A Quick Fix for Cheap Pants!

Okay, so after I finished that quilt project I was totally on a high. I admit I've been doing a lot of crafts lately-- sewing mostly but I've been branching out into knitting and of course creative baking/cooking. Most of the time things come out okay. Maybe not amazing but serviceable or edible but nothing special (certainly not worth blogging about....). The quilt project was notable for several reasons but chiefly because a) it turned out the way I planned   b) I didn't have to go back to the craft store for additional supplies  c) I didn't have to rip out any seams or stitches.

In general, I think I've more successes than failures but there are still plenty of flops, for sure. I've bins of fabric, patterns and a half knitted pillow currently mocking me. Not to mention the 5 pints of strawberry "topping" I made and canned 3 weeks ago that was supposed to be jam. So when all the stars align (and the fabrics, too) I rejoice and do the happy craft dance!

That being said, I was excited to get started on the next project. However, I really felt like I needed to get some of my backlogged utility sewing out of the way before I could "play". Our littlest one is still in his crib and is a thrasher/kicker so we zip him into a sleep sack instead of blankets most nights. His fleece sleepsack (already a hand-me-down from brother) has gotten a lot of extended use. The zipper on that thing actually wore out. Rather than buy a whole new sleep sack, I spent $2.29 at Wal-Mart for a replacement zipper and spent a day ripping out the old one and sewing in the new.

The other utility sewing project I had put aside was a pile of pants. If you are like me, you have found that the cheapest pants & shorts out there are all elastic waisted. This may not be a problem for you but I have two boys with very narrow waists. One is just a skinny twig, the other is small with no noticeable butt what-so-ever. I have actually had both boys run and/or crawl out of pants that have just slipped past their tiny backsides. At home its merely annoying but at school or out in public this could be a bit embarrassing. I have actually seen my older boy try to run across the school play-yard while holding his pants up with one hand. Its just not a good thing!

Here is my quick fix solution. You should have a "tailored" pair of pants in 10-20 minutes (depending on your sewing savvy). In addition to fixing kids' pants, this will work on any elastic waist pants.

Before (pants A)

After (pants A)

Before (pants B)

After (pants B)

Materials:
Elastic (I like 3/8"), estimate 12" per pant/short
needle
thread
2 or 3 safety pins
sewing scissors





How-to:
1) Looking only at the inside waistband of your pants, determine the sewing pattern used. Usually its either a top line of stitches and bottom line of stitches with the elastic in between or sometimes there is a third line of stitches down the middle as well. You can use this method with both but its a bigger hassle with the 3 stitch type and you might need to use 2 smaller elastics instead of one larger. In my examples, you can see the tan pants have two lines of stitches and the grey ones have 3. In the grey ones, I actually only used the top channel and decided that one piece of elastic was enough for me.

2) Carefully cut between (not through) the top line of stitches and the bottom line of stitches on the far left side and far right side ONLY on the inside fabric of the pants.

3) Attach one safety pin to end of elastic. Starting at one end (doesn't matter which) thread elastic down center channel until it exits out the opposite hole. BE SURE NOT TO LET END OF ELASTIC GET LOST INSIDE WAISTBAND!! I recommend NOT pre-cutting the elastic so you'll have extra slack to hang out the hole. If you do have a short piece, when it seems like its getting near the end, pin the end to the opening with one of your extra safety pins. Sometimes they have sewn the middle of the waistband down and you can't pass your safety pin all the way across. In this case, cut an additional hole near the center of the waistband and follow the remaining instructions. Then REPEAT for the other half of the back waistband. (That's what I had to do for the grey pants)

4) Using your needle and thread, carefully sew the safety pinned elastic end to the pants. Don't sew too near the end or the elastic can sometimes unravel. If you sew similarly to attaching a button, you'll be in good shape.

5) Gently but firmly tug the unattached end of the elastic until the back of the pants has tightened to your desired tautness. In my situation, this pretty much meant I was taking up all of the slack and stretching the elastic to about 80% capacity. You don't really want to get to 100% because the constant strain on the elastic will cause it to snap or wear out more quickly, and you'll just have to do the whole project over again.

6. Use one of your safety pins to attach the tightened elastic to the pants. Sew down this end as you did for the first one. Cut off any excess elastic. Check fit of pants at this point.

7) If you are satisfied, close up the holes you cut in the pants. It doesn't really matter what the stitching looks like since this is the inside of the waistband that no one will likely ever see. If it really bothers you, you can always use an invisible stitch or use a sewing machine to embroider over the whole mess.

And now that I've finished my chores, I'm off to work on something a little bit more interesting!! I've got the sewing bug right now, so expect a few more fabric based projects (at least until my attention wanders... again!)



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Quilt in ONE weekend! Part 4: Travel-sized pillow with matching pillow case

If you haven't been following along, in parts 1-3 we made a simple small quilt-- sized to fit a crib or toddler sized bed or a nice throw/travel size.

Today, we are going to use the leftover scraps (plus any others you have lying around) to make a small matching pillow.

When my oldest was about 2 1/2 and we were putting him into the "big boy bed" I bought him a small travel sized pillow. It was the perfect size for him, about half the size of a regular adult pillow. Unfortunately, I haven't seen those pillows in a while (and of course they never sell matching pillow cases!). So when I wanted to do the same for my nephew's birthday present, I had to take matters into my own hands.

We are starting with a simple batting filled pillow (I do NOT recommend doing this with down-- unless you want to be chasing feathers around your house until the end of time!). I found a basic one for $4.00 at Target. Nice, fluffy and WASHABLE -- kind of important I think! Now if you wanted to save a step or 2, you certainly could buy a pillow form at the craft store BUT all the ones I saw were $8-15-- per PILLOW. This is going to yield 2 pillows-- so about $2 per pillow!

I found the tutorial for making the pillowcase (for a full size, standard pillow) on pinterest (where else?). I had so much fun, I used some other scraps I had laying around to make a pillow case for my oldest -- with Thomas the train fabric-- using the 2nd pillow. Although he has a full size pillow, this has become kind of a travel/lovey/cuddle pillow that he drags from bed to sofa to car.

As this project was soooooo easy, I could see this getting really addictive! With all the trips and camping that are typical for summer, travel pillows for the whole family would be a fun project.

Part 4: Toddler/travel sized pillow + pillow case

1) Gather your courage and then CUT your pillow in half. I suggest you do at least a rough measurement so the pillows are more or less even at the end.

2) Hand sew the cut sides closed-- you could do a running stitch, whip stitch or a ladder stitch. I prefer the ladder as its all but invisible and what I usually use to close up seams in pillows and the like after turning. You could try to stuff it into your machine to sew it closed but really with all  the wrestling and smashing I'd bet you spend as much time as I did just doing it up by hand.

3) Measure the seam to seam width and length. The pillows I created were approximately 12" x 19". I sized the pillow case to give a little extra width and length (but not too much because I know that pillows tend to flatten out as they are used). Our finished pillowcase measures approximately 12.5" x 21". If your pillows are significantly different, be sure to adjust your fabric cutting!

4) Cut fabric

• Cut 2 pieces of fabric for the main body of the pillow- 14" wide by 18.5" long.
• Cut 2 pieces of fabric for the contrasting end band- 14" wide by 9" long
• Cut additional trim (for small coordinating band in between body and end of pillowcase) 14" wide x 1.5" long. Press in half (lengthwise) wrong sides together.

5) Layer your fabric as follows:

• End band fabric on the bottom, right side UP, cut edges north
• Trim fabric next, folded/pressed from step 6, cut edges north (aligned with cut edges of edging fabric)
• Body fabric on top, right side DOWN, cut edge north & aligned with trim and end fabric
• Pin layers together
• Repeat for other set of fabrics

6) Carefully roll up BODY FABRIC ONLY to the line of pins. Fold end band fabric OVER roll. Align edges with pre-pinned fabrics. Move pins to include new layer. You should have a kind of burrito-like bundle of fabric. See below: (if this does seem confusing, I highly recommend reviewing the linked tutorial)

7) Stitch across with a 1/2" seam allowance.

8)Turn burrito right ways out. Press. Trim any uneven edges off.

9) You should now have 2 halves to a pillowcase. We are going to sew them so there are NO visible seams.

10) Align both halves, WRONG sides together. Pin.

11) Sew along both sides and one end only (hint: its not the end with the decorative band....) This time use a 1/4" seam allowance!

12) Trim corners and turn pillow case inside out. Sew again along edges and end, this time with a 1/2" seam allowance-- this will completely enclose your prior seam and leave you with a perfectly finished product!

13) Turn and press! Insert pillow-- you are DONE!!



Repeat as desired!!

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Quilt in ONE weekend! Part 3

Congrats! You finished the hardest part of this project! Now its time to put the finishing touches on your quilt.

For this project, I opted to do a very wide binding (approx 3") but this is less common. I liked the look of it since it is a bit more dramatic than a traditional binding. Since this is a fairly simple project, this is a good way to fancy it up!

Part 3: Adding a Wide Binding to your Quilt

1) Once you have finished quilting, thoroughly check over both front and back for loose threads! I checked and checked and checked and still kept finding more threads to snip.
2) Carefully trim any excess batting/backing to extend only 2.5" beyond the edge of your quilt top. Depending on how accurately the batting was cut in the factory, you may have a lot or no trimming at all. I personally found that I didn't need to cut the ends at all but the width needed a fair amount of trimming.
3) Create your binding.

• Using your 1 yard of coordinating pattern fabric left from part 1, carefully cut 5, 6.5" wide strips (cutting from edge to edge, not lengthwise).
• Align 2 pieces right sides together and sew across one short end. Press seams open.
• Repeat above until all 5 pieces have been joined into one long strip.
• Although not required, I also then pressed the entire binding strip in half, to help with the final foldover.

4) Starting in the middle of one long side, begin pinning binding to quilt- right sides together. Begin sewing 3-4 inches from edge of binding (this will allow us to match edges at the end). Sew until you are 1/4" from the corner.

5)Making the corner: You will need to fold the binding a special way to ensure that you have enough to make a nice mitered corner. I highly recommend this video tutorial (from you tube) if you have any questions about the instructions below!

• Fold binding strip 90 deg. towards the outside edge of the quilt.
• At edge of BATTING (not quilt top) fold binding back over
• Align edge of binding with edge of quilt top (not batting)
• Resume sewing 1/4" from edge of quilt top.

6) Repeat at all corners. Stop sewing approximately 3-4" from beginning.

7) Carefully pinch together beginning edge and ending edge until it is evenly touching but not overly tight. Stitch together ends. Trim excess binding. Finger press open the seam.

8) Resume sewing until all binding has been attached to the quilt.

9) Fold binding over quilt edge and batting. Fold under raw edge of binding approx. 1/2". Pin to backing fabric-- use stitching line from attaching the border as a guide to keep edges even. Take care to fold each corner into a nice crisp miter.

10) Top stitch binding around entire perimeter of quilt using 1/4" guide.

11) You can go back and machine stitch the miters on the corner OR I chose to hand stitch them with a coordinating thread that almost disappears. I used a blind hem type of stitch commonly used when quilters hand sew their bindings. See this tutorial for a good example.

YOU ARE FINISHED WITH YOUR QUILT!! CONGRATS!!!!!

Tomorrow,  in part 4, we're going to use some of our fabric scraps to make a super cute travel/toddler sized pillow with a coordinating pillow case!