Friday, January 27, 2012

MAKE MATERNITY PANTS BASED ON  YOUR FAVORITE PANTS


Maternity clothes are not great. there are thousands of regular clothe styles out there, but just a few of maternity clothes, they don't fit well, at least not me. I decided to male a pair of pants for work from one of my favorite pair of pants, they have a slim leg, and are close fitting in the rear without being like a legging. It was super easy. I didn't add pockets, since tops are usually long. 

All you need is tracing paper, i use kitchen wax paper, pins, fabric of choice, your favorite pants, lycra fabric for tummy band. 

Take your favorite pants and spread one leg out on a flat surface. Pin your tracing paper on the front of the lag, close to the seam. Make sure to include the crotch area. You don't need to include the whole length up to the waist, since this will not be needed, only trace from where the elastic band will start down. This is shorter on the front that the back.








Trace with a marker around the seams. 





 Do the same for the back of the leg. The crotch on the back is wider, or deeper, so you may need to add paper here to have an accurate pattern. Mark on both paper parts a common area, the hip, or inner leg, so when you are constructing, you can match this.

Since the back of the leg is wider than the front,, it will not lay flat, so you have to wrap the paper around the leg.
 Trace and cut your pieces,
 Cut your pants from the fashion fabric. The front top is shorter than the back, for the belly.
Measure around your tummy to determine the width of the panel. This is lycra, or swimwear fabric.  The front center part is deeper than the back.

Sew the center back seam.








Put one leg inside the other with right sides together and sew the center seam.
                                                                Almost done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





                                               Sew the band to the top of the pants. Turn the top raw edge under and hem with a zig zag stitch, hem your pants, and they are done!!! Easy!!!!!!!!!!














PINK ELEPHANTS

I was certain that my baby was a girl, looked like a girl in every ultrasound up to two weeks ago, when he finally decided to show us good!!! I wanted a pink jungle nursery, so I made this elephants for the wall, I guess now I have to make them again in blue!!!!!
I hope you like this easy project. 

You need fabric and a wood stretcher. I used an old picture and ripped the canvas out. 

The setting on the sewing machine is for a satin stitch. it is a zig zag that is very close together.  For the elephant silhouettes, I searched google images and drew inspiration from some pictures, and then created my own by tracing into white paper. 

This is more or less what I wanted to make, so I traced the elephants on the paper. Each on a different sheath of paper.   I changed it afterwards to make a curved trunk for the big elephant, so it looks like mammy elephant is hugging her baby.
 I cut each silhouette and then I cut them out of the fabric I selected.



I used a satin stitch to make the ear shape and the little eyes.  Afterwards, I positioned them until I was satisfied. i ended up cutting mommy's trunk shorter. 
I sewed all around the borders with the satin stitch, using contrasting thread for each. 
When the sewing was done, I stretched over the wood frame and stapled it. 

             

                                                                                 


Pink elephants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!