Making PJ Pants With Cuffs

                For these little PJ pants, I started out with making a pattern, using a pair of 18-month pants. I followed the same steps as in my post last July, Making Pants from Your Own Pattern. Of course, I am still using fabric from my collection. I bought this Rudolf fabric last year with the intention of making a stocking for Ella. After the stocking, I had about a half yard left. The print is one way and it was a bit short for the full pant, with half inch seam allowances, so I used a complementary fabric to make a contrasting cuff. Here I how I adjusted the pattern.

             Once I had the pattern. I shortened the legs by 2 inches and cut my main piece out of the Rudolf fabric. For the cuff, I cut a 5-inch strip as wide as the bottom of the pant leg. I folded the strip in half, pressed, and pinned it to the right side of one leg with raw edges together. After stitching them together, I laid the full leg out flat, pressed the seam, and topstitched above the cuff. I repeated the steps with the second leg.

                To assemble the pants, I laid the pieces with right sides together and pinned the curves and stitched each one. I wanted to reinforce the seat so I stitched into each allowance of each curve 1/8 inch from the seam. To prevent fraying and finish the seams, I trimmed the seam allowance with pinking shears. Laying the pants out flat, I pinned the inseams together and stitched up one leg and down the other. I reinforced the crotch and trimmed the allowances.

                I trimmed the raw edge at the top with the pinking shears before making the elastic casing. To make the casing, I folded the top 1 ¼ inch down with the wrong sides together. Stitching ¼ inch from the edge, I left 1 ½ gap to insert elastic. The bodkin is the easiest way I know to insert the elastic. If you don’t have one, you can use a safety pin instead. Once I had pulled the elastic through and the ends stitched together, I closed up the gap and turned the pants right side out.

                As a cute little detail, I added a little bow to the front. I made the bow out of decorative satin ribbon and stitched it over the casing at the center seam. They turned out so cute and I really hope Ella likes them. We will be decorating the tree tonight and these are going to go in her little holiday prep kit. Have fun everyone and happy crafting!

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.