'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.

Little Monster's friend Little Genius came over today for a surprise visit. He'd been playing in the mud so his mummy had given him a bath, then put him in his pjs and gumboots [it is still raining!] and wrapped him up in a cute hooded dressing gown!

I've been intending to make my little honey child one of these since he was BORN, and I got around to it tonight [triumphantly ticks this off list]


 Check out that pose. It's his new thing. You yell out "POSE" and he does this? It used to be a cheesy grin. Oh well, he looks like he's about to kick butt!



Anyway, here we go!

I used a hoodie that Vince pretty well, some black fleece and some rad contrast fabric. You don't need the contrast fabric. It doesn't even have to be cotton, a different coloured fleece will probably be easier, but I just used what I had on hand!



Using the hoodie as a pattern, cut yourself out a hood. You can make yourself a pattern first by tracing around each piece of the hoodie onto paper, but I was fairly confident so I just went straight onto the fabric.



Don't forget seam allowance!

Do the same for the sleeves.


Do the same for the front of the dressing gown. I made my longer, and also extended the front over so it was 1.5 times what it would have been originally.


Trace around the back of the hoodie for your back piece, but remember to match up the length with the front pieces!


When I place the front of the robe over the back, you can see how far it overlaps the centre line.


 Now measure across the front of the hoodie you traced from, double it and that'll be the length for your tie.


Mine is about 10cm wide because I am folding it in half. Cut a tie from the fleece and one from the contrast fabric [if the contrast fabric is not thin, don't worry about the fleece tie].




Now we're going to sew it all together! Stitch across the shoulder seams


And then attach the sleeves and hem them


Then stitch the hood pieces together and attach it to the neckline of your hoodie.

Now get your tie strip/s. I placed my thin cotton over the top of the fleece.


Fold it in half lengthways, pretty sides on the inside.


Stitch at a diagonal on the edges. Snip and then turn these the right way out. This step is called "Mitering" the corners.




Fold the raw edges under about a cm and pin them together so it's nice and neat


Now stitch the whole way around your tie.


Fold your tie in half and then cut along the fold. Now you have two ties! SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE? Yeh, pretty clever.


Pin the ties in at the side seams about an inch or two down from the arm-pits. The Little Monster was in bed for the night so I just guessed his proportions. If you're little monster is up and about you can quickly figure out where bubba's waist is.


Now stitch the sideseam all in one with the armpit and the sleeve. I love stitching sleeves this way, so easy!

You're almost done!

Fold the robe in half, the front edges against each other and the hood in half. Measure form the top of the hood all along the outer edge of the robe, we're going to schmancy it up with some contrast colour/patterns!


Double this measurement and cut this length out of your contrast fabric. I made mine about 10cm wide, to make it kind of wide and enough to fold under 1cm on each side.

Stitch one edge of the contrast fabric all around the edge of your robe


Now this section is probably A LOT easier if you iron the binding. Fold up one cm on each long end of the binding and iron it down. I didn't do that, I just winged it, ironing would have made it heaps easier though!


You can iron the binding in half lengthways also, then just hold it along the edge of the robe and stitch it.

Then just hem the robe and you are done!