Bottoms up part 5: Lilly Frilly ruffle pants tutorial

Here's the story behind the series, the second part of the series is here, third part of the series is here, go here for the part 4.                                          

The following post has been published as a guest post on craftsy blog, I am republishing it here now.
These are a very quick and easy refashion and a great way to jazz up a plain boring pair of baby pants or leggings. This technique is also an easy way to increase the length of pants that fit well at the waist but are a couple of inches too short. This will also come in handy if you want to make pants coordinated with a dress, but don't have the time/skill to sew the whole thing yourself. You could just add a ruffle at the bottom and may be a couple of embellishments and just like that! matching pants!

Supplies:

1 baby pants that fit well at the waist ( length doesn't matter here, because we can always cut them to the right length, or add ruffles to increase the length)
5 inchesX full fabric width of coordinating woven fabric

Instructions:
Here's a quick rundown of how I did it.

Cut two strips of 2.5 inches X width of the fabric. I used a precut jelly roll strip from Moda's "Meadow Friends" line by Deb Strain. Hem along one long edge of these strips.

Along the other long edge, sew a seam after setting your machine's tension to highest and stitch length to maximum. This will ruffle up the strips.

Take the pants and cut off the cuffs about 1 inch above the hemline. This is where you adjust the length of the pants if they're too short or too long. If they are too long, cut them to a length where they are about 1 inch shorter than the perfect length. If they're too small, then cut them as close to the hem as possible.

Place the ruffle on this new raw edge of pants such that the ruffle and pant are right sides together and their raw edges line up. Sew a seam along this raw edge to attach the ruffle to the pants. Serge or sew a zig-zag stitch at the edge to finish it.

Turn out the ruffle, top-stitch as close to the edge as you can. For a better finish top-stitch one more time, this time 1/4 inch away from the edge. ( you could also use twin needle to do both the seams at once)

Adding the bow in the front:

Cut a 9 inch long piece from the jelly roll.

Fold it in half along the length with right sides together. Sew along the raw ends to make a tube.

Now rotate the seam such that it falls in the center of back if you iron the tube flat.

Now sew a seam along the bottom of this tube.
Sew another seam at the top of this tube but leave a gap of 1 inch at the center of this seam. This gap will be used to turn the whole thing out. I have left the gap where the green seam ripper is placed.

Now snip the corners to get this rectangle to turn smoothly.
Now turn out. Use a pencil or corner turner to poke the corners out.

Iron flat.

Sew over the opening you had left earlier to close it fully.

Now fold it like an accordion in the center. I made three folds in mine, with the center fold being a little bigger then the ones on the sides.

Now cut a ribbon or twill tape about 3 inches long. Wrap it over the accordion folds you just made. If needed use a pin to hold everything together.

Now hand-sew the ribbon at the back of the bow. Cut off excess ribbon.

The bow is ready. Now place it at the center of the front of pants and again hand sew it to attach it to the pants. Make sure you sew multiple stitches for added strength.

Ruffled pants are ready! Make one,

Make two. Make Many! enjoy!

Another embellishment idea:

Appliques:

Cut hearts from the fabric in various sizes.

Arrange them in any manner you want.

Hand sew along the edge. The stitch I have used makes sure that the edges are covered so they don't fray. If you want to be doubly sure, use fray check.

Look! A sweet little heart. Now do the same for other pieces.

You could applique whatever shape you like. If your ruffle fabric has some interesting print, you could even cut that and applique it.

Ta da! Sew Unique, Sew creative, Sew you!