If you are like me, you hate to get rid of something that is ‘perfectly good,’ knowing that passing certain articles of clothing along to a second-hand store, is simply a way of letting someone else send them to a land fill.
A bag of hand-me-downs recently afforded me some such articles. One of the pieces was a striped shirt of heavy cotton jersey. T-shirts are top on the list of clothing I have seen in dumpsters, outside of second-hand stores, so I added it to my stash, thinking of the cute pants they would make my baby.
In the past, I have used several different pants patterns, but non have fit the way I would like them to, so this time, I made a pattern, using a pair of well fitting pants my baby already owned. This is a great method of obtaining a free, well fitting, pattern.
Making the Pattern
To make a pattern, using a pre-existing garment, begin by folding the garment on the seam lines, so you will be working with one piece at a time.
Lay the garment out on your piece of paper. I am using lined writing paper, left over from a local pre-school. Options for paper include:
- News Paper.
- News Print, a roll end can be obtained from your local printing shop.
- Tissue Paper.
- Sew-on interfacing.
Trace the outline of the garment, along the seam lines. If the seems are not right on the edges of the folded garment, estimate how much bigger/smaller the garment is, and draw the line appropriately.
Using a ruler, mark a 5/8″ seam allowance on all sides, and an appropriate hem. The hem on my pattern is 1″ deep.
Mark the grain line, and cutting instructions, for future reference.
Repeat for all pieces of the garment, including facings, if any.
Cut you pattern out, using paper scissors. You are now ready to begin making the garment.
Making the Garment
Prepare your fabric.
If you are using new fabric, wash, dry and iron if needed, then fold it along the grain-line, matching the selvage edges.
If you are re-making an old garment, carefully cut along the side seams (unless, of course, you intend to reuse them, by incorporating them into the new garment–I could not do that, as this was a woman’s shirt), and fold along the center, matching the hem lines, to obtain a straight grain-line.
Lay out your pattern.
To assure you are accurate with the grain line, measure from the pattern markings to the folded edge. The measurement at each end of the line should be the same.
I am re-using the hem, so I folded up the pattern at the hem line, and laid it out accordingly.
Pin as necessary, and cut. Using sharp fabric scissors will make cutting less of a chore.
When all pieces are cut out, you are ready to assemble the garment.
Assembling Pants
To assemble basic pants, like I am making here, follow these guide lines; and remember, all seams are sewn, right sides together, using a 5/8″ seam allowance.
- Sew the outer leg seams, matching the front piece to the back piece.
- If you care to embellish the legs, now is the time to add trimming.
- Sew the inseams, front to back. -Some times these seams are not the same length. If that is the case, stretch the front to match the back, in the 2″, on the crotch end of the seam.
- Sew the inseam, front to front, back to back, carefully matching the inseam.
- Re-enforce this seam by sewing it two times, once at 5/8″ and once at 1/2″.
- Sew on the waist band, and make casing.
- Cut elastic 2″ longer than baby’s waist measurement; inset in casing, using a safety pin to pull it through, and sew together by overlapping the extra elastic, and zig-zagging the length overlapped.
- Finish the waist band.
- Hem.
- Clip all threads, and turn right side out.
The pants are ready to wear!
P.S. If you have a question, suggestion, or have used these instructions, please let me know! Thank you.
What a good way to use shirts! I’ve always had trouble figuring out what to do with them, unless they’re suitable quilt material … and I hate passing certain ones on, knowing that few other people are going to want them, either.
Quilts… Now that is a good idea.
I can just picture my favorite, but stained baby shirts making a sweet, comfortable throw or treasure for the next generation. Ahh…I feel another project coming on.
When you say mark the grain line, how do you find the grain line to put on the pattern you just copied?
Hello Barbara-
I find the grain line by looking closely at the article of clothing that I am copying, to identify its grain line. I mark it by folding the garment on its grain line, then marking the pattern to match. On the little pants, and on the jeans I am wearing now, the grain line runs perpendicularly to the hem.
If I am not able to identify the grain line, as when working with some synthetic fabrics, I mark the pattern according to how I want the fabric to hang. As a rule, grain lines run vertically, except on cuffs, collars and sashes.