Refashion Therapy– tiny pants fast

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Today’s refashion is pretty gender-neutral. I’ve got these on my middle daughter here, but this method could just as easily be used to make a pair of trousers for my son. In fact, I’ve used this method to turn a pair of women’s black dress pants for my oldest daughter, when she was a toddler, and I can see myself doing the same to make my son a pair of affordable Sunday slacks I haven’t invested enough time or money in to be afraid of him trashing.

If you’re like most people, you’ve probably got some clothes around that just never fit right, or that were well loved but just aren’t wearable any more. There are a few common solutions – jeans into shorts. T-shirts refashioned and redecorated. Or even – gasp – just giving things away, which I often do, but sometimes things aren’t even give-away-able. In my house we tend to ruin pants in such a way that most of the leg is actually fine, but the pants are just toast and can’t be used for shorts.

For example, if you manage to rip them in the inner thigh or across the crotch or butt.

Thankfully, this particular pair of jeggings wore out when I was getting back INTO my van at the oil change place. Like, laughing hysterically with gratitude most of the way home type thankful, because the thigh just BUSTED open. But I digress. I’m not here to discuss my brushes with humiliation, I’m here to discuss refashioning.

More specifically, today’s post is about taking a pair of old jeans, trousers, jeggings, leggings, or even an old skirt – anything with a finished hem – and turning it into a finished looking pair of pants for your little one. In my example I did the 30 minutes or less version, but if you were to put pockets on the bum, even fake ones, this could be taken up a few more notches yet and still be saving you time, money, and effort over buying or even sewing from scratch.

This is another example in a cream coloured pair of pants, refashioned from women’s khaki trousers. They took about 15 minutes, made in a leggings style with elastic waist, but you’d never guess that from looking at them. The professionally finished and often slightly distressed or stylized hem of the original pants is the biggest factor in that.

To do this, you’ll need to start with a pair of pants and a pattern. You can trace your own pattern, or you could buy a pdf. Some I’ve heard nothing but good things about are the Hosh Pants and Skinny Jeans for a closer fit and Clean Slate pants for a looser fit. (not affiliate links, just honest truths.) In the photo below I’m using my own leggings pattern for Olivia, and a leggings pattern will work as well, but you’ll need to add in a lot of ease if you’re using a non-stretchy material or a little for a stretch denim like I am in the tutorial.

The first thing you want to do is grab a seam ripper or a pair of scissors and open up the pants on the inside seam and lay one leg out flat.

Next, lay out your pattern piece on the first pant leg. If you have a seam on the outside of the leg, you want to center your pattern based on that. I’m known for my extreme professionalism as far as pattern weights are concerned (These are mason jar lids and a book, I’ve also used things like a Little People castle in the past.)

My home made leggings pattern did not have a hem allowance, but if yours does, you are going to want to subtract that length from your pattern or your pants will be too long. You don’t need to add a hem in later, remember? You’re going to use the one that’s already there!

Cut around your pant leg, and then repeat on the other side. Flip your pattern over when you’re cutting the other side. That gives you the left and right legs with the appropriate front and back.  Because I’m using stretch denim with a legging pattern in my example, I cut extra ease. If you’re using a pants pattern, that’s totally unnecessary.

From here on you’ll just be following your pants directions as usual, outside of the fact that you will not need to sew up the hem. If you’re using a self drafted pattern, then my preferred method is to sew both pant legs inseams, then turn one pant leg right side out and place it inside the other so they are right sides facing. Sew up the crotch seam. Finish your waist, whether by making a casing and threading an elastic to it, sewing an elastic to it and then flipping that inward, or creating a waistband and sewing that onto the pants.

Whatever your finishing method – and if your child always wears their shirts untucked like mine, it hardly matters as long as it stays up – your pants will be finished in a fraction of the time that it looks like it took. “Wow, you made those yourself?!” pants in “Did you make those yourself?” time.

All you need is LOVE

Love hurts.

I went ahead and made the dress I had been jabbering on about making for Project Run and Play’s sew along. Or in my case, Project Run and Almost Play. I was literally one seam away from finishing it but had to throw in the towel in the name of cuddling my children. No regrets, except maybe for messing around trying to get my serger going before I actually started the sewing portion of this program. If I had foreseen the future and known my kids were going to get terribly ill and need excessive cuddling, I definitely would have just given the thing a dirty look and went straight to the zig-zag seam finishes I wound up using anyways.

Aside from just the LOVE applique, there was more love put into this dress. The giant pockets are straight up love for Olivia, who loves to shove things in pockets so much she has taken up to shoving things in MY pockets if she doesn’t have any on her own person.

The fully lined bodice, made using this tutorial, was another labour of love. I haven’t done a fully lined bodice on a dress before, but the embroidered applique called for it, so it would be more comfortable inside. The back was a little surprise love, since I had initially planned to add buttons and then it fell nearly this way when she was trying it on a second time. I tilted my head, adjusted it, and decided I quite love it like this. I can always go back and add buttons and buttonholes if I tire of it.

The fabric, aside from the white cotton lining, was some love from their Nana, who saw this striped and dotted sheet and just knew I could make something for my girls with it. The elastic in the pocket should tighten up in the wash so it doesn’t hang quite so much. I also still have markings on the bodice. Apparently it was too much effort to wash and re-press the dress, just as it was too much effort to wash and repress my hooligan child.

I like to pick my battles. (A lot of which can be seen on instagram, where you can find me under the username lorchick. Disclaimer/Warning: may contain poop, butter eating, sewing, and excessive amounts of chubby baby)

And one last bit of love? Olivia loves it. Win all around, in my books.

If anyone is interested in a tutorial for this pocket dress, let me know. Partway through I realized I might be on to something that other people might be interested in, so I took some notes.

Mission : Play With Your Food

Just a quick pop-by say-hi. I thought I’d share something I came up with to distract my adorable monster Olivia (who refers to herself as both Olivia AND Monster so you know its legit) yesterday. She is pretty obedient, but of the school of ‘mom didn’t specifically say Don’t Climb Up The Side Of The Six Story Building or at least not in the last ten minutes’ and treats creating chaos like it’s her job. Yesterday I had a moment of desperation brilliance and Mission: Distract Olivia aka Play With Your Food was born.

I quickly (and somewhat poorly) drew a house, car, and little playground for Olivia to play with Teddy Grahams on. This bought me a good 15-20 minutes, not counting the time spent adding a sandbox here and a pool there later to add more distraction. If you’re curious about the dots, I had started off with dots for her to place them and some candy gummies on, which was also successful but not half as time-buying as Teddy Graham Playground.

Good luck with distracting your own lovely little monsters, and let me know in the comments what you’ve come up with in moments of desperation brilliance!

Summertime, and the Living is Thrifty–fun&games

Sometimes the best kinds of thrifty fun can happen when you go with your impulses and use the most basic things you have available. Blanket forts, reading a favourite book with crazy voices, and simple sock puppets are all examples of simple, classic fun you can have with your kids. So put a no-TV-before-noon ban on this summer and cruelly force your kids to play like you did when you were a kid!!

Some more simple fun:

Small socks taped onto a headband.

Nicole declared that morning that she wanted to be a bunny. I was in the middle of folding laundry and possibly even had a baby sock in my hand right at that moment, so I thought, meh, why not?! If I had done it to show you a sweet, aesthetically pleasing project, I would have probably at least done matching socks. More likely there would have been felt, and glue, and a perfectly pretty project. This, however, was just good clean fun, 100% for Nicole’s benefit!  

She had a blast; other variations can be using long socks tucked into waistbands for tails, add extra arms to be a bug or spider with stuffed pantyhose (save your torn hose!) - pin the waist area to a shirt and then use yarn to connect the end of the pantyhose arms to your children’s wrists. They don’t care if it looks ghetto, it’s all about the fun!

Don’t have a pool? Pull out any bucket and fill it with water. No, your kids cannot swim in a bucket of water, but you’d be amazed how much they enjoy just having water play! Also, there’s nothing wrong with picking up the $12 pool from Toys R Us and tossing it in your backyard. I empty and refill mine almost every time we use it, since you put so little water in it its no big deal. Plus its clean water so I care not if they decide to drink half of it, or if they go straight from the pool to their beds.

Pool noodles + sprinkler. Most people have sprinklers, and you can pick up a pool noodle for about a dollar, maybe two dollars, depending where you go. Your kids can have an epic battle with the sprinkler; you would not believe how long they can keep themselves entertained this way. Bonus, if you’re cool with it and they’re between four and six (older can generally wield them well enough to sting), they can do epic battle with each other. It is pretty hard for one four year old to hurt another four year old with a pool noodle. Careful though, you know your kids best, and some of them can figure out pretty quickly how to get enough momentum to do some damage.

Kids love to be the epic hero in their own mind. Whether its a battle against the sprinkler or a rousing game of the-carpet-is-made-of-lava, they eat it up. If you feel really sneaky, you can incorporate this into cleanup – set a timer and tell them its a bomb, and the only way to diffuse it is to clean up all the toys in time. Then tear around the house crazily with them, shouting at them to hurry, quick, we’re running out of time! The most ridiculous things can become awesome in your kids eyes if you’re willing to jump in there yourself and act like a looney toon.

Take costumes outside. Obviously this only works on cooler days for some costumes. I am working on building up a dressup box; you can find costumes right after halloween on clearance, or you can often find a great deal at a garage sale. The above costume I bought for $2 at a garage sale. Acting like a wild beast of the forest takes on a whole new level when you’re actually outside. Dress like pirates and go to the park, the play structure is your ship and arrrr, matey, thar she blows! You don’t even need a dress up box for that one; cut up some playclothes to be more ragged, tie on a bandana, and whip up an eyepatch. Be adventurers and pitch a tent in your backyard (or if you don’t have a backyard, pitch a tent in the park! You might get some strange looks, but who cares? Just grin and explain the game and that you’re not moving in for an overnight stay ;) lol). If you do have a backyard, you can even sleep in the tent.

Later this month I’ll show you how to make a temporary tent out of four emptied & cleaned 4L milk jugs, some sheets, some twine, a bunch of clothespins, and either a laundry line or a tree branch. 

What’s your favourite simple kid-pleasing game? We are always up for more ideas around here! 

Flying

This is the age where you still sortof believe you can fly. Hurtling through the air, with naught but a bit of plastic to hold you up.  Running hard and fast, leaping, whipping back, giggling.This is what swings and summertime are for. I was invited to ‘fly’ as well, but I declined as I figured a swing in the tummy would probably be a fairly uncomfortable thing for a prego like me. Besides, I couldn’t possibly have had more fun than I did just watching.

Nicole is suddenly a preschooler and it’s thrown me for quite a loop. It always does when I realize she’s gone and moved up a stage. One minute I had this giggly toddler, then a naughty one as she went through her terrible twos. Lately the naughty has come more in moments than streaks, although it seems like the better she is at talking, the worse she is at listening. I suddenly noticed that I have this long-limbed scabby-kneed chatterbox sitting next to me chatting about the weather and what we’re going to do with it. She’s even going to get her ears pierced, she loves stick-ons and asked her daddy very nicely if she can have real earrings that don’t fall off, like her cousin Morgan. She gets them for her third birthday, which is next month already! I’m already planning her party in my head, and okay, maybe I have been for a bit. She says she wants a ‘puppies and kitties party’ and I plan to have a lot of fun with that.

Its a windy day!

Nicole and I picked up a kite at Costco for her and Chris to fly together. She picked out the lizard, because “I love lizards!” Apparently. She wanted to fly it right away, of course, so I had to explain to her that kites can’t fly without wind, and you can tell it’s windy when the trees are moving. Every day after that the topic of the wind came up. “Is it a windy day?” “Trees not moving, mom. Not a windy day.” “Windy day tomorrow?” Finally, on Tuesday, a gust of wind whipped my hair as we were running errands, and without thinking about it I commented, “Wow, it sure is windy today!”

Oh, the look on Nicole’s face! “A WINDY DAY?!?!”

  In the end, I’m not sure who had more fun, Chris or Nicole. I certainly had fun watching them, and taking pictures. (Yup, some of you guessed it, I did get my new camera!) I even flew the kite myself for a bit!    My favourite shot of the day. I think I’m going to get this one printed out in a large size, and I’m considering possibly doing something even more fun like a canvas or something.

squeakyshoe monster attack

You like how she looks all upset whenever I don’t scream?

Feel free to draw your own conclusions over whether you’d buy these shoes. They’re very cute, though. I did get the impression when I bought them that they came with extra soles you could swap out to skip the squeaking, guess I misunderstood. I think it’d be simple to stop though. And they’d be handy in a huge mall, the zoo, any busy public place where I’d be liable to stop looking at her for 2.5 seconds to do something else.

Save the drama for your mama

No. No, don’t save the drama for your mama. DOES NOT WANT.

So, yesterday morning my precious, PRECIOUS child woke up at 6am. So okay, she was a little cranky by 8am, I think. There was a moment during breakfast which was definitely not a high point for her where she tried to dash her bowl off the table in a fit of rage. My catlike reflexes, while not completely preventing my floor from getting a coating of milk and Fruit Loops, did manage to prevent my bowl from shattering. 

(the people that have played volleyball with me, or any sport at all for that matter, are laughing at the idea of me having catlike reflexes right now. Yuck it up, ladies, and lets move on.)

So, I sent her to her room. Well. WELL. The nerve. Let me tell you.

First, she spent a good five, ten minutes wailing about how she wanted her papa. Because mama is a villain, doncha know. THEN she came out of her room and stood beside me, kind of sniffle-whimpering. “Are you going to be good now?” I challenged. “NO. I’m looking for my papa!” The girl is nothing if but honest. Back to her room.

Eventually she apologized and was allowed out of her room. (Fairly certain that apology was hunger-driven.) She ended the drama with a flourish by taking a picture of Chris off the fridge and wandering around the house with it mournfully. Let’s not forget, she also managed to wind up talking to him on the phone and wailed unintelligibly at him. (For the most part. “Mama’s MEAN!” was definitely in there a few times.)

Suffice it to say my two year old is a wee bit melodramatic. My friends were quick to crack jokes about that, pondering where she could have gotten that trait from. Something about me promising to stab my husband in the face if the blizzard kept up and continued to prevent him from going to work. But listen, I will lock you up with your husband unexpectedly on a Monday when he’s got nothing to do and is bored and follows you around poking you and hugging you and asking what you’re doing and what’s for supper and can we have creamy chicken soup instead even though you’re five seconds away from putting dinner on the table? But listen, the blizzard ended and he went back to work. The end. Oh and he raved about what I did make for dinner when he stopped trying to make me stab him long enough to put it in his mouth. So, we’re still happily married, nobody is dead, and when Chris got home Nicole flung her arms around his leg and then spent the evening talking his ear off.

the mermaid’s song

Nicole found a mermaid toy in her bucket and broke into song. Ahhh, this brings back memories... memories of myself singing the 'ah ah ah' "song" from The Little Mermaid. I distinctly remember my kindergarten classmates asking me to stop singing it all the time... and I also distinctly recall thinking they were just jealous they couldn't sing as well as me. haha.

 

blizzards and panic attacks and haircuts, oh my!

I cut Nicole's hair myself today. It was a blizzard - did I not mention that earlier? We had a blizzard. True story. Anyways, Chris and I took her to the rather empty mall and we were going to get her hair cut. Well, she took one look at those hairdressing chairs and decided no way. Panic attack.

  (before picture, from earlier this month)

So we took her to a toy store and said she could pick a present, and she picked a giant ball. Then I told her she could have it if she would first get her hair cut.

 

Well, wouldn't you know it, she put that ball right back in the bin and that was that. Not interested. Neither ball nor babydoll nor My Little Pony could bribe this child to agree to go back to the hairdresser.

So I cut it myself at home. I’m not 100% happy with it, but at least now when I see a picture of her with her hair down I won’t cringe. It looks a little thicker now, and less ratty. I might see if I can get a hairdresser friend to come and polish it up a little, or I might just make her bangs more blunt so they don't slowly blend into the rest of her hair.

Regardless, it is better now than before, and for free, and I have a newfound respect for my two year old and her unshakeable standards. This one cannot be bought. Unless it involves potty training, then she can be bought... She got bored of peeing on the toilet and had accidents galore. (And by galore I mean, accidents only, no peeing on the toilet, only number 2. There is even a story in here that involves a friend inquiring about my sinkful of soaking oranges only to discover they were being washed because Nicole had PEED ON THE WHOLE BOX OF ORANGES.) So, we implemented a sticker chart with rewards when she fills a column, and tadaa, magically she remembered how to go on the toilet. Psychological warfare it is, with this one. Problem is, I think she might be winning.

flash(light)dance

I took a whole bunch of really cute pictures of Nicole a few days ago. Too many to throw at you all in one post, so I’m just sharing some of my favourites. This was the day that I also took a bunch of pictures of manicotti, but in total that day I took around 68 pictures!    There’s something fun coming up… I’m going to be hosting a giveaway! It doesn’t come from me, and you won’t have to deal with my inability to make it to a post office, haha. (It would be funnier if it wasn’t horribly true. This is why I don’t have an etsy store, I just do not have the ability to mail things out in a timely fashion, even if I want to. No drivers license. Send hate mail to my doctor. Kthx.)

In other news, at least once a week I get spam messages on this post about the Rain Gutter Bookshelves. I still haven’t added a captcha to the blog though, because it’s still pretty manageable, and mostly just on that particular post.  Although now that I wrote that maybe this post will wind up with them too, if they’re just targeting the keywords Rain Gutter Bookshelves. O: I bet eventually I will have to cave and add a captcha, but for now it’s quicker for me to delete the spam than it would be for you guys to have to ‘enter the words in the box!’

mini crafters

On days when I have more than one small child at a time I like to set them up with a craft or activity, as long as everyone is getting along. (and oh, they don’t always. There are some kids that are just lethal combos, or for example Nicole has one friend that gets along with her just splendidly, as long as it is just him and her. If there are other kids around, he and she are cats and dogs.)This particular little boy here never seems to have a problem with anybody, he’s just a chill little dude. So we did some beading! I bought this kit at Walnart (as my cellphone’s autocomplete likes to write) while I was in Grand Forks. I honestly couldn’t tell you if my local Walnart has it or not, I have never noticed it before, but that could just be me. Regardless, it’s a little kit that looks like a clear take-out box full of foam shapes, and it has a little plastic needle and a bunch of clear elastic thread.The needle even has a ball on it’s little plastic tip, so, super safe. But, problem, one needle, two kids. Solution? Bobby pin! Worked just fine, because I was doubling up the thread anyways with a knot on one end and the needle on the other, so the thread couldn’t be accidently yanked out of the needle.Both little crafters proudly (and quickly!) threaded up their necklaces. Little Boy L was very impressed with himself and wore it around for a while, then put it in his backpack so he wouldn’t lose it. Nicole, however, makes everything ‘for Grandma.’ Except the stuff she makes for Auntie ‘A-manna.’

This activity was great because it bought me a good half hour to do a crossword puzzle in the newspaper develops dexterity and they play around with sorting and recognizing colors and shapes! And then my ridiculously amazing child cleaned up all the foam shapes after they were done because she likes to clean up her activities before moving on to the next one. Not every time, but more than half! She won’t think to pick up a few dolls on the floor, and if a mess is too big and intimidating she ignores it or asks for help. But most things she tidies up after herself! *dreamy sigh*

Sorry, this kid is mine, get your own.