Ruffle Pants!

This blog is dedicated to making old things new again....so This week my project is to make my daughters old pants new again and better than before! They were floods on her, so she couldn't wear them any more, but they still fit perfectly in the waist. That happens all the time and always makes me sad because it's such a waste of perfectly good pants. Another problem I have encountered is holes in the knees! You can do this same thing with those. They just might need to be cut a little higher- they could be shorts instead of Capri's. Below is a quick tutorial on how to make these darling ruffle pants.

1- Find old pants.

2- Cut them wherever you want. If they have holes cut them just above the holes. If not, and you want to make capri's cut them just below the knee. You will need to use the pieces you cut off as connector pieces. Cut them to be about 2-2 1/2 inches wide.

3- Get 2 different kinds of fabric. 1 yard long. cut the fabric 2 1/2 inches x 1 yard. Do this to both pieces. You can use the same fabric for both ruffles if you want, or do them different.

4- Sew along one side of the strip of fabric with a tight zig zag stitch. then fold it over the zig zag and hem it up. If you have a surger, surge it instead of zig zag.

5-Next you are going to ruffle the strip of fabric. If you have a ruffle foot that works, but it's easy to do it without to. First adjust your sewing machine to a long stitch. Sew a straight line along the top edge that you want to gather. (edge opposite the hemmed edge.) Pull one of the threads to gather. I find that pulling the needle thread (the top one) works best for me.

6- Get the ruffles how you want them, and then pin them on the pants rights sides together so the ruffle is laying up on the pants.

7- Stitch the ruffle to the pants.

8- Next you will need the connector piece that you saved. Place the top connector section right sides to the pant, with the ruffle in between. Stitch in place.

9- Turn the connector piece down. Pin the next ruffle right sides together to the raw edge of the connector piece. Stitch in place.

10- Turn the ruffles down and press. Now just put a top stitch just above the seam of both ruffles- this will help the ruffles lay down properly.

All done!!

These are so cute and girly! All of my girls love these, even my 10 year old! You can add just one ruffle if you would like or even three! This funky and fun style is the perfect way to get more life out of those pants you would have just thrown away!