FATHER-TO-SON DIY RECYCLED JEANS

  These jeans are a true saving-the-nature project! Inspired by the recent recycled t-shirt I made for my son, I thought about making sailor-themed jeans to go with it. From my husband´s old jeans I´ve been saving for months now.

We will be spending a lot of time by the sea in the summer, so these will become more than handy then! And as you can see by the wrinkles, the pants have become a favorite already.  =)

This is what was left of my husband´s old jeans after cutting out the pieces for my seven-year-old son´s pants!

Pant legs have a nice gentleman-like fold to make them look more sophisticated. (I do try to raise him a gentleman!  =)

The buttons add up to the jeans-like look. Using worn jeans fabric gives these pants an overall better look than using new fabric from the store. We are so used to jeans being stone washed to look worn out, that otherwise it is more difficult to achieve the genuine jeans-look for hand-made pants, other than using old material.

In the back you can see these pants are made of recycled material. But rather than being a "flaw", I see it as a proud sign of doing one´s share for the common good!  If we destroy our planet, we will have no place to do any other good deeds either.

The waistline is comfortably held up by an elastic band. The dark area is where back pockets were placed in the original adult´s jeans. I removed the pockets to make the waist nice and stretchy.

The recipe:

old adult-sized jeans (the bigger the better for older kids)
pattern for kids´ pants (don´t need to be for jeans, those are too complicated for my taste =)
piece of approx. 3cm wide elastic band, enough to reach around the child´s waist
(6 buttons, or other accessories your pattern suggests/you want to add)

+  Cut open the seams in the adult´s jeans. Place front pieces on top of each other, and the back pieces on top of each other as well, right sides in.
  Place pattern pieces on top of the pant legs, front on fronts, back on backs. Cut out. (If the legs of the old jeans aren´t long enough, it is easy to grab another pair of old jeans, and combine more material in from them. They will look as cool, if not more so, than these made of just one pair!)
  Sew as usual, instructed in your pattern.
  Add the accessories/decorations you wish, or your child wishes.

  It is fun to design and make clothes together with your child! You will benefit from spending quality, yet productive, time together by letting your imaginations fly!

  Patterns can be easily bought from pretty much anywhere, you don´t need to go to a sewing supplier. My favorite way is to buy a magazine that has several patterns in one. That is probably the cheapest way too. The above pattern is from Ottobre magazine 3/2011. But as I said, any of your favorite will do.