halloween pajamas for will | aka 10 minute cranky pants tutorial

I’ve been wearing my cranky pants this week–too much working, almost no sewing.  But with 10 minutes and a quick pair of pajamas for little Will, I am on my way to wearing my happy pants again.

Will fell in love with this Boo to You Riley Blake Halloween fabric at the store last week.  I told him I’d make some pajama pants for him (never mind the fact that I don’t have a pattern for pajama pants).  I cruised around on the internet for a few kid’s pajama pant tutorials and got the basic idea.

Fold a pair of pants that fits well  and lay it over your fabric (folded in half with the fold of the fabric and the non-crotch part of the pants lining up). For my freakishly tall 4 year old, I used a yard of fabric.  I was hoping to have enough extra to make a matching pair for Eloise, but I have surprisingly little fabric left.

In theory, you should pin down the pants, trace around them, then measure out a 1/2 inch seam allowance before cutting it out.  If you have 5 minutes before you are going to pass out, just hold them down and hack around them with a pair of scissors and call it good.  (Like my pretty new fabric that’s subbing for the Boo to You in this shot?!)

Repeat with the other leg. Now you have something that looks like it’s gone horribly wrong (sorry for the awful iphone pic–I wasn’t kidding about the 5 minutes before bed).  But trust the process–it’s going to work out.

Sew both legs closed on the center inseam and then pin the center crotch seams before sewing from waistband-to-waistband to form the seam that runs from belly button to lower back.

That was the first 5 minutes–all you need now is the elastic waistband and to hem the legs.  And then voila!  You have a pair of pajama pants so cool that your son will insist on showing off to his friends.