Make your own harems (without an overlocker)
So if you know me at all, you know 1) I love harems, 2) I love sharing info and 3) I love repurposing. So I have a little picture tutorial for you all to make your own harems for you little one out of any large item of clothing (preferably fabric with a least a little stretch) you have that you don’t use any more. I’ve seen some tutorials do it with an old t-shirt, I’ve done mine with a stretchy skirt (size 14).
So here we go, harems made for my son out of an old skirt.
So firstly I grabbed a pair of harems I made for my daughter to use as a template, you can use any pants that fit your child. I folded both the skirt and harems in half and place the harems on top of the skirt and then traced around them with a fabric pen (ink disappears over time or straight away if you use the magic ink remover pen).
Once cut out (with future pairs I would leave the fabric at the waist wider so it gathers more, so cut less fabric off) place right sided together and pin. Once pinned find your stretch stitch on your sewing machine (looks like a lightning bolt) and stitch up both sides and along the inseam.
When this is done measure the child’s waist and cut some 1 inch elastic around 1 inch or so shorter than the measurement. With these harems I sewed the elastic together and then attached it with pins to the harems (the pants are wider than the elastic so you have spread the fabric evenly) and as you sew the fabric to the elastic stretch the elastic so it sews evenly.
Once it is attached I folded the elastic over and sewed again
(To make this neater fold the fabric down further on the first step so when you fold the elastic over again all the seams are tucked under and not visible)
Once it’s all sewed you are good for your model to try them on
(Since these pics I have tapered the ankles in further just to stop them slipping off his little ankles)