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30 minute pants… a tutorial

30 minute toddler pants from a shirtIMG_9598IMG_959730 minute toddler pants toddler eternity scarf farmish momma toddler pants famrish momma toddler pants tutorial IMG_9600

This little boy of mine.  He is a little whirlwind.  Never tires of running here and there.  Keeping him still seems impossible one second and then he decides to snuggle with one of us and chill for hours or remembers that Pooh Bear the movie is a great way to spend an afternoon.  He is scared of nothing and I pull him off of counters or ledges constantly.  My poor little mommas heart with this boy, I feel as if it is always jumping to the rescue but he just keeps going like its no big thing.  He, like me, cannot wait until the warm day of spring come so he can just live outside.  It’s our thing ya know.  Winter is not his idea of fun and neither are pants most days.  His Farm Boy pants (remember these?) won’t keep him warm and tight pajama pants are not his favorite.  Today we woke to snow.  Another day inside except for sap collecting and his little legs need to be covered, even if he thinks its not such a great idea.

I decided to make him a loose pair just like his Farm Boy pants and recalled an organic long sleeved shirt sitting in my pile of clothes to reuse.  I found this shirt in one of my usual thrift store digs and it is buttery soft plus organic. It was also such a steal at .99.   Since he is still not potty trained, I made them roomy to fit his diaper and when he potty trains, if that ever happens, it will just be comfy and loose.

A few friends have commented to me for the last year that they miss seeing tutorials here so here is a quick one to make some easy baby pants.  Really, these take 20 minutes and your are done.

30 Minute Toddler Pants from a Long Sleeved Shirt

These are quick and great for last minute like when you just realized that all suitable pants are looking too small.

 

Cut off the long sleeves.  Because Mateo is 3 now I have to cut more than just the sleeve but if you have a little one then just use one of their pants now as a template and cut at that length.  By using a ready made shirt, you take advantage of the hem already being done for you.  I love saving time and sewing steps.

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Next,  turn one of the sleeves inside out and insert inside the other one so that right sides are touching and stitch along the edge like my messy drawn on stitch line in the picture

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and now you have pants but no waist

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Fold down the fabric and then fold it under one more time to make a waist casing and pin all around to hold in placeIMG_9556 IMG_9557

 

sewing waist casing closed but leave a space at the end open,

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next find some elastic.  Do you save elastic like I do?  In this pic I see lots of elastics saved from clothing and a few bed sheets (so much elastic in those bottom sheets)
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I have a fancy elastic pulling tool but I still prefer a good old fashioned large pin.  Pin it to the end and insert into the casing, working it through the whole way until you reach the opening again.  At this point I usually pin both ends of the elastic together so I don’t risk losing either one back into the casing in the next step.IMG_9561 IMG_9562

Now its time to track down your little one and try it on them.  Hopefully, they didn’t get a kitchen stool and eat all your dried cranberries from the pantry shelf.  Oh they didn’t?  Well good…  Adjust the amount of elastic needed to make the pants fit snug but not tight and sew the ends together.  I overlap one end over the other and sew back and forth a few times

 

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and now it’s time to close that casing up and we are pretty much done!  Just trim  all strings that need to be trimmed and sit back and smile.

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and there you have it.  Soft pants that will keep little legs warm so they can move even faster.    If I left anything out or you have a question, just post it in the comments 🙂

Comments { 3 }

label your pantry with free chalkboard paper

I do not like to spend money, you did know that right?  Honestly, my first memories of life revolve around my mother trying to make it and keep us fed.  I recall her saving her pennies in a gallon jug and taking it to the gas station to buy gas.  She scrimped every cent and never bought herself anything.  We always had what we needed and somehow she kept us in a private school (really no idea how she did that) and never wasted anything.  She is my hero and that was imprinted on me at a very early age.  Money spending…no.  I like to save it.

So with so many projects to do here, I have to get creative to not break the bank.  The other night while Poppa and I where waiting at the painting department for our paint to be mixed, I told him that I needed to find chalkboard paper but it was too expensive in the places I had found it and I didn’t want to buy a whole roll of chalkboard sticky paper to label all the jars in the new pantry.  As I leaned on the counter, daydreaming a bit to pass the time, I turned my head and there it was, the perfect solution and free.

Now, my husband is used to me raiding the painting chips in the painting department for all kinds of little projects.  Aren’t they great.  But I must have had an excited look on my face as I zipped over to the wall full of paint chips because he followed me.  These paint chips, the ones that are only one color per block are the perfect “chalkboard” paper.  They are matte and they come in every color imaginable.  I quickly decided on blues, browns and blacks and grabbed 2 or 3 of each.  I told the girl mixing my paint what I was up to and she loved the idea.

So there you have it.  There are so many color possibilities and some paint companies have paint chip cards as big as a post card if you need a really big label.

I just traced the jar lid onto the back of the paint card, cut them out and then just put them on top of the metal jar lid and then placed the jar ring on top.  I know there are circle punches that would make the job way easier but remember what I said about spending money, scissors are free.  Easy peasy.  For the bigger jars that are not mason jars, I used my glue gun to affix the label to the front and just in the nick of time too, last night the girls made a batch of raising oatmeal cookies but confused the confectioners sugar for flour???  Our flour isn’t even white but they did it and of course it was not edible.  At least now, everyone knows what is in the jars.

If you missed our new real food pantry post, here it isIMG_9756IMG_9757IMG_9746 IMG_9748 IMG_9749 IMG_9760IMG_9754IMG_9743 IMG_9731.

Comments { 13 }