What began life as a sheet, is now....

pajama's!

I did a little bit of op shopping yesterday, and found this awesome sheet. I've been on the lookout for something to make some new lounge pants for me and this was perfect. That is until I chopped out and sewed them into pants that just wouldn't fit me! :( So, these are now Hope's pj's and I'll have to look out for another neat sheet - LOL! Oh well...

the sheet was only $3!!!

Tutorial; Make Pajama/Lounge Pants

I had an email from one of my readers (Marie) and she asked how I went about making my lounge pants, so thanks to her I decided to make a tutorial for you all. :)

They are super easy and here's how:

Requirements;
1 metre of chosen fabric (mine here is 120cm wide, and I didn't use the whole metre)
thread
old pair of pajamas or trousers to base pattern on
good fabric scissors

1. Fold the fabric into half, then half again lengthwise. If I was making proper trousers I would be more careful, and would probably fold in half once, make one side and then place that onto the fabric again to make the other leg - but I'm lazy... Lay your old pajamas onto the folded fabric with the fold against the fold, sewn edge should face the selvedge.

2. Cut the fabric, making sure to give yourself a seam allowance - I gave myself just over a centimetre at a guess. Make sure you leave enough at the bottom and top for hemming and elastic casing.

3. The back needs to be higher than the front, so cut about 1 centimetre off at a slight gradient.

this is what the legs look like at this point

4. Here comes the BORING part. Zig-Zag around the entire edge of the fabric.


5. Now sew the inside seam of each pajama leg. I don't even bother to pin, but you could if you wanted to be careful.


6. Here's where I use the pins. Pin both sides of the crotch together, making sure the centre of the inside leg seam lines up with the other side.


7. Sew together, reinforcing the crotch area by sewing back and forth a few times.


8. Make the casing for the elastic by folding and ironing the fabric at the waist. I fold/iron about 1/2 a centimetre in first, and then enough to cover the size elastic I am using.


9. Sew the elastic casing, leaving a gap to thread the elastic.


10. Just like when you made the casing, iron the hemline of both legs twice.

once

twice

11. Sew both hems.


12. Thread the elastic into the casing. Then sew elastic together using the zig-zag stitch. Sew up the gap you left to thread the elastic.

TAH! DAH!

If you have any questions, just leave a comment... :) Please excuse the photo's, I'm no professional!

first attempt | lounge pants

I've been wanting to make myself some lounge pant's ever since the phenomenon of making them out of old sheets etc. hit the blogging world.

These are my first attempt, and I need to say one thing before I go any further - if you are going to use an old pair of pants to base your pattern on, make sure they fit first! Mine are just a wee bit tight, they're comfy, but just on the "almost can't get into them" scale. Yes, I did make seam allowances - so that wasn't it! I will still wear them, cos' I love the fabric. In fact, you can win some of the gorgeous vintage fabric in my giveaway contest!

I love, love, love them! And now I just HAVE to go op-shopping tomorrow to see if I can't get another cute sheet to attempt a second pair!