Wide and stripey...just the way I like 'em!

Ever buy a hunk of fabric with absolutely no project in mind for it...purely because you liked the look of it and knew it had to be good for something someday?

I had a heap of heavy weight, striped denim kicking around from last year's Buy the Yard Sale and absolutely no projects in mind to use it on.

I can't remember what prompted me to make pants out of it, but that's exactly what I wound up making: wide-leg, stripey, massively hemmed, drawstring pants for Abner.

Unlike most drawstring pants that just tie in the front, these ones have ties on either side. You can kind of see one of the ties in the picture below. It's the little pink thing on her hip. I love this system for fastening pants for kids. If one side comes undone, the other side will still keep their pants up!

There was no pattern to follow. If you want to make your own...

1. Lay out a pair of pants folded in half on your fabric and sketch out the shape of the pattern piece from that, adding significantly to the width and at the top to allow for the drawstring channel.
2. Cut four pieces of fabric from your pattern piece.
3. The pants are then assembled just like any other pants, except that when assembling everything, you need to leave an opening at the top of either side seam (i.e. don't sew the entire side seam, leave a few inches unstitched at the top).
4. Fold in the raw edges of each section of unstitched side seam and stitch in place.
5. Then, fold over the top edge of the pants a few times to make the drawstring channel (i.e. the waistband) and stitch that in place. You should have separate channels wide enough to feed your drawstring through on both the front and back sides of the pants.
6. Feed your drawstring through so that you start and end on the same side of the pants. After you do both sides, you'll now have four pieces of drawstring hanging from the pants (two on either side). The ties can be pulled to cinch in the waist as needed to fit your child.
7. Hem the pants as desired.

I've since made a second pair of these pants to give to one of Abner's little friends. I hope he enjoys them as much as Abner has!