Therapeutic Crafting: Expect Moore

Hey everybody! Let me introduce you to the wonderful, magnificent, Carolina from Expect Moore. She has some really fun ideas.

I'm so excited to be swapping blogs with Brenda this week! I just love her creative space over here, don't you? And I agree... crafting is pretty therapeutic! :D

I'm Carolina from Expect Moore, a little craft blog where I try to do some fun stuff. If you'd like to check it out, I've got a whole page full of tutorials that I've done.

Today, I'm going to show y'all how to make pants... well, how to make the pattern for pants. For a mom wanting to make clothes for my son, Little Moore, I've found that a good pants pattern is essential. In fact, I've used my one pants pattern as the base for a half dozen different pairs of pants... with no end in sight to my ideas!

Ready to get started? Here we go...

Start by grabbing a worn pair of pants. I actually grabbed a pair of hand-me-down pants from my cousins, that were a little big for Little Moore, and had a hole in the knee. I completely took apart one side. You could take apart the whole pair of pants, but we really only need one side.

You're going to want to trace these pieces onto pattern paper. There are lots of options out there. When I first started sewing, I used plastic sheeting that was sold for tracing patterns. Since then, I've also used special pattern tissue paper. For this pattern, I'm using pattern material sold at JoAnns. They sell it off the bolt, and it is kept over by the interfacing. You could also use butcher paper, but this pattern sees a lot of use, so I want to make sure it is made on something more sturdy.

Start by rough tracing the pieces on the pattern paper, then move your pants pieces out of the way. Mine needed quite a bit of adjusting, because the original pants were knit, so a little stretched out in some places.

You'll want to make sure the two straight sides are the same length. You'll also want the two inseams to be the same length.

Once you have the pattern set, cut it out. Mark which piece is the front, and which is the back.

Now we can make adjustments. These pants are too big for LM, so I took in about 1" from the side of each of the pant legs, and a couple inches off of the bottom. I'll just fold these over and pin when cutting, and later when he gets bigger, I'll unfold, and have a pattern that still fits!

Once you've made adjustments for fit, you can make variations. Measure the knee height, and mark it on the pant leg. Measure down 1 1/2 inches from that mark (adding the hem allowance), and make a line across. This will be the fold mark when using this pattern to make shorts.

If you want to use this pattern to make pajama pants, measure in at the bottom of the leg, and draw an angled line from the outside of the leg. For my pattern, I measured in 1 1/2 inches, and up 8 inches to draw my angle. When you make these pants, make them like you would regular pants, but instead of hemming the bottom of the pant leg, stretch and sew on a length of ribbing.

As you work with the pattern, make any adjustments needed. Also, note any additional measurements, like the length of the elastic you use, on the envelope you use to store your pattern.