another pair of patch pants

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you all enjoyed a little holiday and had a lovely feast with people you love.

As I review the many things for which I am grateful, I realize that knowing how to sew has shaped, sustained and customized my life, as well as the life of my family and friends. I am so thankful for that! I am thankful for our mother earth and continue to reuse and recycled when I can.

These are the patch pants I made for little f for the harvest gathering at while back. He calls them his harvest pants. They are a bit different from the pants in my tutorial. I used another pair of pants as a p pattern and made the waistband elastic, so he can take them off and on. Would you be interested in learning how to make them?

the little boys wedding suit

When I bought this pattern from Chicken Hill, I had a few ideas about how it was going to be more boyish, most of them involving buttons. Turns out it was the perfect choice for a wedding suit. Not only was it fairly simple in construction, the clean lines work on corduroy really well. For those of you who are learning to sew, please know that corduroy has a nap, which means you can brush the fibers up and feel roughness, or down and feel smooth. All your pattern pieces must be going up and down in the same direction. This often requires a bit more fabric than suggested in most patterns. I tell you all this because only after cutting out this pattern, I remembered it. Oh my! At least you may learn from this.

Here you see the suit in action with his little cousin, who was the ringbearer at Emily and Rob's wedding in Grand Rapids a few weeks ago.

Love the way this jacket wears. I lined it with a nice cotton batik that has dragons in it, so when he's feeling crazy, he can reverse both the jacket and pants. Could make for some fun holiday photos, huh?

One of the last things I made to wear was this cashmere shrug. It was a turtleneck sweater. I cut off the neck and down the front. Then I cut off the bottom half, folded it in half lengthwise and attached it as a shawl collar. After stitching in the sleeves a bit and down the sides, the bottom ribbing was added to the bottom and a sweet flower stiched on with some large vintage hooks and eyes. I'll show you my inspiration soon...

this weekend...

Sporting his recycled cashmere hat, hand-me-down jean jacket, mama-made fleece-lined cords and converse sneakers, this little guys is ready for another weekend of biking. We did end up with training wheels on since I relinquished the athletic activites to papa, who is far more agile than I can ever dream to be (who needs coordination when you're creative?). But I don't think they will be on for long!

{this moment}

inspired by Amanda Blake Soule at soulemama:

One moment from the week that I want to savor.

new and improved longer pants!

These aqua pants were just calling my name on one of my thrifting sprees. They were too short, but I bought them anyway b/c I loved them and they fit perfectly up top. The green velvet were great too, but after I washed them, they shrunk! So, I decided to make them into one pair by cutting the bottom hem and a couple inches off the aqua pair and adding about a foot worth of the green ones. It only took a few minutes to sew the two tubes together and I had time to do a little yoga before naptime was over!

hoodie sleeves make the best pants!

While I loved this plaid hoodie, the zipper broke and rather than attempt the challenge of fixing it, I repurposed the sleeves for pants for little f! He loves them.

ahem, yes, that is my overflowing scrap basket. And thankfully you can't see my next 25 projects, which are all piled on the corner of my work table!

recycled chenille from bubbachenille

 

Just look at these cute beachy pants! They are probably cozy too. I found them on etsy, along with a few other goodies made from recycled chenille bedspreads.

Here's the perfect replacement for the hot water bottle. We use a "hot pillow" quite often to warm up cold fingers after playing outdoors, or warming up the bed when it's cold. Here's our little song:
hot potato, hot potato, hot potato, HOT! Someday I think this will evolve into a game... hmm, maybe it will be tomorrow!

For those crafty mamas who like to make their own, little bits of recycled chenille, all ready for crafting! You can get just want you want when you make it yourself, and nobody else will have one like it. Perhaps that should be my tagline, what do you think?

growing pants - making pants to fit a growing boy

What have I been doing lately? Trying to keep my little guy in pants that fit. Without diapers, his pants are falling off his slim hips. And his pants that do fit are floods, so I've been sewing fabric onto the bottoms.

This pair of jeans was way too big in the waist, so I cut it off just below the belt loops. The turtle fabric is a wide strip sewed into a circle, twice as tall as I wanted it to end up and the same size as the waist of jeans, with a little extra for seam allowance. After sewing a loop of elastic that fit his waist, I put it inside the circle of turtle fabric and folded it in half. Using my serger, I finished the edges of the jeans and the turtle waistband. Then I sewed them together!

recycled kids clothing tutorial - lined cuffs

Pants too long? Line the cuffs with groovy fabric and roll them up!
Need more instruction?

The mermaid fabric is Heather Ross, one of my favorite fabric designers right now!

cozy pants

My sister found the best pants for my niece a few years ago. They were cotton outside and flannel inside. It's taken a few years, but I finally made a pair. And they turned out so well, that I made another pair for my nephew.

a recycled cotton and wool headband for a superhero bride...

and an upcycled pelican shirt for her little brother..

recycled kid's pants tutorial

Here's a quick little project inspired by a gorgeous pair of silk pajama pants from one of my friends. They were too nice to retire, but they had some structural issues. And I wanted to try out this new pattern I made by tracing a pair of my niece's pants before I made her a pair with expensive fabric.

Cut out the pattern the fold of the pants. You can use the bottom hem if your pattern fits.

Unfold the pieces and lay them with right sides together. Stitch the inseam.

Now line up the center seams and stitch up the legs.

Fold under about 1/2", and then about 1 1/2", press and stitching, leaving open a few inches to insert elastic.

Cut a piece of 1" elastic that is about 3/4 the size of the waist, or maybe a little less. If you are lucky enough to have your subject handy, you can "try it on" first and then add a little for overlapping.

It's a good idea to make sure that the elastic is flat all the way through, and not twisted.
Overlap elastic ends about an inch or so and stitch a little box.

If you can try them on, now's the time, to see if you need to change the elastic. Otherwise, just stitch the opening closed and voila!


I mailed them off yesterday and now I can't wait to see them on her!

link to patch pants tutorial on etsy

This is for all of you who have asked me about making patch pants!


And for those of you who would rather just buy a pair, check out Christine's work!

Sewing tip for easy elastic waist pants

A friend asked me about making kid's pants. We found a pretty good tutorial that helped a lot. First, I make a pattern from a pair of pant that fits well, adding about 1/2" seam allowance, and tracing the pants onto the inside of a paper grocery sack. Add about 1 1/2" to the waist to allow for folding, elastic and stitching. Same for the hem.

Both panels are roughly the same, so I use the one piece, putting the straight edge on the fold of the fabric. It's important to fold the selvedge edges (usually with words on them) together, and use the fold in that direction, so your pattern is running in the same direction as the grain of the fabric. (This is especially important if you are using corduroy or velvet - all patterns should be cut the same way.)

Next, to sew the pants together, you can start with the legs, sewing right sides of the fabric together.

Or you can start with the inseam, sewing the two pieces together. It's a good idea to stitch this again, a little closer to the edge, just to reinforce it.

For the elastic casing, fold over the top about 1/4", and then again about 1/2 or so, press and stitch. Or serge the end, fold and stitch. Leave open about an inch so you can fit the elastic in.

Same thing for the hems.

One big question I keep seeing is about how much elastic you should use in your pants. A rough guide is about 3/4 the measurement of the waistband, maybe a little less if the elastic is quite stretchy. This pair used 1/4" elastic and tends to come down even over a cloth diaper, so I'd use 1/2" or 1" elastic next time.

Put a large safety pin through the elastic (as large as your casing will allow). Thread through casing, remove pin, overlap the ends about an inch and stitch elastic. Stitch casing closed.

Jones' ice cream in Baldwin!

Ah, summertime! On our drives home from Grand Rapids, we love to stop at Jones' ice cream in Baldwin for some homemade ice cream. Recently, we discovered that both Fyn and I are lactose-intolerant, and will be watching Tommy eat the ice cream from now on, but this moment was worth celebrating.
Fyn's pants are made from my favorite Joel Dewberry faux bois wood grain fabric. I made the pattern from another pair of pants, adding a 3" cuff lining on the inside, so he could wear them longer. Good thing too, b/c when I tried to order more (as I wanted a pair in every size!) it was discontinued! So sad!

recycled baby hoodie and pants set

Keeping babies toasty!

This weekend found me at an art show, where I sold some sweet sweater sets. Here are a few to give you an idea. Fyn pulled off the matching hat in the pic here, but it's still around.