'Allo Guv'na!

This tutorial is going to show you how to turn a pair of adult pants into a pair of toddler pants, with suspenders!

Chim Chimney Chim Chiminey Chim Chim Cheree!

1. You will need:
A pair of adult pants [or pants too large for bubba]
A pair of pants that fit little kiddo well
Scissors
Pins


2. Lay the toddler pants over the top of the adult pants, and mark where the sides are. Make sure it's an even distance apart and don't forget to add a cm or two for seam allowance.


3. Mark where the bottom of the pants goes to and add a cm or two seam allowance.


4. Cut down the sides to where the bottom of the pants will be.


5. Cut across the pants to make them shorter [where you marked]

< back                                front >

6. Now the pants should still be attached by the crotch seam. if you open them out and fold the fronts together and the backs together it should look like this.


7. Fold your toddler pants in half [so the front is on the outside] and lay it over the front piece of the pants you are resizing. Mark the curved line and don't forget to add seam allowance! Mine was very close, so I left the original crotch seam and just cut down the other side of the leg.


8. Do the same for the back. Mine was very close, so I left a bit of the original back seam at the top of the pants.


9. So this is what the back of my pants looks like so far. Yours may be two seperate pieces, but I didn't have enough room.


10. Now you'll make your suspender pieces from the scraps of the original pants. I measured from the waist of my son, over his shoulder to the centre back of his waist. this came to 55cm. Then I measure over his shoulders again, but stopped at about the middle of his back which came to 40cm [which meant the centre back strap of the suspenders was 15cm]. It doesn't matter if these are exact, because I'm using non-stretch fabric, so my plan was for him to wear the suspenders down most of the time anyway. If you're using stretchy fabric it will work well to use as real suspenders.

So I cut two 42cm strips about 6cm wide - adding seam allowance! And one 6cm wide strip that was 17cm long. In retrospect, this centre back strap should be even wider, by about 2 cm I guess [so if you need your suspenders to be perfect, make them 8cm wide!]


11. Now, using an iron because it is a lot easier, fold your straps over so the raw wedges are on the inside.


12. And stitch. I only need one side of the strap stitched to keep it all together, but I did two rows to make it look even.


13. Fold over and stitch one wide end of your centre back strap.


14. Angle your shoulder straps on the centre back strap

 15. Fold the shorter strap around the two, tucking the raw edges under [see this is where it was better for it to be wider, so you can angle the straps nicely].



16. Stitch and serge the centre back butt seam


17. Serge the end of the centre back strap and attach it to the centre back of the pants.


18.  Stitch and serge the outer leg seams



19. Stitch and serge the inside leg seam.


20. Serge and hem the trouser legs.


21. Attach the front of the suspenders equal distance apart.