Upcycle tshirt = Toddler PJ’s! {FREE sewing tutorial}

inside: Great ideas for old shirt uses. Upcycle tshirt = Toddler PJ’s! I’ve been reusing men’s shirts to make kids pajamas for a decade now and love how easy and economical it is. Plus you can pair this tutorial with my free sewing patterns.

Updated post and tutorial 7/2020

I’ll give you a bit of the back story on this post below, but reusing my husbands shirts for kids pjs has been a project I’ve been working on for about 10 years now. The larger the shirt the better and the more fabric you can get. Now I will sometimes just go to the thrift store and but big shirts just for the fabric! I’m excited to show you how to make your own kids pajamas by upcycling men’s shirts in this post today.

Upcycle Tshirt = Kids Pajamas

From my original post in May 2010: So when my son desperately needed new summer PJ’s I was faced with a problem. Kids’ clothing is pretty expensive here (when we lived in Hong Kong), we weren’t headed back to the US for another month, I didn’t have any material to make new ones, and I was not looking forward to the trip to the fabric market (hauling my son and stroller).

So, I asked my husband if he had any t-shirts he was willing to part with. He gave me 3 shirts! Yeah! I made one for a trial (the shorts were great, the shirt was thrown out!). The shirt flop helped me make the changes I needed to have success on the second try. I am very pleased with the whole outcome. Plus, I now have two shirts and three pairs of shorts: FREE pajamas!! Check out my cute model! {photos of original project and my tiny son!!}

Today I’m going to give you inspiration for using old shirts to sew pajamas and show you how I upcycle the fabric from these shirts. In the video here you can see how I place the pattern pieces and cut the fabric. We will go through the photo version of this below {if you don’t see the video, disable your ad blocker.

Patterns to use for upcycling tshirts

Also use the sewing tutorial with each pattern for the actual sewing. This post just shows how to reuse the adult shirt for fabric, not how to sew the pjs.

• Kids Raglan
• Basic Tshirt
• Sports Shorts
• Kids Leggings

For this post I used the leggings {sized up for a looser fit} and the basic tshirt for the top} Grab yourself some thrift store shirts {or raid your husbands closet} and let’s get started.

Print the patterns you want to use and trace the size you need. Need help with Pdf patterns? Check out my downloading tutorial and printing/layout tutorial links. Here are my thrift finds for writing this tutorial. I buy only XL and larger as there is more fabric.

How to upcycle Mens shirts –

Option 1: For tiny pjs you can can cut both the top and bottom from a single shirt! This only works for infants and toddlers though… {option 3 shows for larger sizes}

Here is how I laid out my patterns for a whole set from one shirt. This shirt also didn’t have side seams {was a solid tube} so I was really able to use all the fabric. I cut the front and back of the shirt on the side folds, and then the shorts from the top middle. I cut open the sleeves and was able to cut my two sleeves from the top of each sleeve.

I love being able to keep the original hem on either the kids shirt or shorts bottom.. Here I kept the hem for the new shirt.

All my cut pieces and only tiny scraps of shirt left. I even reused the neckband for this one.

I used the t-shirt and legging tutorials to sew up my pieces and ended up with this cute set in sizes 2T.

Option 2: much the same as the first only I used the long sleeves for pant legs. I LOVE this hack! I also show how to do this in my ONE HOUR PJ tutorial and my SWEATER UPCYCLING posts. The video in this post will also show how I cut them. For this set I did use fabric scraps I had on hand for the neckband and waistband.

I cut the legs from the long sleeves and the shirt from the front and back of the original shirt.

Here is my long pants version.

Option 3 is for larger kids sizes.. You will need multiple shirts to complete the project.

For this method you can cut the bottoms from one and the top from another. You can also mix and match the pattern pieces to make the set look more coordinating as well. Remember to reuse the hems whenever you can!

And… you can create super cute, simple and affordable pjs.. No one needs perfect pajamas, they just have to be comfy and wearing. Nothing is more comfy than a worn tshirt.. so soft!

Have you made clothes for your kids from old t-shirts? I love re-purposed shirts! For more great Pajama Posts see

• 1 hr {or less} pjs
• DIY Striped Robot Pjs
• Footies to Footless Pjs
• Boys Summer Pajamas
• My Pj Obsession 
• Zipper and Feet Pjs
• Free Pj Pattern 4T Summer
• Super Hero Pjs