Baby pants!

I made these baby pants for a friend of mine who just had a baby.  When I saw the space themed fabric, I thought it’d be perfect for this friend, who is literally a rocket scientist.  (Although, now that I think about it, she probably got bombarded with space themed gifts for that very reason.)  I used Made by Rae’s newborn baby pants pattern and Big Butt Baby Pants pattern.

Both patterns were pretty easy to sew.  But I think I got ambitious with all the embellishments.  I wanted to embellish each pair of pants a little differently, so the project probably ended up taking longer than it needed to. 

This is my attempt at a cargo pocket.

Of course, after I made the pocket, I looked at the pockets on a pair of my husband’s cargo shorts, and these look nothing like those.  Oh well.  Hopefully, the baby won’t mind too much.

More simple pockets and binding at the hem on this one.

I used Rae’s tutorial for pimping those baby pants.  (Love Rae’s blog, btw!)  I need to figure out how to get the corners of the pockets more pointy and square, though.  The binding was one of the more tricky embellishments, lots of ironing and trying to catch all the layers with the sewing machine.  I don’t think it ended up that pretty.  If I were to do it again, I’d probably just use the same method for making a cuff that I did with the pants below, which I think is easier and less bulky.

These are the Big Butt Baby Pants.

Such a fun pattern, and they turned out so cute.  Love the butt panel.  I originally intended to make the main part of the pants out of the blue fabric (it’s super-cute with the rockets), but I cut it upside down. :( And there wasn't enough fabric left to re-cut it. So, I made it into the butt panel and the cuffs.  Ah, this is what nine months of sleep deprivation can do to you.

Overall, I think they turned out well.  They're the first baby gift that I've ever sewn myself.  It feels nice--more meaningful--to make a gift for someone.

Lots of lessons learned, though.  (Like, make sure you’re cutting the pattern in the right direction!)  Next set will be better.  I just need for someone else to have a baby now.  :)

Skinny pants

I’ve had pants on the brain lately.  I know pants are not as interesting as cute little dresses with ruffles.  Maybe I’ll eventually get around to that.  Right now, though, I’ve been really into pants.  I used to think pants would be hard to make, but you know, they’re pretty easy.  You just cut out two pattern pieces and sew it up in a few lines.  I’ve been experimenting with some leggings for the baby girl.  And I made these skinny pants from this pattern by Leila and Ben.

The best part was I made them from a pair of my Bermuda shorts that my mom had given me.  A friend hers had given them to her.  Anyway, they never really fit me right, so I’d only worn them a couple times.  But they were so nice, I kept them around.  Making them into pants for the baby girl just seemed better than getting rid of them altogether.  Putting a new use to something old.  Upcycling can be very fulfilling.

 
I like the fit of these pants.  They have that skinny pants silhouette but they’re not so tight, baby girl can still crawl around in them.

 

Skinny pants on babies kind of crack me up.