Easy (but long) repurposed baby pants sewing tutorial

When Eben and Sam were babies Laura and I spent what felt like half of our income on their clothing.

 (Eben left, Sam right)

A trip to the city was not complete unless 4 pairs of baby sweat pants or sleepers, or overalls found their way into our trunk.  I could just kick myself for not learning how to sew before that I had him.  All of the sweet outfits I could have made for them and all the money that I could have saved.

Well, today I am sharing a tutorial for the pants that I would have made for our boys.  I finally got around to re-doing the tutorial for the baby pants that Laura and I used to sell online and at the Farmer's Markets.

Now, don't be intimidated by all of the photos, they are actually super easy.  I just have a thing for posting insane number of pictures in my tutorials.

Sorry about that.

This tutorial is for a pair of baby play pants.  You know, the kick around /crawl around type.  They are upcycled since I used a thrifted receiving blanket as the main fabric.  It is the perfect size and crazy soft!

Warning: Due to the fact that I am making pants, do not be alarmed at the amount of times that I use the word "crotch" or "crotches".  I swear, it is the worst word EVER!  Why couldn't they call it "toothpick" or "dog biscuit" or something a bit less offensive.  Anything but "crotch".

Any way, on with the tutorial...


CROTCH....(sorry, I just wanted to ease you in.)

These pants are approximately sized for 9-12 months, but you can use any size pair of pants that you want as the template when you make your own.  The fabric that I used was a flannel receiving blanket but you can use any fabric, I have done them in seersucker, flannel, fleece, velour, cotton, linen...you name it.  They all work perfectly.

First things first...you need to get the fabric into 4 layers to be able to cut 4 identical pieces all at once.

You will do this as follows....

Now it is 4 layers thick.

Your margins for cutting are as shown..3/4 inch on sides, 2 inches on top and bottom.


Draw a dotted line as shown in the picture (following the lay of the pants) with a fabric marker so that you know where to cut.

You can see the marker lines on my fabric, they are in blue ink.  You just have to connect the dots using a rotary and make sure to cut through all FOUR layers of fabric.

Now, I like to add a little detail to the pants that I make, usually I do a patch or mock pocket.  You can skip the next few steps if you just want some basic pants.

Take out the pins.

Meaning that it forms the crotch of the pants.

If you are making very small sized pants, the leg cuff may not fit over the machine as shown, that is ok though, just feed the pants cuff through the machine making sure to not sew the front and back of the leg together.

Now to make the waistband...

Following shows how to gather the waistband using elastic.

 

 

 

Voila!!!

And the bonus of this pattern is that there is no right or wrong way to wear the pants.

Because of the symmetry of the pattern, the patch can be either on the front or the back, your choice!

I hope that you have a blast making a few pairs of these!  They really are simple.... once you do it once, you will be amazed at how quickly you can do a bunch more.

Hugs, Julia

Psst... come see me over at the Rhythm of the Home blog!