Make your own lounge pants

I was feeling crafty on the weekend so I decided to put these feelings to good use and do some sewing. Mr Fork had been complaining that his pyjama pants were "old" so being the thrifty sort I decided to make him a new pair. For fun, I figured that I'd also make Ellie a pair with the leftover material too.

Big and small pants

I'm not much of a seamstress but I can do the basics so I wanted a fairly simple pattern. Google came up with the goods and I based my pants off this very simple tutorial. Here's what I did.

• Make your pattern. I used wrapping paper as the base because it was what I had that was long enough for the length of Mr Fork's pants. Grab the pants you want to make the pattern out of, and fold them in half lengthwise. Make sure that you pull the crotch straight. Draw an outline around the pants. If they have an elasticised waist, be sure to stretch this out for the purpose of the pattern. When you have an outline, draw around this again to make the seam allowances – I allowed 2 inches at the waist and ankles and half an inch on the leg seams.
• Fold your material along the leg seam and pin the pattern. Cut it out. Do it twice. I'll be honest, I didn't use the 1/2 inch seam allowance on the fold of the material because I thought it was overly generous and the pants I used for the pattern were a loose fit anyway. It depends on how you want the pants to fit. I also am not fussy with how my material matches up. On Mr Fork's pants one leg has the monkeys going vertical the other has the monkeys going horizontal. It depends how much material you have and how fussy you are with these things.

Cute monkey material!

• Pin the material cut outs with the right side together from ankle to crotch. Sew your seam. Mr Fork is rough on his pants and Ellie's fluffy cloth bum means her pants take a beating too, so I did a double line of stitches to reinforce everything. I suppose if you have an overlocker you don't need to worry about doing that.
• Turn one of the legs right side out and tuck it into the other leg. Line up the inner seams and then pin the crotch from there. I did a double line of stitches along this seam too.
• Turn the pants completely inside out. You should have what looks like a pair of pants with raw edges on the waist and ankles.
• Fold a small seam, and then a larger fold to tuck all the raw edges in and create a nice 'tunnel' for the elastic of the waist to go into. It's not necessary, but it makes it easier if you iron those folds before sewing (I'm lazy and I didn't). Be sure to leave an opening (about 2 inches) so you can insert the elastic!
• Measure your elastic, making sure to stretch it appropriately and leave a small amount for an overlap. Attach a safety pin to one end and feed it through the opening you left in the last step. Make sure not to twist it! Continue to feed until it comes out the other end. Use a wide zigzag stitch to join the overlap of the elastic ends, and then close the gap in the waist seam.
• Fold a small fold and then a slightly larger one to finish off the ankle seams neatly and sew those up. Again, an iron will make things easier but isn't essential.
• And, you are done! Loll around in your lounge pants!

Mr Fork is like an Oral B dentist. I'm not allowed to show his face!

What about you - have you done anything crafty lately?