Easy Pants

Remember this outfit? I wanted a dark brown shirt/pant set but didn't want to spend time or money searching for the right outfit. So naturally, I decided to make it. I wanted to use knit so little C could be comfortable in his outfit, it was after all his first birthday and party. I ended up buying a dark brown 3XL Hanes t shirt from the folded shirts in the Men's section at Walmart. The shirt went far. It made one pair of 18 mos pants, one 18 mos long sleeve shirt, and the belt on his vest! I may buy more shirts just to use the knit for other projects. 

I started by finding a pair of pants that fit C. I laid out my freezer paper and folded the pants in half and made sure the seam was pulled out. See how I have them laid out and you can really see the shape of the pieces?

Next step: Trace, making sure to add a seam allowance, about 1/2 inch all the way around. Place pattern on your fabric and cut 4. (OPTION: You can also place this piece on a fold, just put the long, straight edge on the fold and do NOT incorporate a seam allowance on that side. Cut 2 on fold.) 

Pin and sew along the straight edge if you did not cut on the fold and pin and sew the inseam. Leave the curve open! Notice where my pins start, the open space will be where we connect the two pant legs together.

Turn one pant leg right side out and leave the other leg right side in. 

Put the right side out sleeve on to your arm like a sleeve with the bottom of the pant leg at your wrist.  Pull the second leg right over top of it.  Match seams, Pin. Sew. Pull leg out of pants inside. You should now have a pair of pants with all the seams on the outside. It really works. 

Hem the bottoms of each leg. Do this by folding one half inch, then a second half in. I like to press here, and then Sew.

Now make a casing for your elastic. Do this my folding the top of the pant in, larger than your elastic plus seam allowance. I used 3/4" elastic and folded my edge 1 1/4" down. Leave an opening so you can pull your elastic through. Notice the X. Sew.

Use a safety pin to pull your elastic through the whole pant. Then sew your elastic ends together, and close up the whole. I like to put a small piece of looped ribbon into the seam there to make it the back, and I like to run a stitch up the fabric along the original seam (not pictured, but leave a comment if you want one.) to secure the elastic and prevent twisting.

Turn right side out and you have some comfy new lounge pants! 

******A few Notes******

*Make sure to pre-wash your fabrics, to prevent shrinkage later.

*I also generally serge my edges, but was in a hurry on this day. Also knit doesn't unravel the way cotton and other fabrics do so it wasn't as big of an issue for me.
**Share some love and leave a comment so I know who you are! Also, stay tuned, I have a fun project in the  works and what I am making is headed to an online auction in support of a little boy who just had open heart surgery.