DIY: Leather Cord Charm Bracelet

November 30, 2017December 1, 2017Leave a comment

DIY Leather bracelet Main pic.jpg

Another year has flown by with 2018 looming just over the last page of our dogeared calendar; and I was just getting used to writing 2017 on all the kids’ school forms/permission slips. The fam-bam and I packed so much in this year yet that feeling of regret over having lost another year, time we won’t ever get back, and all the to-do’s that never got “do-ed”, leaves me in disbelief at how time really does, literally, fly. But just like I get a fresh, new slate daily, it’s time for my annual fresh, new slate. Yeah, you shouldn’t wait for the new year to set and evaluate your goals and progress, but the new year is always a perfect time to do just that. So, yes. I’m saying a triumphant ‘goodbye’ to 2017 and I am ready to receive 2018 with open arms. But first, let me get through this Christmas rush while I try to reverence the true meaning of the season with my little ones amidst all this commercialism. And since Christmas and gift-giving go hand-in-hand, here’s a little DIY tutorial for a shiny, little something to put under your Christmas tree.

I work with a church youth group of girls ages 12-17 yrs and every year the leaders put together a little birthday gift for the girls and drop it off for them on their birthday. So while brainstorming gifts, I stumbled across an image of a leather cord bracelet with gold tubing that would be perfect but way out of our budget to purchase. Plus, we wanted to incorporate the new year’s youth theme into the gift as well. After doing some research, (hrs upon hrs, ok not really) I figured out a way we could make the bracelets ourselves for about $3 each including a charm etched with our new theme! I was pretty ecstatic because they are so cute and I know the girls will love it! (One can hope)

I added links to places where I purchased the material, but I was buying in bulk so you may want to purchase smaller batches.

DIY Leather Cord Charm Bracelet w/ Gold Tube

Materials:

1.5 mm leather cord
3mm x 50mm curved tube/noodle bead (gold)
2 mm leather cord end cap w/ lobster clasp (gold)
charm of choice (gold)
8mm jump ring (gold)

Tools:

scissors
jump-ring tool (I just used my fingers)
E6000 & Super glue (or Gel Superglue, Gel Gorilla glue)

I guess gold comes in different hues… Luckily the charms and the gold tube matched while the end caps were a little more yellow, but I made it work.

What you’ll need to make one complete bracelet. (plus the glue)

Instructions:

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Cut desired length of leather cord. (My finished bracelet size is 7 inches. Measure wrist for accuracy but that seemed to be a good size for most of the girls. You want the length of your leather cord and the clasp to total your desired bracelet length)
Thread the cut cord through the gold tube bead.
Add the charm. (I had to switch the jump ring on my charm to an 8mm jump ring in order for it to fit over the gold tube)
Add a dab of glue to each end of the leather cord and gently insert into the end cap clasp. (if using E6000, let dry few mins, then pull back out and add a dab of super glue. E6000 by itself came out with a tug test) (If using gel super glue or gel gorilla glue, then just glue once and done)* Let it dry overnight.

*I had E6000 glue already from a past project and thought that would suffice when gluing on the end caps, but when I tested it with a tug the next day, it slipped out fairly easily. So I added a dab of super glue (runny kind) and it held tight. I decided to get gel gorilla glue and that by itself held well. Use what glue works for you.

IMG_5108-1

SUPER EASY and SUPER CUTE!!!

I hope you made one for yourself, too~

Thanks for reading- Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays (however you may celebrate)!

-Flora

DIY: Striped Red/White Knit Dress

June 18, 2015June 18, 20153 Comments

Now that school is out and I have all three of my sweet, wonderful, perfect children at home (always playing nicely, sharing their toys, never whining or pushing my buttons), I can’t imagine why I have no time to sew or blog. I never realized this end of school year period would be so busy, even with a Kindergartener. You would think it would be wind down time, but nope. Just the opposite. Plus, we had my father-in-law in town visiting from Hong Kong and we got to take a family trip together to Yosemite as soon as my son got out of school on Friday. It was the perfect place to finally relax after the end of school year fiasco was over; surrounded by nature and no cell phone reception! I don’t know about you, but I get nervous when I don’t have reception and that’s probably a sign that I am relying too much on this “smartphone” contraption and dumbing myself down… Ode to the days when we could remember all our family and friends’ phone numbers and could actually read a map. Speaking of maps, I was the designated navigator once we got into Yosemite Park and I panicked (secretly) when I realized I couldn’t use Googlemaps and I actually had to look around at signs and terrain to figure out where we were and where to go. Imagine my joy when I found our location on the little loops and squiggly roads drawn on the map after confirming we had actually passed the two tunnels that the map said we should be passing through! I had to give myself a pat on the back for navigating us through the park 🙂

Now this red and white knit fabric is from my past Knitfix purchase from Girl Charlee and I must admit, I had the hardest time trying to decide what to make with it. I finally found an inspiration for this dress after I saw this “Beachcomber” dress by Shabby Apple, which unfortunately, is no longer available. I loved the look of the dress and how the stripes on the skirt was cut on a bias to create a unique look. Their dress has pockets, but I didn’t do the pockets because their fabric is a lot more “drapey” and soft, while my fabric is a cotton jersey knit, therefore, thicker and has more structure. So the feel of the dress is a bit different from the loose, soft, flow of the inspiration dress, but I still like my dress.

I drafted a rough pattern for this dress using a loose top I have for the bodice of the dress then did some math (I know, crazy) to figure out how to split my waist measurement into four pieces for the skirt while adding enough room for seam allowances. Then I measured the length of the skirt and when cutting out my skirt pieces, I cut it carefully so I could get the right look with the stripes. When I finished piecing all the parts together, I realized it was too big, so I had to go back, cut, rip seams, and sew it again to get it just right.

I used a straight stretch stitch on my (very basic) babylock and used about a 3/8″ to 1/2″ seam throughout. I ironed my hems when folding it and pinning to get clean, straight hemlines.

This top works perfectly since it doesn’t have separate sleeves, which is the look I was going for.

Trace the shirt and add seam allowances, then cut out your piece for the front and the back. I tried to make somewhat of a v-neck for the front.

Pin and sew the sides up to the bottom of the sleeve.

PIn and sew the shoulder and upper sleeve part with right sides together

Divide your waist measurement by 4 then add 1/2″ seam to each side of your 4 pieces and cut. I tapered each of the skirt pieces so it gets gradually wider as it goes down.

Carefully eyeball the stripes so you get the right diagonal design for the skirt. I did horizontal lines for the middle front and middle back of the skirt. Then cut on a bias for the two side pieces of the skirt.

Pin and sew all four pieces of the skirt together with a 1/2″ seam with right sides together.

The skirt portion should look something like this.

With the top wrong side out and the skirt right side out, tuck the skirt (bottom hem first) into the top then pin and sew. It helps to make center and side marks on the bottom hem of the top and the top hem of the skirt to match you evenly when you pin.

Double fold the neckline then sew. I cut my neckline too wide and it could almost be off-shoulder… I was trying to go for the wide boatneck look with a slight V. Oh well.

Hem your sleeves to desired length. I only single folded the hem for the sleeves.

Double fold and iron the skirt hem then pin and sew.

Aaaaaaand you’re done!!!

Hey, this dress would be perfect for the 4th of July! I just need to add some blue and stars and I’m the US flag! I’m excited to add this to my small, but growing, knit dress collection.

Thanks for reading!

-Flora

P.S. Thanks for taking the time to take pictures of me modeling the dress this morning before you left for work, Ken hubby! Love you!

DIY Tutorial: Girls Peplum Tankini and Bottoms

May 29, 2015May 29, 20152 Comments

This week, perhaps due to the Memorial Day holiday, has just flown by and I can’t recall anything particularly special about it (aside from remembering our Soldiers and Veterans), what with it being jumbled together with the repetitious motions of LIFE and having a husband MIA for most of it due to a business trip. Oh yes, there was a “memorable” incident that will be, I only hypothesize, the first of many more to come, and I chuckle now, but I do dread the days when drama will set up house in my home. Of course my house is filled with drama now, but this is drama of a different sort of which I speak. My 6 year old decided he would run away and handed me a note which stated he no longer loved me and that he would leave and never return because I didn’t take him to Burger King after school. And the punchline is this: there was a girl from his class he wanted to go with. He would abandon mom for a girl! Too soon! Okay, maybe he just really wanted to eat a burger, but I admit I chuckled to think my son had so easily pushed aside me, his mom, for a girl and a burger. Then it dawned on me that this was a foreshadowing of events to come. He is my little momma’s boy now but I will have to move aside sooner of later… and so goes life. It definitely is a reminder to cherish this time of innocence and sweetness of my children before they all grow up and decide mom’s no longer cool. ha.

Now on to the swimsuit. Does this apple fabric look familiar to you? If you’ve browsed through my “DIY Tutorial” page, you might have seen this same fabric for another swimsuit I made several years ago for my now 5 yr old. It has recently been retired due to major wedgie issues so I wanted to try another swimsuit project for my C because it’s been in the 50’s/60’s here and that’s perfect weather for swimming in a “supposedly” heated pool! (sarcasm) Finally, today was the first day in weeks where I was able to take off my sweater and sit outside in the sun without freezing my butt off, so what better way to welcome the return of our sun than to make a swimsuit! I tried to find cute swim fabric at Joann, but was disappointed with how unappealing and boring all their active fabrics were and ended up getting some solid pink active fabric; because you can never go wrong with pink with my girls. I racked my brain and scoured the internet for some ideas for a solid colored swimsuit and was left unimpressed and uninspired. As luck would have it, I found the remnants of this apple swim fabric left over from my previous swimsuit venture and after some careful measuring, was able to use almost every inch of that scrap of fabric to make this cute swimsuit for my little C. The peplum idea came out of necessity because I wouldn’t have been able to cut one continuous piece for a tank with the scrap fabric, but cutting separate pieces for the peplum worked beautifully.

To make your girl’s swimsuit, you will need some swim (knit) fabric that has a a good amount of stretch in all directions. I probably made this swimsuit (3T) with about a quarter of a yard of fabric remnants, but I really had to cut and measure carefully. I didn’t use any elastic because the fabric has great stretch and fits her nice and snug and I used bias tape for binding the upper edges of the tank which extends into a ribbon to tie behind the neck.

Materials:

about 1/2 yard of swim fabric (depends on the size of your child)
bias tape
coordinating thread

Please excuse C’s cute elephant undies, but this is what I used to make my pattern for the swim bottoms. Add seam allowance and trace around the undies, then cut out the pattern and fold it in half, vertically. Trim so both halves are identical; that way you have an even piece that’s not lopsided. This is the back piece for the swim bottom.

∗Pick a pair of undies that fit nice and not too loose, then you won’t have to add elastic to the leg opening and waist and your life will be a lot easier.

Trace your back bottom piece onto a new piece of freezer paper, then using the undies as a guide, draw a curve (like above) for the front bottom piece on one side of the leg opening.

Cut out the pattern piece, fold it in half vertically, then trace and cut the same curve on the other side of the leg opening to complete your front bottom pattern piece.

Now, please excuse C’s little undershirt. Use a tank top that fits nicely, not too tight and not too loose, fold it in half and trace, adding seam allowance. I traced right at the edge of the tank top and didn’t add extra seam allowance because this undershirt is a bit loose on C and I don’t want the tankini to be too loose.

So you should now have pattern pieces that look like this. I used the same top pattern piece for both the front and the back and later ended up slashing the tank pattern piece across the waist to make a peplum.

Draw a straight, horizontal line across the top of the tank perpendicular to the armpit point of the tank, as shown above. That will be your pattern piece for the back of the tankini. Then figure out where the waist is on your tank piece and draw another horizontal line across so you have a tankini bodice and the lowest third of the pattern piece will be the peplum. Make sure to cut your upper bodice piece at the waistline (2nd line) that you drew. Your peplum skirt piece should be 1.5x the width of your entire bodice width and cut 2.

* just fold down the pattern piece at the lines when cutting out your back and Peplum pieces.

You should have a front bodice, back bodice, 2 peplum skirts, a front bottom, and a back bottom piece. Make a center mark on the bottom hem of your front and back bodice pieces and for the upper hem of your peplum skirts.

Take your peplum skirt and run a gather stitch (zero tension, longest stich 4) and pull the thread to make even gathers. Repeat for the other skirt piece.

With right sides together, pin one skirt piece to the front bodice piece, evenly distributing the gathers and matching the center marks. Repeat with the 2nd peplum skirt and the back bodice piece.

∗I used a zigzag stretch stitch and straight stretch stitch to allow the fabric to stretch throughout this project.

Sew the skirt and the bodice pieces together and you can already see it coming together nicely!

With right sides together, pin the sides of the front and back tankini pieces and stitch. Hem the peplum skirt piece if desired. I was indecisive but ended up hemming mine.

Pin bias tape to the raw edges of the back and underarms area but leave the neckline. Sew it together.

∗Upon completing the swimsuit, I would have the neck-tie extend from this strip of bias tape rather than the neckline binding, so the tie will naturally extend to the back of the neck.

Pin a long piece of bias tape to the neckline that extends beyond the neckline of the tank to create the tie.

∗In hindsight, I would have the tie extend from the back and underarm (in the previous step) bias tape instead, so the tie is not warped when tied behind the neck.

Pin the bottom pieces with right sides together then sew the sides and the bottom of the pieces together.

Fold over about 1/4-1/2 inch of the the leg openings and stitch. (If your leg openings are loose around your child’s thighs, then you will have to make a casing and add elastic)

Fold over 1/2″ of the waist hem, pin, and stitch in place. (Again, if the waist is too loose on your child, then you will have to make a casing and add elastic) That’s why we used undies that fit nicely so we can make use of the stretch already in the fabric to keep the bottoms from falling off and having to add elastic (which can be a pain).

And it’s done! It was really a quick afternoon project with no elastic, buttons, clasps, etc. Super simple and super cute! I love the way it turned out and now big sis wants a swimsuit like this too! Too bad I’m out of this adorable apple fabric.

Thanks for reading! Have an awesome weekend!!! Maybe it’ll be warm enough to go swimming! (One can hope)

-Flora

DIY Tutorial: Girl’s Tunic Dress

May 20, 2015May 20, 2015Leave a comment

I have a growing problem: I like to hoard pretty fabric. The clothes that I used to toss into the “donate” bag are being stored in every nook and cranny of our home if there’s even an inch of fabric to be salvaged; all because I will “someday” make use of the fabric to upcycle the garment and give it new life. I think the TLC show “Buried Alive” may soon come knocking at my door if I don’t start whipping out some projects from this stash. So I decided to use hubby’s old, nice, striped dress shirt with some floral fabric from my other stash to make a tunic dress for my little A. My little princess loves dresses and every day is a battle to get her to wear pants with the much cooler weather that has been blowing into the bay area as of late. I am usually successful in ~~threatening~~ convincing her to wear pants or leggings under her dress but my victory only lasts a couple hours when she takes them off at preschool. I hope to whip out many more dresses and skirts for my girls so I can reduce the ever-growing pile of “fabric” in our already cramped home.

Here’s hubby’s shirt that he doesn’t wear anymore because it wrinkles too easily? Sure~ I’ll take it!

I originally used a tunic block pattern from the book: “Pattern Making for Kids’ Clothes” but ended up using one of A’s play dresses to make adjustments after cutting the fabric because it would have been much too big for my A. The book does a great job in explaining the purpose of a block and sloper (which I had never heard of before… linguistics major here) as well as how to use these basics to create an entirely unique design. This book was also a loan from my library and it really makes me feel like I’ve hit the jackpot when I can gain access to these awesome pattern books without having to buy the book myself! I love shared reading. 🙂

To make your own pattern from an existing dress, just fold the dress in half, lengthwise, trace, and add seam allowance. I ended up doing basically that since the tunic block needed to be adjusted due to it being too big.

Tunic dresses like these are my favorite to make and to put on my little girls. I love pockets on dresses too and my A totally agrees.

Trace the tunic block and make adjustments to make a tunic dress.

I printed the tunic block following the link given in the book, pieced it together, traced it onto freezer paper, then made my adjustments. This tunic block is the 5-6yrs size and it was much, much too big for my 5 yr old. I wanted to make a tunic dress so I lengthened the skirt, slashed through the armpit of the pattern to make a separate bodice, and added 1.5″ to the skirt width to make gathers (since it’s on a fold, you would be adding 3″ of fabric for gathers).

After all the adjustments for the front of the tunic dress.

Trace the back tunic block and make adjustments, keeping in mind the foldovers for button plackets

I did basically the same thing for the back of the tunic: lengthened the skirt, slashed horizontally through arm curve, added 1.5″ width to make the skirt gathers. But this time, I adjusted the back bodice portion so I have enough fabric to fold under twice and overlap for buttons and button holes.

Add 1.5″ from the first line for one side of the back bodice, then add another 1″ from the middle line you just drew for the other side of the back bodice. Make sure you cut mirror images of the bodice pieces, one should have a longer “flap”.

These are my pieces all ready to go.

I ended up having to adjust and cut a narrower shoulder width for the bodices later… Also, eyeballed and cut out a pocket pattern and used the sleeve from the tunic block, just shortened it since it came as a long sleeve.

Iron 1/2″ then 1″ for both sides of back bodice.

Add a strip of interfacing to the buttons/buttonhole plackets and then iron a 1/2″ then 1″ to the main bodice line for bodice with the shorter flap. Do the same thing for the other bodice: you fold over 1/2″ then 1″ and iron.

line it up to overlap an inch. Should match your front bodice piece.

You should have a 1″ overlap of the back bodice like in the picture above so you can have your buttons on the bottom placket and buttonholes on the top placket.

pin and sew across shoulders

With right sides of fabric facing, sew the shoulder seams. See how wide the shoulders are? I cut it down to size using a nice fitting dress as reference after I had already sewed the shoulders together. Zigzag stitch raw edges.

Pin the two back bodice pieces together or you can baste it together, if you prefer.

Gather stitch

Stitch straight across the top of the skirt piece for both the front and back skirt pieces using a long stitch length (4) and “0” tension.

Pull threads to gather

Pull the thread on the ends to make gathers and evenly distribute them to fit the width of the bottom of bodice.

attach skirt to bodice front and back. Skirts are still two separate pieces.

Pin the two skirt pieces separately onto the bodice front and the bodice back with rights sides facing. Then stitch in place. Zigzag stitch raw edges.

topstitch skirt seam to bodice.

Iron the seam up towards the bodice then topstitch along the edge of the bodice close to the skirt.

attach sleeves to armholes.

Pin your sleeves onto the armhole curve and stitch in place. Zigzag stitch raw edges.

prepare pockets

Prepare you pockets by ironing your raw edges onto the wrong side of the pocket. You can baste the edges if you want to. I added elastic to the top of the pocket to create gathers and also to give it stretch when the hand goes into the pocket. Forgot to take pictures of that step. Basically, cut a thing strip of elastic to the width you want the pocket top to be, pin the elastic to both top ends of the pocket, pin the middle of the elastic to match the middle of the pocket top, then stretch the elastic as you sew it onto the pocket top. Here’s an example tutorial by Indiesew. They use it on knits, but basically the same thing I’m doing here.

prepare pockets and attach to skirt. I did it at the end, but it may be easier while two skirts are not attached.

Find where you want to place your pockets on the front of your skirt, pin it on, and stitch in place. Think where their hands would naturally fall.

sew on the pockets

Backstitch a small triangle into the top corners of the pocket for added durability.

Finish neckline

Cut out a strip of 1.75″ wide fabric and make your double fold bias tape then pin and stitch in place.

sew sides of skirt all the way to the bottom of the sleeves. I wasn’t going to do sleeves but changed my mind later so this picture doesn’t show sleeves.

Sew the skirt sides and the lower sleeves together with right sides facing. Zigzag stitch raw edges.

sew on the “hem” part of skirt.

I cut out about a 2″ strip of fabric to match the width of the skirt to hem the bottom for a cleaner look.

finish the hem

Fold and iron at the seam then iron the raw edge onto the wrong side, pin, and sew. Hem your sleeve as well by folding in and ironing about 1/4″ of the raw edge onto the wrong side then folding in and ironing again about 1/2″, pin and sew.

find desired button placement

Now figure out how many buttons you want and place them on the back bodice.

mark where you want your button holes

Carefully mark where the buttonholes need to go, make you button holes, and sew on your buttons.

Finish buttonholes and add buttons!

Finished buttons and buttonholes always leaves me with such a sense of accomplishment! Perhaps because I was afraid to buttonholes for the looooongest time.

Voila~ Done!

My little girl wanted to wear it to school the next day and I couldn’t say no when she was so willing to wear her denim leggings under them and put on her cardigan. Good thing I took pictures of her in the dress before school because when I picked her up, she had pink glittery paint all over her dress. I started to worry the paint wouldn’t wash off and couldn’t get my mind off of the paint the entire drive home. Needless to say, I hand-washed the dress right when we got home and the paint did come off with a bit of scrubbing. Don’t worry, I won’t freak out next time. It’s just the day after I finished it, so I was a bit sensitive (and sleep-deprived). 🙂

Go ransack your hubby, brother, whoever’s closet and there’s bound to be shirts they don’t wear that have perfectly good fabric for making children’s clothes.

Until next time… Have a great week and thanks for reading!

-Flora

Upcycle: Men’s Dress Pants to Simple Boy’s Dress Pants

April 14, 2015April 14, 2015Leave a comment

Finally, something for my only boy! If you haven’t noticed, my sewing projects usually consist of cute dresses or tops for my two beauties and the last time I sewed something for my son was… … … I’m ashamed. My boy’s go-to wardrobe consists of two pairs of jeans (that he NEVER wears), sweatpants, a few “dress” pants (more like chinos and khakis), “comfortable” shorts (that he ALWAYS wears), graphic T-shirts, long-sleeved graphic shirts, some sweaters, a jacket, and a coat. Throw in some baseball pants, caps, and jerseys and he’s all set for the year. I’ve been wanting to add some handmade items to his wardrobe but when given the choice of making basketball shorts vs. a cute dress… well… the dress would call my name.

When my friend’s hubby fell off his bike and ripped his pants (no one was hurt in the process of acquiring these pants), she gave them to me and challenged me to give it new life. I guess it’s happened more than once 😉 since she gave me 3 pants with holes in them. I’ve never made pants with a zipper and fly and I wasn’t going to attempt to try just yet, so I used a shorts pattern from My Child’s Closet and made pants with a flat front and gathered, elastic-back waistband. The back of the pants don’t look very sleek and tailored, but it’s acceptable for a 6 yr old boy to wear to church. For those of you who don’t speak Korean, that sewing pattern book may be a challenge (to say the least), but I remember Dana from MADE has shorts patterns like the one I used, just make them longer to make pants. You could also make your own pattern by using a pair of pants your child fits, trace it on freezer paper, and add a seam allowance. Here’s a good tutorial on how to make your own pants pattern.

With the remaining two pairs of holey pants, I plan to make summer-dress-pants (aka: church shorts). I know my boy will be thrilled to be able to wear “shorts” to church.

Flat FRONT gives it a nice tailored look.

The gathered BACK portion with elastic. See what I mean? Doesn’t look super sleek, but I pass it.

This pants/shorts pattern added a yoke to the back of the pants right under the waistband and I like the little detail that it adds. The original pants had a lining halfway down the leg, which I kept and cut together with my pieces. I zig-zag stitched the lining to the front leg pieces only and also zig-zag stitched all my pieces to keep the fabric from continuing to fray. The pattern didn’t include belt loops around the waistband, but I just took a seam ripper to the belt loops on the original pants and snipped a little bit to fit a 6 yr. old’s 1-inch wide belt.

Click picture to see larger

Use your pattern and cut out your pieces. Remember to add seam allowance if it is not included in your pattern or if you are making your own pattern.
Trace your pattern onto your fabric. Don’t forget to cut mirror images of your pattern pieces so you don’t have two front pieces for your left leg.
My pattern added a little yoke to the back pieces which added a nice detail. Iron seam towards yoke then top-stitch the yoke.
With ride sides together, pin your front and back piece together and sew along the non-curved, outside edge of the piece. Iron seam open. Repeat for the other leg.
With ride sides together, pin the curved, inside edge of the pieces and sew. Iron open seams.
Turn one leg piece right-side out and tuck it into the other leg piece so right sides are together and the curved edges are matching. Double-check to make sure your fronts and backs are matching.
Pin the curved edges of the pieces together and sew only along the curved edge, not the waist!
Turn right-side out and admire what’s starting to look like pants!
Add a strip of interfacing to the waistband (looking back, I may not add it next time to the gathered back portion of the waistband). Fold and press in half then fold and press the raw, long edges, about 1 cm, for seam.
Pin the waistband, right sides together, to the waist of the pants with interfacing portion of the waistband closer to the pants.
Sew along the seam fold right below the interfacing of the waistband.
Measure your child’s waist and add elastic accordingly. (I used about 9 inches of elastic for my 6 yr old). The elastic only goes in the back half of the waist.
Sew the elastic on one end of the back half, then stretch it across and sew the other end of the elastic to the opposite back, half of the waistband.
Fold 1 cm seam under to conceal the elastic and make a casing then carefully sew across the back and front of the waistband without catching the elastic.
You will have to pull the elastic while you sew the back half of the waistband.
Hem the pants by pressing in onto the wrong side about 1 cm
Fold and press again to get desired length of pants.
Machine stitch hem or to get a more tailored look, hem by hand.
I think it looks fine with machine stitching.
You are done, unless you want to add belt loops, which I decided to do as an afterthought.
I salvaged the belt loops from the original pants then snipped it to the right size and used fray check to prevent fraying.
Pin it to the waistband with right sides together and spacing (5 loops) around the waistband. Two in the front, three in the back with one centered in back. Sew.
Fold the other edge of the belt loop under and pin
Carefully sew as close to the edge with a machine or hand stitch.

He’s a natural model. 🙂 I love my B and I plan to make more handmade items for this little boy. They grow so fast…

Thank you for reading,

-Flora

Toki Creations

my dabblings in fabric, flour, crafts, etc .

Tag: Tutorial

DIY: Leather Cord Charm Bracelet

DIY Leather Cord Charm Bracelet w/ Gold Tube

DIY: Striped Red/White Knit Dress

DIY Tutorial: Girls Peplum Tankini and Bottoms

DIY Tutorial: Girl’s Tunic Dress

Upcycle: Men’s Dress Pants to Simple Boy’s Dress Pants