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?
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We Wear Short Shorts... Um, no.

I had the best visit last weekend with my girl Jessica. It was pretty funny that it only took us about 20 minutes to get back to finishing each other's sentences. Isn't it fun to have a girlfriend like that? She flew all the way out to Denver from Los Angeles to catch-up with me and catch-up on some shopping.

We headed to downtown to hit H&M - I've wanted to go there for years. It turns out I should have done it years ago. Much of the pieces they have are really young and trendy. Not that I can't rock young and trendy, but it doesn't really reflect well on a mom picking-up your kindergartner in a tube top and short shorts.

While I'm on the subject of short shorts (nice seque, huh?), Jess and I shared our rant about pajama shorts being WAY too short. I recently bought a cute little set at Target.com for about $7.50. Can't beat that, but when it arrived, the fabric was crazy sheer and the shorts were super short. No amount of Nair was going to make those look good.

(Nair Girls)

Turns out Jess was having the same problem. I'm sure my husband would have liked the Target PJ set, but my kids may have ended up scarred for life. We searched and searched for some cute (and not booty revealing) shorts, but no luck. What's a gal to do? Duh, turn a pair of PJ pants into shorts.

Jess had bought some silly Snoopy pants on sale recently and brought them with her to Denver.

(Snoopy)

Sunday morning before a last little shopping venture, I decided to cut them off and hem them up for her. While she was wearing them, I made a little cut about an inch and a half longer than her desired length.

(Chopped)

After laying them flat to get a straight cut, I chopped those little puppies off. Next, I took them to the iron and pressed in a hem, doubling it over so they wouldn't fray. A couple quick seams and tada! New non-booty revealing pajama shorts. See how much shorter mine were than the Snoopy ones? Yikes! Hello bikini wax.

Fabric Covered Notepads

I fell in love with these cute little fabric covered notepads from Skip to my Lou while perusing Pinterest a couple weeks ago and thought they would make great teacher gifts. Since Parker is in year-round school and is off track, he missed teacher appreciation week. He has the absolute best kindergarten teacher.

I decided I should give it a try and made a couple tonight. I'm in love. Want to make one too?

Here's what you'll need:
Coordinating fabrics (1/4 yard makes two notepads)
Iron-on fabric stabilizer (for stiffness)
Spiral notebooks (mine are 4x6)
1/4 wide elastic (optional)
Thread
Sewing machine

First, cut out your pieces. You'll need:
7x14 inch piece of main fabric
6x9 inches of fabric stabilizer
2x6 inch piece of coordinating fabric for pen holder

Next, iron on your stabilizer in the center of your main fabric following the instructions on the package. I just eyeballed this step.

I hate ironing - in fact I've been known not to buy things that require ironing - but this step is important. Iron down the edges of your fabric 1/2 inch all the way around. I used the edge of the stabilizer as a guide.

Next, fold in the sides of your cover (this will slide over the edges of your notepad to hold it on). Again, I used the edges of the stabilizer as a guide.

OK. Time to head to the machine. Sew down the seams on the ends of your fabric. Pin down your folds if you want (I just remembered to tuck them in) and sew around the whole thing leaving the smallest border possible. You want your notepad to slide in fairly easy, so if your seams are too big, it will be tight. Don't worry though, you can trim the edges of the notepad cover to make it fit if neccessary (I did it, but just a little ;-)).

Now, let's add the pen holder. Iron in the sides like you did on the main part.

Sew down the top seam only. The others will be sewn directly to the body of the cover. Place it on the front of your cover. Be careful not to sew through the flaps and pin in place.

Sew down the first side only.

Now, create a little pleat to allow space for the pen. Pin down and sew along the bottom and up the other side.

This last step is optional. It will create a strap to hold the book closed while not in use. When I do it again, I will probably attach it to the front of the book, so when wrapped around it will be in the back of the book. See how mine is in front in the final picture? I think it will looks better on the back.

Now, slide in your notepad - trimming if neccessary - and make more. Lots more. I bought four notepads, but I'm heading back to Walmart tomorrow so I can make more.

Linking to:

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?

Simple Skirts

I've been making some super cute skirts this week and thought I'd share. I bought this fabric on clearance at Joann's a few weeks ago. It was in the remnants, so I didn't have a choice as to how much I could buy. It was a little under a yard. It's a little shorter than I would normally make, but perfect for spring. And I do like wearing things a little low on the waist.

To make it, I cut two panels of fabric about 1.5 times my hip measurement (I just wrapped it around, no tape measure required).
2. Stitch them together on the sides (a simple straight stitch works great).
3. Next, I created a hem by double folding, ironing and stitching it. I did a similar fold/iron method around the top, but created about 1.5 inch channel for the elastic (leave about 1.5 to 2 inches  to insert your elastic).
4. To add a polished look, I put a quick seam around the top of my channel about 1/4 inches from the top.
5. Finally, insert the elastic (wrap it around your waist to determine the length) using a safety pin and sew the ends together.
6. Close the hole you used to put in the elastic and done. I love it!

I love it so much, in fact, that I made another one, but with pockets! I love pockets. Here's a great tutorial for the pockets. I had to take mine apart three times until I read the tutorial and could finally see how it works. This fabric is amazing - $3 a yard on clearance at Walmart. I bought all they had (2.5 yards) and have enough for some cute pajama shorts (more on those later). Pow! Here it is!

It's two inches longer than the brown one. Wore it yesterday and got tons of complements. Yay!

And there you have it. Two skirts for about six bucks.

Favorite Jeans to a Purse

I've told you about them before - my favorite jeans. They remind me of having Parker (at least all the weight I lost so quickly after having him and having to buy all new clothes). I've been able to keep the weight off and he's now five. I even had another kid in there. So these jeans make me feel great.

Alas, they have finally bit the dust. The waistband is falling apart and the crotch is getting a little thin.

I really wanted to do something with them, so I made a purse. It was really tough, but worth it. Here it is:

It's a little bigger than I imagined, but it will be great for summer. I always carry extra stuff in the summer - sunscreen, water, snacks for the park.

Here's what I did (apologies that the photos aren't great, but I got frustrated a few times and had to switch up the plan a bit). First, I cut off the legs, just above the worn thing crotch.

I wanted to add some length to the bottom, so I picked out this awesome outdoor canvas, which I also used for the straps. I only bought 1/4 yard and it was plenty.

I created a rectangle with the canvas and added it to the bottom of the bag, folded up the corners and stitched all the way around to give it strength and stiffness.

I wanted to line the whole thing, so I used some denim I had laying around. I had to hand sew it all in, since it got too thick for my machine. I love the way it came out and use the pockets for my keys and cellphone.

My five year-old took the picture, which I thought was kind of fitting. Even though the picture isn't very good.

Flip Flop T-Shirts

Another girl project. You would think I actually had a girl. Alas, I will just have to keep making projects for the wonderful little girls in my life.

My niece is having a birthday next week. Six! Wow, that means Parker will be six in just a few months. Anyway, this little girl LOVES flip flops even more than I do. So, I decided to add to her collection - in the form of some t-shirts.

Who knew that neon (aka fluorescent) would be back in after the late 80s? Not me, but I'm loving it. Here's the simple T it picked up at Target. Perfect for a little embellishment. I also needed a little scrap fabric, a small piece of ribbon (about eight inches), some fusible webbing and some sharp scissors.

See that little flip flop pattern in the pic? I just drew it out on a piece of newspaper.

Follow the directions on the fusible webbing and iron it to the back of your applique fabric. Next, pin your pattern on the fabric and cut out your pattern. I did it upside down on a second piece, so you will have a pair of flip flops (rather than two of the same foot).

To make the plain shoe look like a flip flop, I made the straps from a scrap piece of ribbon. Cut to the right size and burn the edges to keep the ribbon from fraying. Pin it in place and straight stitch it on.


Trim the excess ribbon and burn the edges once more. Place your flip flops on the shirt where you want them and peel back the paper from your webbing. Iron them in place.


I've seen appliques done with a zigzag stitch, but I prefer the look of straight stitches. Stitch around the applique and Viola! Done!


Ninety percent of the time, this monkey is wearing a tank top, so I decided to add one to the gift. Here's what I did to this simple little cami from Target.

For this one, I decided to do a reverse applique. Pull out the pattern once more and cut out a pair about 1/4 inch wider all the way around. Turn the cami inside-out and pin the flip flops (with ribbon already added with the same method) in place. The right side should be face down, since you are going to cut the top fabric out to get the reverse applique. Keep reading, you'll get it.


Straight stitch around the edges from the inside of the shirt. I left about 1/4 inch seam allowance (this is why you added to the size of the flip flip pattern). Once it's stitched, flip it right-side-out. It should look like this.


Using sharp scissors, cut the inside of the flip flop out. I made a simple cut in the middle to get the scissors in there.


Be careful not to cut too close to our stitches. Tada!


Here are both T's. I also bought a pair of pink flip flops, which I think I'll make removable flowers for, but that's a project for another day and another blog post.