I finally finished Savannah's new outfit. The pants are ruffle pants and the
onesie is from my iron-on cut outs post. The pants are actually very easy to make, except the elastic which for some reason has been a difficulty of mine with ALL my projects. First off: get a pair of pants that is the same size as the one you want. You can even use this pattern to make cute comfy
PJ pants!! I'm thinking about working on a pair of those for my hospital visit coming up in about 8 weeks! ;) So you lay out the pants with the
outer seem lined up along the FOLDED edge of your fabric. The folded edge is the key because that gives you once less seem to sew. *By the way, I am sorry that I forgot to take pics of every single step, I just kept forgetting :( but I will try my best to describe how I did it anyway!*
Once you lay the pants out on your fabric, trace the
inseam, top and bottom. Note: in order to get them the appropriate length be sure to add an extra inch to the top and bottom for the hem. After you have marked your patter PLUS your extra inch for the hem at the top and bottom. Cut out two pieces, one for each leg! Also, if you want ruffles at the bottom be sure to cut two extra strips of fabric that are 4" wide (folded in half making a 2" ruffle) and twice as long as your pant leg bottom.
This is my ruffle cut out and my pants cut out.
Next you are going to make your ruffles, if you do not want ruffles on your pants skip the next few steps. To make the ruffles I set my sewing machine to the longest stitch and just ran the fabric through, folded in half of course, with the top stitch selected.
It will come out kind of crinkled.
Then you want to hold the bottom thread and slide the fabric across the thread. You will notice the fabric bunching up. You may even have to go to the other end of the fabric and work towards the middle from both ends.
This is how it should look as it bunches up.
If you are adding the ruffle be sure to take off the 1 1/2" from the bottom of the pants for your ruffle. You want to take off 1 1/2" for a 2" ruffle because you need to leave 1/2" to stitch the ruffle to the pants.
Marking off extra fabric to remove so I have room for my ruffle.
Then you want to attach the ruffle to the right side of the fabric. I found it easiest to attach the ruffle to both ends of the fabric them bunch it up in between to make it more evenly ruffled. If that makes sense...
You can see how there is extra fabric to play with. If you do not want your ruffle big you can cut off extra ruffle and sew it straight to the pant leg.
Now you want to stitch your ruffle on, I just used the top stitch. I also added a top stitch to the right side of the fabric for a "finished" look.
After your ruffle is attached you can sew the pants legs up and leave the "crotch" (is there a better word for that area? haha) part unsewn (is that a word?) for now. After both legs are stitched up, pin the two pant legs together at the crotch and sew them together.
Stitching on the ruffle.
Now you are ready to sew your hem for the elastic waste band. I'm going to be TOTALLY honest, I SUCK at elastic. But I am working on it and learn little by little with each project. I know that you want your waist band to be the same width as the waist in which you are making the pants for. I guess on mine because Savannah is not here yet, which is probably why ts so difficult for me right now. After your hem is sewn, make sure you leave about an inch to feed your elastic threw. Thread your elastic threw with a safety pin. Once your elastic is in sew it shut!
Hem pinned down
Turn the pants right side out and TA DA!! :) I just LOVE them!!!!!!!
Savannah's finished outfit!
Hope I was able to explain the project well enough. I'm still working on pics and better descriptions! :) I'm still searching for that next project...hope you have a great weekend!
