Monday, April 4, 2011

Upcycle shirts into pants

I read a few (very few) blogs daily.  One is www.newdressaday.com and it gives me the most inspiration to do things with the clothes that don't fit me anymore or that people give to me.  While reading this blog, I stumbled upon a young girl who also upcycles, sews, and makes tutorials. http://thegirlintheheartglasses.weebly.com/
 I made 2 pair of pants from one of her most recent blog posts which included a small tutorial.  These pants are super easy to make, super comfortable, super cheap, and super cute!  So, here we go.


This is the shirt that I started with.  It's not a t-shirt, which is what she used in her blog, but i thought it would make a cuter pair of spring culottes than a camp shirt.  So, you start by cutting off the top right under the neckline, then the sleeves, then cut the shirt up the middle on the front and back.


The back of the shirt had a little tuck or whatever you call it that added a bit of extra, so I cut that out.  In hind sight i could have left it in for a little extra room in the hips.  I cut the button strip completely off the front and also the strip with the button holes.


So, once the shirt is all cut up, you have your pants pieces all cut out.  Sew each piece up the outside edge(which was previously the center of the shirt) right sides facing.  turn one right side out, put it inside the other leg and sew the crotch together.  I left the front open about 7" or so, enough to make a button fly because there's no stretch to the fabric. 
Next, I took the button strip and the button hole strip, cut them to fit the fly, and attached them to the opening I had left before.  I hemmed down the top of the pants only about a half inch because otherwise they would've been a little too low and sewed the elastic in.





here's an up close pic of the fly






So, as I said before, the Girl in the Heart Glasses said to use a big t-shirt for this project, so out of respect for her (and for more to do), I found an old t-shirt and made another pair.  This one was much easier.  I started with a long sleeved super soft t-shirt.  The shirt was already cut up the middle in the front, splitting the design in half, so I cut the shirt up the sides to the arms also.  This gave me 4 pieces, but I re-attached the front design (actually cutting out the "A" in the name DELANCY that was originally on the shirt, but who cares?)  I finished sewing up the legs, then the crotch just like the other pants, but didn't leave an opening for a fly this time.  I made a casing for the elastic in the top of the pants, inserted elastic and voila!  perfect lounge pants!

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