Thursday, July 7, 2011

Pajama Pant Upcycle

So a few months ago, I think the week before Momma's Day, I went thrifting with the kiddos and got some great goodies.  One of which were these pajama pants...


I loved the fabric.

As a coffee connoisseur how could I pass them up?  Especially since the tag was $1.89 and everything was 50% off in the store (well there were a few things that were 75% off but I digress).  The problem was...

they were the wrong size.  By a lot.  Moreover I'm more a pajama shorts kinda girl than pants.  So what was I to do?  Pass them up?  Obviously not!  I scooped up my great fabric find and knew that I'd turn them into shorts for me.  Shorts that I will love and wear all summer long!

The first thing I did was try them on and mark where I wanted to cut them off.  Seriously, I didn't over think this too much.  I knew how short I wanted them and then eyeballed about an inch and half for the hem stuck a safety pin in and I was good to go.  While I did like the lace at the bottom of the pajamas I didn't want to rip out that seam plus there wouldn't be enough for shorts as thighs are a bit wider than ankles...but just a bit right ;)

Next I cut off the elastic waistband

If I had been entirely thrifty and adventurous I would have ripped out the waistband and reused the ribbon and elastic...however naptime doesn't last forever and kids can only be good so long which means time was of the essence.

Then I carefully pulled one leg inside the other, making sure that my safety pin was on the outside so I would know where to cut.

Without even so much as a deep breath in to prepare myself I cut those pants into shorts!  Trust me, 95 cents isn't that bad if I totally screwed it up.  But I didn't so let's not linger on that.

Once I had the shorts cut I increased the seam allowance on the outside seam by a half inch which means I took the pants in by 2 inches.  Then I increased the front to back seam allowance by a half inch so total I had taken the shorts in by 3 inches.  Then I tried them on.  Still a little too big so I took them in by another inch (just at the side seams).  Then I cut off the extra fabric from the seam allowance and added the elastic.

Then I hemmed them up.

And then I had a finished pair of pajama shorts that took about 25 minutes to create!

Originally I had planned to use the extra fabric to accessorize a tank top to make a matching pajama set but the fabric is so cute, and I have so much left I may make Elsa a pair of matching jammies :)  How cute would that be?

So all in all, I probably spent about $3 if you consider the elastic and thread in your cost analysis of my new pajama bottoms...which isn't bad if you ask me.

Hope you're all having a great week!

{{hugs}}
Buffy

Have you been thrifting lately?  Any great finds you wanna share?  Maybe you've been creative and resourceful and wanna talk about it.  Well I'm always up for a chat and would LOVE to see whatever it is you've been up to :)

2 comments:

  1. Matching mother/daughter jammies would be so cute!

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  2. Just wanted to thank you for your comment on LuvintheMommyhood. I really appreciate your insight on her post, especially your "point number 3". :) I fear I do fret over what others think and have the mommy-guilt that goes along with it. I think I'm going to write your quote on my kitchen chalkboard: "Embrace the Momma you are." I so need that right now!

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