I always hated buying play clothes. No matter how inexpensive I found them. All the big superstores had the little shorts and shirts for less than $5-$10. But, I had a hard time wrapping my head around buying brand new clothes that I knew would be stained and grungy after one wear. I also hated sending them to school/daycare in something cute just to have it ruined before they got home. So, whether they’re playing inside/outside or at school, I decided making them play clothes out of my donation bag would serve me well. One, I was getting rid of the stuff not knowing if it would be used or go in the trash and two, it wasn’t going to cost me to get another use out of them.
So, I went through my donation stuff and found a couple of items I thought would work
Here are some of the items I used to make the pattern for the clothes. Pencil, scissors, craft paper.
I had to find a shirt and shorts that are currently the size I needed. I used them to make a pattern (I did not cut them up, Just folded at the seems and traced them onto craft paper)
I added a 1/4 inch seam allowance on the pattern. I cut the front and back of the shirt on the fold and used the bottom of the shirt so I would have to hem it when complete.
After I cut out the pieces, I sewed the side and shoulder seams of the shirt front and back. I then used single fold bias tape for the neck and arm holes. I started working on the shorts, and made a big mistake. Remember how I said my seam ripper is my favorite tool. Well, it got put to good use because I meant to stitch the front seam then the back seam, however, I ended up stitching the sides. I had to take them out and then I sewed it correctly. So once I stitched the front and back seams I could stitch them together at the sides then the crotch. I hemmed the legs and added elastic with a zig-zag stitch around the top of the shorts. I folded the elastic over and stitched again. Now, a trick I learned a long time ago is to add a piece of folded ribbon in the back seam of the shorts when sewing so you can easily tell which is the back. I have found that sometimes it is difficult to tell. So, here is the finished outfit.