Men's Shirt Re-Do # 2: Boy's Pants

I showed you last month how I made one of my husband's old shirts into this sweet little vest applique.

There was still lots of fabric left over so I decided to make something for my son. It was the perfect opportunity to try out this kid pants pattern by Dana at Made.

I laid my pattern pieces out on the shirt to make sure there was enough material. Then I traced around the edges with a fabric marker and cut out my pieces.

Did you notice that the shirt had a front pocket? I decided that I wanted to use that on my pants. I couldn't just leave it on the fabric where it was, otherwise the pocket would be in the crotch area of the pants. Not good. I used a fabric ripper to carefully remove the pocket, still intact, and then ironed over the spot where the pocket had been to remove the evidence.

(The above picture is pre-ironing.)

I sewed the left and right back sides together so that I could get an idea about how to center the pocket and left a 1/4" seam allowance. I pinned the pocket down and straight stitched around the edges with a gray thread.

Once the pocket was attached, I sewed the front and back pieces of the pants together, hemmed the legs using some pants that fit my son as a guide, and finished the waistband with a flat front.

They are perfect. Soft, lightweight and pretty darn inexpensive since I grabbed the shirt out of our "clothes to donate" bag!

They have a flat front, so they could be worn with a shorter shirt and would still look spiffy.

But they have an elastic band in the back, so they will stretch and grow a bit with my boy.

When I hemmed the bottom I left about 1 1/2 extra inches, so in a few months when my son is taller, I'll just rip out the hem and sew it down at a longer length.

I'm still just getting into sewing clothes, so I need to make sure my efforts last a bit longer than just a few months.

In hindsight, (or perhaps hind view?), I should have taken the pocket in to make it a little smaller. I think that taking about 1/2 inch off of each side and 1 inch off of the bottom would have made it the perfect size for his little booty. Maybe compare your men's shirt pocket to a pair of your son's pants to see if you need to make adjustments. Or if you're making a more casual pair of pants, you could make it a cool front pocket.

Either way, prepare yourself for your boy to do some really cool, big, jumping in his new pants.

So rummage around in your guy's closet and grab a shirt that he never wears anymore. It's the perfect fabric for your boy projects!

I'm sure Pinterest has some good inspiration as well! Check it out and let me know what you make!

And while you're there, follow my pin boards here.

Have a great week!!