kojotutorial: linen beach pants (from linen shirt sleeves)

These linen pants just might be the boy-ish compliment to all of the lovely, beachy, girly sundress options that are available to make for little girls.  Pair them with an appliqued whale shirt (really, any beach motif would do, but Burke loves whales) and your little boy is ready for surf, sand and some general adorableness.

To make a pair of beachy linen pants (with a contrasting cuff as shown), you'll need:
-a Goodwill bound linen shirt
-fabric for the cuffs (I used a piece that measured 4" x 25" and had plenty for both cuffs)
-a sewing machine
-ribbon or other cord for the drawstring (I braided a few strips of a tshirt into a drawstring, actually)

1. Trace a pair of pants that fit your little one well onto the sleeve portion of your linen shirt.  Two things to note- first, you'll have to leave at least two extra inches at the top to fold over into a drawstring casing (these extra 2" might extend from the sleeve portion of the linen shirt to the actual shirt- that's fine since it's folded over and hidden).  I made a pattern from Burke's well-fitting pants and the two inches are built in at the top.  Second, you won't be using the cuff of the sleeve.  My sleeve cuff was 2" (and the cuff I made for the pants was 2"), so I matched up the 'hem' of my pattern to the cuff, but you'll have to look at your cuff and estimate accordingly.

2. Cut out your pieces.

3. Pin and sew your two pieces together.  This is easier to do than it is to explain... just match up what will eventually be the crotch of the pants, pin and stitch.

4. Lay your pair of 'pattern' pants on the linen to-bed-pants to find out where the top seam should be.  Fold and iron your soon-to-be-drawstring-casing down.  Stitch in place.

5. Now it's time to add the contrasting cuff.  First cut off your current sleeve cuff (if you haven't already).  Then, using the bottom of your sleeve as your guide, measure the length of fabric you'll need for the cuff.  My sleeves required about 10" (5" each for the front and the back).  I cut my fabric to about 11" x 4".  Next, iron this piece in half vertically (first iron the edges in so you won't have a raw edge peaking out).  You should have a doubled over piece fabric measuring about 10" (or whatever length your sleeve required) by 2".

6. Pin your cuff to the bottom of the sleeve with your raw edges facing in and sew together.  Your ironed-in edges should ensure that you don't have any raw pieces showing.  Press.

7. If you want to add the braided tshirt drawstring, cut 3 long strips of tshirt material, braid together and thread though the drawstring casing (snip two small wholes in the middle in the front first).  If you're using ribbon or some other cording, thread that through the drawstring casing.

8. Complete the ensemble with a little coordinating appliqued shirt (in the first two pictures above, Burke is showing you his whale shirt- haha!) and let your little frolic on the beach in his super beach-y getup.  Could he be any cuter?

Also, this doesn't exactly relate to the linen pants, but these were so easy (and turned out so well) that I'm making plans for Burke's Easter outfit with this idea in mind... I think I might just use regular button up shirt sleeves, some geometric-ish contrasting fabric for the cuffs and maybe applique a tie-onesie/shirt with the same geometric fabric to go with it?  I have some Alexander Henry blue-and-brown geometric-y fabric that might fit the bill for the cuff and tie... I'll let you know if I get that together before Easter. :)

Happy boy-ish, beach-y sewing, friends!