Pajama pants to Lil Sailor dress

Oh my gosh I have two followers!! Wow O wow thanks guys yous have really made my day :D

I wanted to show a recon I did from a pair of my maternity pajamas pants that are way too big for me now. This is the before pic...

They were too cute to just give away so I thought I would turn them into a dress for bean. Here is how I did it:

Using one of her existing dresses I cut a dress shape from ones of the legs of the pants. I left the side seams and hem intact to save me some time. (If you don't happen to have a baggy but cute pair of PJ pants at home you could just sew a tube shape yourself )





As you can see in the above picture, I cut two semi circles out for the armholes and cut straight across the top, leaving a little extra for seam allowance.

Then using a contrasting fabric I cut 4 identical crescents. Use the neckline of existing top to get a rough idea of the size you need. Leaving extra for seams and to overlap the two sections (We will get to that bit in a minute)

Putting the right sides together sew all around the outside leaving the space between the white marks above open. Repeat with your second set.



Turning your dress inside out fold your sleeve seams in twice and sew just using a straight stitch.
I didn't get a photo of the next step so hopefully I can explain it properly. Email me if it makes no sense. I turned the red sections right side out and ironed them flat. then carefully folded the edges of the open part inside and ironed to keep it in place.
Sandwich the top section of the dress into the open red section and gather a little so it fits properly and looks nice.Make sure your seams are tucked in, the pin and sew together.

Finish off by sewing buttonholes and adding buttons to the shoulders and there you go...

On another note, I finally got to go see New moon today!! Just me and bean while the boys went to see Alvin and the chipmunks 2 with some friends in another cinema. Loved, loved, loved it. I think more so because I had read the book first this time. I can't wait for the next one. Oh and I am going to go and buy Mr B a set of the abs that Jacob was sporting mmmmmmm.

Bec xoxo