Old T-Shirts Become New PJs

A neighbor gave me some old Phineas and Ferb shirts a while back. They were well worn, but I knew I wanted to do something with them. But what?

I've been on a PJ kick lately. They are crazy easy to make, but kind of expensive in the store. My kiddos wear clean ones every night, so we need several pair.

The shirts weren't quite wide enough, so I had to use two for the one pair of PJs. I was lucky I had two very similar shirts. You can use one adult shirt or experiment with up to four - one for each panel - Personally, I think it would be pretty cute.

Anyway, I made these while the boys were in the tub tonight. And Parker put them on right after. I even had him stand up in the tub, so I could get the waist measurement.

Here's how they came out.

Cute. Right?

Here's how I made them. You'll need:

• two t-shirts
• elastic for waistband
• thread and pins
• sewing machine
• a pair of shorts that currently fit (as a pattern)

There are the shirts I used. Great, but there was some fraying at the collar and sleeve.

First line up the hem on the bottom of the first shirt and smooth it out. Then lay the existing shorts on top. This will be your pattern.

My new ones will be a little shorter, but I was okay with that since the Star Wars ones are really long. Cut around your 'pattern' leaving about 1/4 inch for seams. You'll have something like this...

To make sure both sides are even, I used this piece as the pattern for the other side. Flip it over and cut out.

Your pieces will look like this. See why I flipped over the first side before cutting the second?

Now, you're ready to start sewing. Lay the two front pieces on top of each other, right sides together. And sew together leaving the crotch alone. You'll do that last.

Do that to both front and back. Now, you're ready to sew your two pieces together. Pin the edges together making sure to line up the bottom hem. No hemming! Yay! I hate hemming. Sew together and you should have a tube with the crotch open.

Pin the crotch together and sew.

Time for the waistband. Pin down the waistband to make a channel for your elastic. I used 1/4 elastic because it's what I had on hand and I didn't have a lot of fabric to work with.

Since this is t-shirt fabric, it won't fray. Just a simple fold will do. Sew up your channel leaving about an inch in the back to run the elastic through. Cut the length you need and using a safety pin push it through your channel. Sew the ends together and close up the whole.

Done! He thought he needed to pull up the shirt (a Walmart clearance T for $1. I bought about 10 of them a few months back).

Dillon wanted to get in on the action too. He happened to be wearing a pair I made using this method.

Are they cute? Or what?
http://mommybydaycrafterbynight.blogspot.com" target="_blank">http://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff384/ashleysharee/NewTa-DaTuesdayButton.jpg" />

Pajama Pants

In honor of my most repinned pin on Pinterest (say that three times fast), I decided I had to make these for my weekly Pinteractive post. So far this pin has gotten more than 175 repins! Crazy. I was just looking for a good tutorial on how to make some PJ pants for Parker.

I made him some out of an old Paul Frank robe and they weren't perfect. I wanted to keep the pockets from the robe, so the legs were a little wider than I'd like. Enter the great little tutorial from My Cotton Creations.

Parker likes anything and everything "rockstar" and this fabric was just too perfect. $1.50 a yard on clearance at Walmart. Score. I laid a pair of pants he already owns on top to determine the length. I added several inches for the elastic casing and bottom seams. I also wanted them to be slightly longer since he's growing like a weed.

Like the original tutorial I folded the selvedge edges in toward the middle like this.

But, to make things easier, I folded it over again and laid the old pants on top. Follow the edges of the old pair to make a pattern for the new ones. I added about an inch for seam allowance. Now you'll have two identical pieces - one for each leg.

Next, open up both pieces and lay them on top of each other right sides together.

Pin the crotches together and sew them with a straight stitch. I zigzagged the seams to reduce fraying. If only I had a serger.

Next sew up the legs and zigzag or serge the seams.

Grab your iron and double fold down the hems (so you won't have any fraying). Do the same to create about an inch channel for the elastic (I used 3/4 inch elastic). Sew them up, but leave about a two inch opening to insert your elastic. Measure and cut the elastic and insert using a safety pin. Sew the ends together and close up the whole. Tada! Pajama pants for under $2!

They were so easy and take about 20 minutes. I even made a pair of shorts for Dillon with some left over camo fabric (he loves everything camo). And a pair for me using the fabric I had left over from my simple skirt tutorial. Because I'm only a little bit wider than the boys, I couldn't use the fabric width to make the legs. Instead I decided on the width I needed and folded the cut ends in. It made for easier hemming, since the selvedge end was now on the waist and hem.

I'm going to make some t-shirts to go with the pants using my bleach stencil shirt process. What do you think, guitar for Parker's? Layered leaves for Dillon's?