**Making Pajama Pants with Elastic Casing**

As we begin our project, I'm excited to show you how to make a pair of adorable pajama pants for your little ones using elastic casing. This tutorial is perfect for beginners and experienced sewists alike.

The first step in making these cute pajamas is to stop at the point where we have our elastic ready. Now, let's do a forward and back stitch and then we're ready to string our elastic through. I'm using 1-inch wide elastic which can be found at Joanne, either by the yard or in pre-cut packages. I prefer knit elastic over woven or braided as it stands up straighter and stretches really great.

The length for your elastic is going to be your waist plus an extra inch, so that you can overlap the two ends. For my little daughter Clara who is turning five, I'll cut this 21-inch long as her waist, so I'll do 22 inches. Set this aside, now take a safe pin or a B-can if you have one of those safety pins work great. Stick it through the end and then we're going to string this through the little casing that we made. Find the opening right there and stick it in, and then push it all the way through, making sure your elastic is not getting twisted inside as you go.

You want to make sure that your elastic doesn't get twisted inside as you go, if it does no big deal, just pull it out and do it again. Flatten it a bit and then what you want to do is secure the other end so that as you're going, your whole elastic doesn't just pull right through with pajama pants. It's less likely cuz you're not Gathering as much fabric as say like a simple skirt. You got to do that otherwise, you're doing this again and again.

Wait till it comes back out the other end there it is. Pull that through okay, sh-me this around okay. And then if you have the convenience of trying this on your child, I like to actually just safety pin these two ends together before I sew everything together and make sure that it fits right. Maybe it's too loose or maybe it's too tight. If it's too tight, just cut another little piece of elastic sew it to the end and then you can have an extra long piece.

Or you could start over and string a new piece through either way. So I would pin it like that, kind of go like this try it on my child but we're going to go to our machine and sew it together. Take the two ends of your elastic and overlap them about 1 inch and then come to your machine and we're going to sew it in place just with a couple stitches well, a couple lines of stitches forward and back.

You could use a straight Stitch or a zigzag Stitch one then just scoot over and sew another one. You don't have to I just feel like I like things to be secure inside here okay elastic is good. Let's see how it looks looking awesome okay now we just need to sew the casing closed come right back to your machine fold over that area and we're going to sew right along this little opening right there.

Just go back to your machine and just start at the same spot that you stopped at before try to match it up the Stitch line forward and back stitch make sure you're not sewing any of the elastic. Sew right down and you are done with your cute little pajama pants. But let me show you one more fun addition I like to add a little faux drawstring or tie at the top again it's purely accessory but it looks really cute.

You can also find some fun trims at Joanne and they have awesome cotton twill tape which I like to use white or color or sometimes when I'm working with knit Fabrics I like to cut the Salvage Edge or just a strip of fabric. You Yank It And it creates kind of like a little tube of fabric and that's what I'm going to use. I'm going to cut about 24 inches I like to do about 12 inches for each side of the little tie so I'll cut a string right here perfect.

The nice thing about knit Fabrics is they don't fray you don't have to finish out the edges anything like that and then I'm going to start in the middle of the top casing and I'm going to sew make sure these are even. Going to lay it like that and just sew one little line down there sew simple or so simple okay go to your machine and just do a little for and back stitch that's all you need.

And then let's tie a little bow and then let's see how it looks oh perfect if it's too long just cut the ends a little bit and look at that congratulations you just made a pair of pajama pants your kids are going to be thrilled. In fact, I'm going to go try these on my daughter Clara right now for more ideas and tutorials visit my website or follow me on social media.

**Tips and Variations**

* Use different colors or patterns of elastic for a unique look.

* Add a contrasting thread color for a pop of color.

* Experiment with different fabric types, like cotton or fleece, for a soft and cozy feel.

* Try adding pockets or a waistband for extra functionality.

* Make these pajama pants in various sizes to accommodate your family's needs.

By following this tutorial, you'll be able to create adorable pajama pants with an elastic casing that are perfect for little ones. Happy sewing!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys it's Dana from made everyday.com and today I have a really simple project for you it's great for beginners we're going to sew a little pair of loungy pajama pants with taco trucks I love projects that come together quickly and that my kids will get tons of use from and a pair of pajama pants or shorts well it doesn't get much simpler than that they have an elastic waistband which makes them really cozy and they're made from soft flannel and with so many cute flannel prints at the store I mean I just want to make pear after Paar after Paar you know how it goes here's what you need some cute Fabric and 1in wide elastic for a pair of kids pajama pants or shorts you only need about a yard or two of fabric and the great thing about using flannel aside from the fact that it's super soft and cozy and snuggly is that there are so many cute prints available out there I mean look at all of these designs I got them all at my local Joan Fabric and Craft store and they have bolts and bolts of the cutest little things I just want to buy all of it and when it goes on sale sometimes I buy two or three yards of a print even though I don't even know what I'm going to make with it I bring it home I wash it I dry it and then it's all ready to go when I'm ready to to sew so let's set your fabric aside and we'll talk about a pattern I've shown you how to make a basic pair of shorts before but as with any sewing project there is always more than one way to sew something and that's what I want to show you right now I am using my kid shorts pattern which is available on my website go to m everyday.com and you don't have to use this pattern you can use your own or you can make your own and typically in a pants or shorts pattern there is a front and a back which is great if you want to have a side seam for a pocket but sometimes you can also find patterns that are together where it just makes one large pattern piece and that is great if you have a fabric where you don't want to cut into the print you really want to maximize how that fabric looks and so that it kind of bends around the leg and it looks kind of cozy and cute so that's what we're going to do today so I'm going to take these two pieces and combine them together and I've already cut my piece out here but let me explain kind of what I did I took a large piece of paper or you can tape together a bunch of smaller pieces of paper which is my go-to method that's what I do every time I'm making a pattern cuz I always have paper I'm going to take these two pattern pieces place them together with the side seams touch and then because these are PJ pants I want them to be extra roomy so I'm actually going to give them more space I'm keeping the side seam so that they are even with each other but I'm adding a little bit of space in the middle there we go and then I'm also adding a little bit more room at the top just to make it again more roomy and then I'm adding more length because I want them to be pants and to figure out the length you can measure your child's inseam you can grab a pair of pants they already have or you can just make them extra long try them on and then you'll know how to hem them okay let's cut out our fabric okay I've got my fabric here and you guys this print when I saw it Joanne well I bought the rest of the bolt because you know taco trucks doughnut trucks flowers okay it's folded in half so that I'm going to cut two pieces for my pants and you can have them right sides together or wrong sides together it doesn't really matter but you want the pieces to be mirror images of each other so I'm taking my pattern piece and laying it right on top I have the top up here and the bottom down here so it's going the right direction and this is great for this size four to five I can fit both legs if you had a larger size you might need to open up your Fabric and cut one piece move down and cut the other piece but for little kids this 44in wide works perfect okay then just take your scissors and start cutting okay I am done cutting my fabric now before we sew I want to show you a quick tip that I love to do because it helps save time later and it's easier to press things when they're flat than when they're sewn around a little leg so first we're going to hem the bottom of the pants under and if you're not sure what length you're going to want to do you can save this step till later no big deal I'm starting by folding it under about a half inch or you can do a/ qu inch there's no right or wrong with us press that under that just is going to keep the raw Edge inside the Hem and then do it about another I don't know 1 in it depends on what kind of look you're going for sometimes I kind of like a more chunky hem on these pajama pants it just looks really cute the other thing is if you do a chunky hem if you cut them a little extra long then as your child grows you could let the Hem out of course by the time they grow then it's ready for summer and then I snip them off and make them into shorts okay so there's one let's do the other one okay after we've done that now we want to do the top casing which is well kind of a similar look this is where the elastic is going to go through the top of our pajama pants so first go over about a/4 to a half of an inch then we want to go over about another 1 and a/4 in or 1 and a half I have a little ruler here you just want to make sure if I grab my elastic that it's wide enough for our elastic to go through so let's see I did about one and half inch is good press that in place give it a really good firm press and we'll do the other pant okay now we want to pin the legs together and then we're headed to our machine now unfold those areas that we just pressed which I know sounds kind of weird but I promise it's going to help later we're going to take this leg with right sides together and match it up at the top of the inseam or the crotch area and what we're going to do in this step is to sew right down the inseam down to the bottom of the Hem I'm going to pin it in a couple places and let's go to our machine okay I'm using a 3/8 in seam allowance and you always want to do a forward and back stitch at the beginning of your project this just kind of ties a nod and keeps the thread from coming and done then just go all the way around this is your first project you've ever made this is a great great place to start I'm teach you some basics of sewing garments without having to worry if it fits exactly perfect do a back stitch and then let's do the other leg for and back stitch at the end we're done and we're not even going to press anything this time I know I'm always talking about pressing but this next step is just so fast turn one of your legs right side out and then we're going to stick it right inside the other leg so stick it in there and then you want to match them up right here with these two little crotch seams come together and I'm going to place a pin right there and then just want to match it up the two pieces around like this okay now you can see here we're going to sew from one side side down around and back up the other side I'm using the same seam allowance here at 3/8 in pour it and back stitch and then just go right around when you get to the spot where the two inseams come together just kind of do your best to lay it flat and to go through all those layers at once there we go do a back stitch and let's see how our pants are looking so far if we pull the whole thing out you're going to be amazed at how quickly these come together I mean they're basically pants already right okay let's see ah awesome I love it okay now I want to create the casing for the top that the elastic is going to go through and this is why we pressed it earlier cuz it's so easy to just fold under and fold under again and then just put a little pin there if you can't see your creases anymore just grab your iron and press it again but it should fold over pretty easily I'm pinning all the way around and then it's important you want to leave an opening in the back for the elastic to get in and out so if you think you might forget to stop sometimes I like to place two pins so that I remember oh yeah this is my opening just need to leave about I don't know 2 or 3 in which is nothing big now let's pin our hem as well I'm doing the exact same thing I'm folding under and then I'm folding under again and I'm going to just place a few pins and then we'll go back to our machine I'm going to S the Hem in the pants first which I know sounds a little backward but there's no real right or wrong way here I'm using about a 1/8 inch seam allowance which means I'm just a smidgin over from the folded Edge and do a forward and back stitch and then I'm just going to ride around now again if you're not sure the length for your child you might save this step till the very end and sew the waist first and try them on your child and then you'll know for sure but as I said I've made these many many times for my kids which makes this project so simple once you have your pattern ready to go and you know all the lengths and all that kind of stuff I mean you can churn these things out for Christmas birthday is anytime do back stitch at the end and then let's do the other leg okay back stitch okay now let's sew the top casing go back to our waist and remember that I have my start and stop Point here soz I want to leave that opening for the elastic start right there again I'm using a 1/8 inch seam allowance forward and back stitch and then just go all the way around okay I'm getting to my stop Point here do a forward and back stitch and now we're ready to string our elastic through I'm using 1in wide elastic which you can also find at Joanne and they sell it by the yard or in these little pre-cut packages and I like to buy knit elastic rather than woven or braided I just feel like it stands up straighter and stretches really great now the length for your elastic is going to be your waist plus an extra inch so that you can overlap the two ends so for my little daughter Clara who is actually turning five I'm going to cut this 21 in as her waist so I'll do 22 okay just like that set this aside now you want to take a safe pin or a B can if you have one of those safety pins work great stick it through the end and then we're going to string this through the little casing that we made so find the opening right there stick it in and then you just want to push it all the way through you want to make sure that your elastic is not getting twisted inside as you go if it does no big deal you just pull it out and do it again look already getting twisted okay kind of flatten it and then what you want to do is secure the other end so that as you're going your whole elastic doesn't just pull right through with pajama pants it's less likely cuz you're not Gathering as much fabric as say like a simple skirt with a skirt for sure you got to do that otherwise you're doing this again and again then wait till it comes back out the other end there it is pull that through okay sh me this around okay and then if you have the convenience of trying this on your child I like to actually just safety pin these two ends together before I sew everything together and make sure that it fits right that maybe it's too loose or maybe it's too tight if it's too tight just cut another little piece of elastic sew it to the end and then you can have an extra long piece or you could start over and string a new piece through either way so I would pin it like that kind of go like this try it on my child but we're going to go to our machine and sew it together take the two ends of your elastic and overlap them about 1 in and then come to your machine and we're going to sew it in place just with a couple stitches well a couple lines of stitches forward and back and you could use a straight Stitch or a zigzag Stitch one then just scoot over and sew another one you don't have to I just feel like I like things to be secure inside here okay elastic is good let's see how it looks looking awesome okay now we just need to sew the casing closed so come right back to your machine fold over that area and we're going to sew right along this little opening right there just go back to your machine and just start at the same spot that you stopped at before try to match it up the Stitch line forward and back stitch make sure you're not sewing any of the elastic and sew right down and you are done with your cute little pajama pants but let me show you one more fun addition I like to add a little faux drawring or tie at the top again it's purely accessory but it looks really cute so you can also find some fun trims at Joanne and they have awesome cotton twill tape which I like to use white or color or sometimes when I'm working with knit Fabrics I like to cut the Salvage Edge or just a strip of fabric and You Yank It And it creates kind of like a little tube of fabric and that's what I'm going to use I'm going to cut about I don't know 24 in I like to do about 12 in for each side of the little tie so I'll cut a string right here perfect the nice thing about knit Fabrics is they don't phrase you don't to finish out the edges anything like that and then I'm going to start in the middle of the top casing and I'm going to sew make sure these are even going to lay it like that and just sew one little line down there sew simple or so simple okay go to your machine and just do a little for and back stitch that's all you need and there you go let's tie a little bow and then let's see how it looks oh perfect if it's too long just cut the ends a little bit and look at that congratulations you just made a pair of pajama pants your kids are going to be thrilled in fact I'm going to go try these on my daughter clar right now for more ideas and tutorials visit my website made everyday.com and for flannel elastic and other needs head to your local Joan store or go to jan.com I'll see you next time bye\n"