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30 minute pants… a tutorial

By Tricia on March 3, 2016 in Sewing and Crafts, Tutorials and Patterns

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.

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

and now you have pants but no waist

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

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

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)

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.

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

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.

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 🙂

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on the feast of Saint Nick

By Tricia on December 8, 2015 in Handmade Holidays and Celebrations, Saint Nicholas Day, Sewing and Crafts

Saint Nicholas. A wonderful man. A feast day which usually catches me off guard and I am thrown into last minute crafting, fast and furious style. This year is an exception. I was not up until the wee hours of the morning as I have been in past years here and here are a few. A few online purchases and really just one handmade gift and I was done. Chocolate coins in shoes and we were golden.

Mateo got a new pair of mama made slippers (I use no pattern, I just based it off how I make my Mary Janes which I designed and so I just winged it) His feet will be warm and that makes me happy. A few fabritac squiggles have been added to the bottoms so he doesn’t slip. It works. He also received a train whistle which everyone has been only too happy to try out for him. His love of train seemed incomplete without the toot toot from the whistle and he has a few volunteer train conducters who blow the whistle for him as he instructs. He however, will not try to blow it himself yet and with all these helpers this little boy of mine has decided that he doesn’t need to.

I don’t usually like store bought gifts for this day, its not our tradition but this year everyone received a pack of playing cards according to their interest or style. We have always loved playing cards. We will all drop whatever we are doing if there is a good enough game or tournament to engage in. If you know your numbers, you are invited to a no mercy, drag em out card game. Our favorites are gin rummy, Garbage (this game was taught to us by nuns) and Kings to the Corner. Of course Poppa loves Poker and we all try to work on our poker faces to play with him.

I did add a Saint Nick doll to our tradition this year. I have finally decided to make for us all the lovelies I have made for others people over the years. Creating these items for my own family is a major goal of mine and this year I will be concentrating on creating more beauty for us. The little ones really like the little Saint Nicholas and dare I say I do too though I can see where he could be so much cuter and that is my perfectionism rearing its head. Perfectionism, is not my friend. I am learning to leave it out of my creative time and just try to appreciate whatever I end up with. I am also working finally on making our painted nativity and hopefully it will be done by Gaudete Sunday (oh boy I better really knuckle down here).

I must share with you that our advent rhythm of saying the Saint Andrew novena at night with the kids has been so much sweeter with our new nativity spiral. It sounds angelic and almost like a chant with all of us saying the novena out loud in unison. Truly magical I tell you. It’s almost as if we all just float off to bed, light as a feather.

I am almost finished with my first ever newsletter. It is chock full of great and fast gifts for friends, loved ones and anyone on your list. So excited to start sharing this monthly and I need to figure out how to add a signup button somewhere here.

What have you been creating? What do your celebrations look like? I do hope yours was wonderful.

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