Pajama Pants from a Tee Shirt

Eeek!  Christmas is sneaking up on us!  Are you ready?  Do you have any fun Christmas traditions?  What are they?  Leave a comment and let us know.

We have a few traditions in our family.  One if them, is that every Christmas Eve night, my boys get to open a present.  Every year the present is the same--pajama pants made with love by mom!

Have you ever made your own pajama pants?  It's pretty easy.  I've got a tutorial here that you can check out.  You can also make them from a tee shirt. 

Remember how I got a bajillion tee shirts for a dollar off the clearance rack at Wal-Mart?

I’ve used them to make all kinds of fun stuff--even some toddler underwear.  I may or may not post a tutorial on that one.  I don’t want y’all thinking I’m too crazy!

Well, here’s another of those dollar clearance rack hacks--

Start with a knit tee shirt from either your closet, or the clearance rack.

This one was a youth size XL, and I turned them into size 5T pajama pants.  If it’s a new shirt, be sure to wash it first.  You don’t want these new pajamas to shrink!

Turn the shirt inside out.

Next, either take a pajama pants pattern, or a pair of your child’s pants, to measure and trace the pieces you’ll need for these pajamas.

Line up the bottom of the pattern/pants with the original hem on the tee shirt.  This will save you from hemming the pants later.  Trace the pattern onto the shirt.

Cut it out.

Put the pieces together with the right sides facing each other.

Sew from the top sides down to the curve.  This is the crotch.

Do this to both sides, then serge your raw edges.  Or not.  If you’re using knit, it isn’t going to fray.

Now, open up the pants so that you have the ankle, crotch seam, and ankle lined up. 

Sew one long stitch from top to bottom to make the inseam.

Nice inseam!  Again, serge the raw edge, or don’t.  I won’t tell!

The pajamas are now pant-shaped!  Hooray!

Now we need to sew a casing for the waistband.  With the pants still inside out, fold over the waistband 1 1/2 inches all the way around.  Pin it into place, but leave an opening so that we can thread the elastic through.

Now, measure your victim’s waist and thread the elastic through the casing.

Sew the elastic together…

…then sew the casing closed.

Tack the elastic down in the back, sides, and front of the waistband to keep the elastic from rolling later.  Oh, and I think it looks nicer if you topstitch around the top of the waistband, but that’s only optional.

Your pants could be finished at this point, but since these pants are for Firecracker and he’s only five---he’s going to need a way to tell the front from the back.

I’ll give him a fake drawstring.  Cut a strip of fabric.

Ewww…pretend it’s nice and evenly cut…then give it a good stretch.

Knot the ends of the strip, then fold it in half to find the middle.  Pin it to the middle front of the pajamas--right on that center seam.

Sew it into place, and pretend those ends are knotted.  Now, knot the “drawstring” in the center.

Now you’re done!

Nice that we didn’t even have to hem the pants, right?!  ;)

While you’re at it, grab a few more tee shirts and make some pajamas for your other kids, too!

I made these for Monkey.  Just for funzies, I sewed a decorative stitch around the hem.

Jingus thought it was too girly, but Monkey could care less.  He’s two.  :)

Firecracker and Monkey both love their new pajamas.  Well, Monkey didn’t love these pajamas, but that’s a different story!  :)