Growing up, my family had matching christmas pjs. I decided when we had children that we'd do the same. Although, this past December was a little busy and I didn't get to making them. I was going to forget about it, but then had an idea. I was walking through Old Navy one day when I saw some cute christmas pajama bottoms. Loved them. The only problem is that they were all in XL. Does this happen to just me? Before my refashion craze, I would have walked right past them. But hey. I do have a sewing machine and now I'm obsessed with refashioning - - why not just resize them down? And so I did just that. My little girl and I have matching pj bottoms and they were originally both XL.
That same day, I was looking through the clearance rack and saw these adorable pj bottoms that had some retro cakes on them. $3.99? Who could pass that up? I decided to make birthday pjs for my little girl. Today is her big day. And she looks adorable in them.Re-sizing PJ bottoms Tutorial
I first got the pj bottoms and placed the right top side on top of the left top side. I found a pair of pants that fit my daughter well and placed them on top of the pj bottoms the same way. I placed the waist of my daughters pants as high as I could and as far near the crouch as I could, like so.
I then cut about 1 inch around her pants. Although, at the bottom I did cut it a little longer so that she'll be able to grow into them. It's up to you.
After you cut, you'll have two separate pieces - - the front and the back. So . . . you just need to sew them together. Easy, right? Place the printed sides together and start pinning.
You just need to sew the left side of the pjs together, the right side of the pjs together, and then sew the inside of the pjs (just one continuous stitch). Sewn at 3/8 in. Make sense?
Then to make it look somewhat professional, use a serger, or if you don't have one, like me, just use a zig-zag stitch. (one day I'll have a serger - i wish, i wish, i wish)
You're almost done! You just need to finish the leg bottoms. I just folded (still inside out) the leg bottoms up twice, about 1/2 inch each, and then pinned.
Go ahead and sew those and you're finished!
Look at this little girl. She's as happy as can be. (Okay . . . she's really happy cause it's her birthday and I bribed her with candy.)
* side note: the waists of all of the pj bottoms I've resized are elastic waists (the drawstrings on them are just for looks). drawstring waists might be a little more complicated to resize down.
** antoher side note: I was just at Old Navy today and they had all of their Valentine PJ bottoms on clearance for $3.99. I stocked up for next year. Hurry. They go fast!
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Good for you, Amy. I'm proud of you!
ReplyDeleteThe drawstrings shouldn't be any harder than the elastic! Just leave yourself an inch hem at the top as you did at the bottom of the legs and thread the drawstring through like you would do with elastic. I prefer drawstrings, because elastic twists in the washer at my house! Thanks for sharing. I never would have thought of doing this, and it's a great way to get wear out of my maternity pj's.
ReplyDeleteOh, my goodness- those turned out so stinking adorable!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for linking up with the Talented Tuesday link party at My Frugal Family, which is hosted every Tuesday. Please feel free to stop back in every week and post your newest projects!