Friday, February 26, 2010

Repurposed Cargo Pants

[Before]

As I mentioned in a previous post, my son just had a growth spurt. All of his long pants are now too short on. I was bummed because there were a couple that he had only worn a couple of times and they finally were fitting him waist-wise. I could have donated them but instead decided to try to turn them into shorts.. I used a pair of cargo pants for my first try since he doesn't currently have any shorts that color. I was so amazed with how easy the process was that I had to share with everyone. Here are the steps in case anyone is interested:

1) Measure how long you want the shorts to be. Because I was using cargo pants that had different sections I had to undo a seam mid-way up the leg. I figured this would look better than just cutting randomly. Enter the seam ripper, my favorite sewing tool.



1b) Here is my faint purple mark which takes into account 1/2-inch seam allowance.



2) Cut along your line using pinking shears, which are especially useful for those of us who do not have a serger.



3) Hem the shorts. In this case I went along the original hem lines for a neater look. I didn't have any tan thread and didn't want to buy any, so I used some light green instead. They don't look to shabby and they fit the little guy really well!!!

[After]

Sorry, no action shots as these were finished post-bedtime. I think they look a little bit plain so I am thinking I might use a stencil to add a little something... we'll see. I promise to keep you updated. I am now excited to go into his closet and get all the pants that are too short, little dude is getting a whole "new" Spring wardrobe!

*~* Linking up to Jane's party @ Finding Fabulous.

1 comment:

Jane B. said...

Cool project! Makes me question why I've bought all new shorts every Spring! Oh yeah, I can't sew! Thanks for the great idea, and for linkin' up to Frugalicious Fridy!