Gathing Pants Using Existing Hem and Cutting Multiples to Save Time

I realized that sometimes when I give posts cute titles, people miss out on what is actually in the post because it wasn't clear in the title what I was going to put in the post. 


I came up with a way to cut multiples of things for crafts and sewing that is much easier and more organized that just wrapping and cutting in bulk. 

Some items need to be a bit more exact in size and if you cut one side of the wrapped item, if you aren't holding the other end, it can be frustrating if you need to cut the other side and they all fell apart after you cut the one side. 


If you are only cutting one side, that would work. However, I needed to cut both sides of this to get enough elastics in the right sizes to put through the hem of the pant leg to gather these sweat pants

I am doing camp again this year and I have 25 or so people going. I went to Kmart the other day feeling like I should stop there. I probably purchase maybe twice to four times a year at Kmart. 

I won't get into my frustrations with Kmart in this post but I can see why it is going out of business and with those frustrations, it isn't my favorite place to shop. 
 
I saw that they were having a clothing clearance. I have to say that when they do their "final" winter clearance, I have found screaming deals. Most every rack of any type of clothing is $2 to $4 total. Nothing over $4 even if their tags say more. 
 
I bought some really cute hooded onsie type pj's with licensed characters on them for $3 each. The tags were $35 and above. 

I noticed they had lots of sweat pants. I started looking to see if I could find enough of one type or another for camp and I was able to find enough in all the sizes of black for everyone going. 
 
It was just over $100 to buy about 30 pair of sweat pants as I bought a few extra for sizes I was unsure about. My friend's son just bought a store that does printing on shirts etc. She called him about buying sweats wholesale and he said, I am quoting her, "If you can get sweat pants for $3 a pair, that is a "screaming" deal and you should get them!" 
 
I used his "screaming" deal description above as I thought it was fun. I had most of the girls come and try them on today and we consistently had a problem with them being long and hanging. 

When we viewed the cabin, there are open back wood stairs and I tripped walking up them in normal clothes. I thought if the girls were running around with long pants, we could have a fall. 

I figured a quick way to gather them all. I have done a similar wind thing with doll hair, wigs, lace etc but hadn't taped it down before. That was a new inspiration for me so I will definitely be doing that again. It made it so easy to do.  
 
To put elastic through a hem to gather the bottom of a pant leg, measure your ankle with a piece of elastic. Make sure the elastic you purchase fits into the hem. 

For example: If the hem is 1 inch, you need to use a 1/2 to 3/4 inch wide piece of elastic.
Once you have measured it, add an inch to the total circumference of the ankle so you will have room to sew it and some for the fabric that will be under it which would make you need a bigger piece to go around the fabric and your ankle. 

Put a safety pin through one end of the cut elastic. go to the inside (wrong side) of the pants bottom hem and on the inseam side, take a pair of scissors and snip a little hole on the inside and then thread the elastic through with the safety pin. 

Once it is all the way through, make sure there are no twists in the elastic, lay one piece over the opposite end piece and stitch it flat. Watch to the end of the video to understand why and how to leave a little extra on the elastic in case it ends up tight and you need to let it out some. 
 
I don't usually worry about the little hole I made to insert it but if you are worried about it fraying, you can do a small whip stitch around the edges to keep them from fraying. 

Since I needed to cut 20 plus pair of elastics to gather all the pants, I measured what size I needed, then, I searched for a book that was about the size of the elastic. I then put one end of the elastic (yarn, string, lace etc) you want to cut inside the book so it holds the item secure. I then start wrapping the elastic around the book so for each full rotation front and back, that is one pair of pants. 
 
When I had finished wrapping the book, I put tape on the edges and back and front corners of the book over the elastic so that it would hold the elastic in place. If i hadn't done that and had cut it, they would have all fallen away and I would have had to hold them so I could cut the other end of the book wrapped elastic so I would have two shorter pieces rather than one long piece.

The tape held everything in place and I was able to cut both sides easily and then put safety pins into the edges so that they are ready to thread into the hems of all the pants so I can just watch a movie and thread all the pants hems and gather them and then I will only need to be at the sewing machine for a few minutes to stitch the edges together. 

You can see how the hole looks after everything is threaded in and sewn. 

I feel much happier knowing that there won't be any long pants getting stepped on or tripped over at camp. I am hoping for a no accident week. 

Sleepitus is happening and I keep typing things that aren't clear so I wish you all a great day! I hope I am sleeping.... It was a VERY long week.