Do It Yourself: Patch and Lengthen Children’s Pants

Take a favourite pair of well-worn pants like these:Patch the holes in the knees and lengthen the legs for a happy little girl who gets to keep wearing her favourite pair of jeans.

First thing you need to do is cut 2 rectangles of fabric to make the cuffs.  I was using leftover baby cord with a directional print so I pieced together 2 rectangles for each leg so that the print would be facing the right direction whether the cuff was turned up or down.  Measure the circumference of the leg opening and add 1/2 inch for the long edge of your rectangles.  Decide on the width you would like and add 1/2 inch to determine the short edge of your rectangles.  In my case, I cut 4 rectangles, 3 1/2 inch x 16 1/2 inch each, and used a 1/4 inch seam allowance to piece together along the long edges.Press 1/4 inch of the long edges toward the wrong side of fabric.  Now you can use the rectangles like super-extra-wide double fold bias tape.  Pin in place along the inside bottom of one pant leg with right side of fabric facing wrong side of jeans.  I lined mine up with the existing hem so that it would encase it when I was finished.  I also needed to be careful to make sure that the owl print was facing the right direction.Now stitch in place using a long stitch just less than 1/4 inch from the edge.Flip the cuff fabric and turn pant leg right side out.  Edge stitch the cuff in place, just like using double fold bias tape.Press your seams and you’ve got a cuff.  Repeat for the other pant leg.

Next, make two patches whatever shape you like.  I used the computer to print out an oval the size I needed.

Use Steam a Seam to attach the patches — as evenly matched on both legs as possible!  Now, isn’t that far cuter than those store-bought iron-on patches?

Here’s my happy little girl who gets to wear her favourite jeans for a little while longer: