Man's shirt to boy's pants refashion tutorial

I am just getting into the whole refashion thing. I am very excited about it but it means that now my sewing room is even more cluttered with clothes that normally would have gone to the op (thrift) shop! Now I look at old clothes in a new light and think of the endless possibilities.

Since it is BOY month I thought I would make something boyish for my first refashion. I used a very old shirt of my husband's, which was rather battered, but I thought it wouldn't matter if this didn't work out. I only used the sleeves, so there is plenty of shirt left for other projects! These turned out a good size for my 5 year old, without sewing or cutting the sleeves at all. If your boy is bigger you could make shorts. If he's smaller you may need to take in the side seams.

Step 1    To start with I laid the sleeves out flat, then placed my pattern piece on so the crotch was in the shirt underarm, the leg was down the sleeve and the waist was down the shirt shoulder.

Step 2    Cut out around the pattern - only cut along the crotch and waist, the legs are already done for you via the shirt sleeve. Make sure you cut each the second sleeve the opposite way round so the shirt cuff and buttons will be on the back of each leg. The shoulder seams of the shirt make interesting and stylish seams on the pants.

Step 3    With right sides together, pin and sew/serge the entire crotch seam, matching up seams already in the shirt.

Step 4    Fold over the waistband to make the casing for the elastic. I cheated a bit by serging the edge so I only had to fold it over once. I like to sew the casing slightly wider then the elastic, then do a second line of sewing just below the top of the waistband to create a nice finish. Remember to add a scrap of non-fray fabric or ribbon as a 'tag' to show which is the back. Insert the elastic and finish off casing.

And that's it!!

Little J was a bit floppy in this photo, but you get the idea :)