight stitch.

I’ve been working on updating my kids wardrobes.  Like I said here, a lot of their clothes were too wintery, but some of them can be modified to fit our warmer Florida climate.

My kids love the cotton knit jammies like these.

They’re great when they’re new, but they seem to shrink up after several washings (not that my kids mind!).  I decided that it would be very easy to turn them into shortie jammies.

First, cut off the legs.  I just eyeballed how long I wanted them, but you could also use a pair of shorts as a pattern.Use the leg you cut off to measure the other one.
For this pair, I just serged the legs (I did a rolled hem, you could also zig zag stitch it).

I followed the same process for the second pair – cutting off the arms and legs (and just eyeballing the length).  But instead of serging the hems, I turned the edges under and sewed them with a regular sewing machine.

Now my boys each have a “new” pair of jammies that are perfect for our new warmer climate.