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January 2, 2009 by Narelle @CookCleanCraft

Men’s Jeans to Toddler Pants Tutorial

I’ve seen a few blog posts for converting men’s pants or jeans to toddler-sized jeans, but they all seem to involve a lot of seam-ripping, deconstructing and lots of sewing. I was after a quicker and easier way – I get limited time at the sewing machine each week, and I want to see results! Also, the pants I had picked up cheaply at the thrift store had an unfortunate blow-out, so I needed to work around this:

I prefer flat-front pants (where there is only elastic in the back) as I think they look a bit snazzier, but you could erasily do this with a full elastic waist. Here’s my quick and easy method to convert thrifted mens pants into toddler/boy pants:
Materials Required
Men’s jeans or pants
Elastic to fit in waist-band (I about 9 inches of 1/2 inch wide elastic)
Thread
Sewing Machine
Serger/Overlocker (optional)
Scissors
Seam ripper
Procedure
Step 1.  Create pattern from an existing pair of toddler pants (preferably flat-front pants) – for a great tutorial on this, check out the one here at MADE (a fabulous blog, if you haven’t check it out before!).
Step 2.  Line up front pattern piece along the fly/centre seam and the waistband of the men’s pants, and trace/cut out the pattern piece (but not along the fly/centre seam, making sure you don’t cut into the back of the pants!) Cut straight through the pockets, waistband etc.:

(Note: the pattern pieces won’t line up perfectly with the curve of the centre seam, but it shouldn’t make much difference to the fit of the pants.)
Step 3.  Flip the pattern piece to the other side of the centre seam, and repeat, so you end up with a single piece for the front of the pants:

Step 4.  Repeat for the back pattern pieces on the back of the pants:

Step 5.  Remove any studs, labels or excess pocket material in the seam allowances that will be difficult to sew through. I removed the leather back label, the small coin pocket that had one side seam showing, including the stud. I tried to prise off the stud with pliers but ended up just cutting it off as it was in the seam allowance).

Step 6.  Pin together the front and back pieces, with right sides of the material together, in the inner leg/crotch area, and sew together. I used my serger/overlocker first (yes, I only have white thread for my overlocker!), and then sewed the seam with brown thread on my sewing machine to make sure the white thread doesn’t peep through. (Note: I prefer to overlock before sewing as I’m not very confident with my new overlocker – do it the other way around if you prefer.)

If you don’t have an overlocker, do a zig-zag stitch in the seam allowance before sewing with a machine, or just sew the seam and don’t worry about finishing off.

Step 7.  Cut a length of elastic approximately an inch longer than the width of the front panel, and put a safety pin in one end:

Step 8.  Thread the elastic through the waistband of the back section of the pants, pinning the non-safety-pinned end, so you don’t pull it all the way through:

Pin the elastic at both ends with a small section hanging out of the waist band (to make sure you sew through it).

Step 9.  Pin the front and back pieces of the pants together for the side seams, and sew, as per the inner leg seam (ie I serged/overlocked, and then machine sewed again). I sewed through all pocket material to create little pockets in my pants.

Step 10.  Double-fold over the hem for each leg, pin and sew with your sewing machine (or hand-sew a blind hem, if you prefer).

Step 11. Turn your pants right-side out and admire your handiwork:

Step 12.  Find a small person to model the pants for you:

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Comments

  1. Meg says

    June 28, 2010 at 9:52 pm

    Wow! I’m amazed. They turned out so well! Great tutorial, thank you!

  2. TwinsSquared says

    June 28, 2010 at 11:03 pm

    O.K. this is awesome! I can’t wait to give it a try. Thanks for the great tutorial.
    twincess.blogspot.com

  3. miamihoney says

    July 1, 2010 at 4:20 pm

    So neat.. think I will try this myself.

  4. dana says

    July 9, 2010 at 2:51 am

    This is so great – haven’t seen anything like it! I was just at the thrift store today wondering if I could make pants for my 2 year old out of mens’ pants!

  5. Gaby says

    July 11, 2010 at 9:41 am

    Wow……very clever.
    Thanks for sharing and the great tutorial.

  6. casserole says

    July 11, 2010 at 1:32 pm

    What a great idea!!! I linked to your tutorial over at Craft Gossip Sewing:
    http://sewing.craftgossip.com/tutorial-make-a-pair-of-toddler-pants-from-mens-jeans/2010/07/11/

    –Anne

  7. The homebodies says

    July 12, 2010 at 7:22 pm

    I’ve wanted to do this also, but never got around to figuring out how… great job and thanks for sharing! I will for sure try this!

  8. wdmk says

    July 28, 2010 at 7:02 pm

    This was amazingly easy, thank you for sharing!

  9. Hamilton Socialites says

    July 28, 2010 at 8:36 pm

    wow now that is recycling! Well done! Clever lady!

  10. Jana says

    July 29, 2010 at 2:49 am

    I just love these!!!
    Jana

  11. Marisa says

    July 28, 2010 at 9:00 pm

    I knew there was something I could do with those crappy Old Navy jeans that don’t fit me right! I’ll definitely try this. Thanks!

  12. las sandalias de ana says

    July 29, 2010 at 4:24 pm

    ohhh, great idea, thanks!!!

    😉

  13. Kate says

    August 6, 2010 at 11:13 pm

    That is such a cute idea! I’ll have to look around for some old mens jeans!

  14. Matt says

    August 11, 2010 at 12:23 am

    you are a GENIUS!!!! i am definately going to make a pair…you make it look so easy…thank you!!! 🙂
    -heather

  15. William says

    September 8, 2010 at 3:11 am

    These are great, it’s not everyday you see a style like this. Usually mens jeans are very generic and plain.

  16. Lois@frugaldecormom says

    September 14, 2010 at 3:22 am

    That’s fantastic! Thanks for doing the tutorial!

  17. Mandy says

    September 14, 2010 at 9:29 pm

    I can’t wait to make a pair of these for my boy! TFS!

  18. feelincrafty says

    October 26, 2010 at 5:57 am

    This tutorial is great. I used it and posted pics in the KCWC flickr pics. I’m pretty sure you saw it there. Anyway, I’ve added a link to this on my blog’s to do list. Everytime my little guys wears his pants, I smile. They ook great on him!

  19. Rachel R. says

    February 21, 2011 at 7:05 pm

    This is great!

    I know it’s not the “right” way to do it, but on pants that small, I would probably hem them before sewing up the final seams – it would just be easier to get at them that way.

  20. clara says

    February 25, 2011 at 7:24 am

    A brilliant idea!!!
    Congratulations, very clever!
    If you don’t mind I link it on my blog http://creamamma.blogspot.com/

    Thanks

  21. virginiamae says

    March 13, 2011 at 1:51 pm

    Love these too!

  22. Handmade Artists' Forum says

    July 6, 2011 at 5:50 pm

    Cute!

  23. Louis philippe says

    October 11, 2013 at 12:04 pm

    good idea these really good and great work………………Louis Philippe tshirts http://www.trendin.com/louisphilippe/mens-t-shirts-6

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