Make Your Own Childrens Clothes... For Free

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fabric . . . then trace around the pants with chalk, leaving a 3/4" seam allowance around the crotch and legs plus 3" to 4" (or more, depending on how fast your child grows) at the bottom of the leg, and 4" above the waist. (See Fig. 15.) Cut along the chalk line . . . and you've got your pattern.

OK. Now scrounge up a pair of discarded slacks to use as material. (You'll find that one pair of adult pants makes one pair of children's trousers, with some nice scraps left over for quilting.) Rip open all the pants' seams and lay the material right side to right side, then place your leg pattern over one double thickness of material, trace around it with chalk, and cut on the chalk line. (Remember: You've already included seam and hem allowances in your pattern . . . there's no need to allow for seams again.) Do the same for the other double thickness of material. You should now have four leg-shaped pieces of fabric.

Next, match two of the pieces you've just cut right side to right side. Pin the leg halves together in the manner indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 18 and sew over the pins. Remove the pins and repeat the procedure with the other two pieces of material.

Now turn one of the two "leg tubes" right side out and place that tube inside the other tube so that [1] the crotch edges match up and [2] the right side of the inner tube faces the right side of the outer tube. (It's a good idea-at this point-to examine an existing pair of pants to see how it's put together.) Pin the crotch together from the front of the waist to the back.

Before going any further, turn the pants right side out and have your youngster try them on for size. (Be careful, though, unless you've used safety pins to hold the pants together!)

After the pants have been tried on for size (and-if need be-adjusted for a better fit), turn one leg tube into the other as before (right side to right side) and sew over the pins in the crotch area. This is one seam that must be sewn twice or even three times (or reinforced with a strip of fabric), so take your time and do a good job. (If your young'uns are like mine, their pants always rip at the crotch!)

Next, turn both pant legs wrong side out and fold the top edge of the trousers down 1/2". Fold the edge down againabout 1-1/2" this time-and pin the first fold to the pants. Hem all but 2" of this edge in place. This makes the tube-or casing-through which you'll push the elastic waistband.

For the waistband itself, you'll need a piece of elastic that's at least 1/2" wide (3/4" is more comfortable) and equal in length to your child's waist measurement plus one inch. (You can buy elastic at most any department store or fiveand-ten. Or-if you're in the mood to be super-thrifty-you can recycle the waistband from an old pair of pants.) If you're using a drawstring instead of elastic, cut the string 18" longer than the waist measurement.

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