Thursday, January 7, 2010

From T-shirt to Pants in 30 Minutes or Less

I found this cute idea, how to make gaucho pants from a t-shirt on 2 different blogs-
Live Journal
and
Lil Blue Boo

Their instructions are a bit different from each other but the basic idea is the same. I used a serger sewing machine to make mine, it makes things so easy. My Mommer gave me hers, THANK YOU MOMMER!
It makes this project super super easy, it took me less than 30 minutes to make these-

Here we have our T-shirt, it's an Adult size x-small.
It turned into size 5/6 child pants

I have the sleeves and neck cut off


Then fold it in half and cut down the middle of the shirt.


Open them up, place right side together and match up your edges.
Stitch the V in the middle, that will be the crotch of the pants.


I opened it up flat so you could see what it looked like, it's always at this point where I have to look at what I'm sewing and wonder what I did wrong, so far nothing- it just looked weird.


Now right here at this point, if I was smart, I would have added the extra piece to the waist band. Cut 2- 4 to 6 inch wide strips, the length needs to match the paints waistband, match right sides together and sew to the waist of the paints Like this next picture-


Sorry, that one is out of order, but if you do it earlier than I did it will make it a lot easier.


Turn inside out and match up and pin your leg seams, the inside seams will be intact from the t-shirt, stitch the outside leg seams.


Here they are right side out


If you use a serger you need to trim all the ends and use some fray check glue,
so the seams don't unravel. Now you need to fold back the waist about 1/2 inch and sew it so that you can run some elastic, ribbon or cord through the waist to hold the pants up. I used the bottom of another t-shirt for my waistband so it was already finished and I was able to cut a hole in the existing hem then run my ribbon through there.

Here they are, all done and turned inside out so you can see all the seams.

And here we have our little Gaucho Pants model-

I can't wait to make more of these, they were so easy and so cute. I got the t-shirt at Goodwill for 1$, I found quite a few t-shirts that I am going to be re-purposing, we are saving the Planet here 1 t-shirt at a time :)

14 comments:

Lee said...

That is SO awesome...but I don't get it...But I love it and wish I did cuz I would love to make some for my daughter...

Lissaloo said...

It's probably my kooky directions, go check out the links they probably explain it better, it is really really easy to make :)

Unknown said...

Absolutely adorable....but confusing!

thrasherswife said...

So darn cute - you make it look easier then it would be for me to do!!

Nonna said...

Saving money...good for you Lissaloo and such a darling little model too !

Liz Mays said...

That's so cool that you could do that! I'd screw it up, I know, but they look really cute!

Donna-FFW said...

That is awesome, you are so talented.. I cant even sew, how sad I am. Really great idea. And your little one looks absolutely adorable in them.

Holly Lefevre said...

That is super-cute. I am going to try this for my kiddo. It is too clever...I cannot get over it!

Unknown said...

That's awesome! I think I'll add this to my "to-do" list!

BashfulToast said...

That's an awesome idea! Your daughter is so cutee!

Tracie said...

Oooh! Great idea. I guess I'd need a biiiiiig t-shirt to make some for me. And a serger. I've never sewn knits with my machine. Scairt.

Lissaloo said...

I'm glad some of you are going to try this, it is soooo easy. I think the first link I gave you has a printable pattern.
Kys- On that same link there is another link to a spot where a lady made shorts for herself this way and they were really really cute too.
Knits are kind of a pain just make sure you aren't pulling on it at all or it ends up funny. But this would be a great practice project, if you ruin an old t-shirt that you didn't need anyway it won't matter :)

Monica H said...

This is such a brilliant idea! I love gauchos and could live in them. the pants and the model are too cute!

sanjeet said...

you make it look easier then it would be for me to do!!

Work from home India

Thank you!!!

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