Upcycling T-Shirts to Pjs for kids

I LOVE making pajamas… its no secret… I’ve posted loads of pj projects over the years. Today I’m going to tie together my very first pj project and my most recent one. Let’s talk about different ways of upcycling t-shirts to pjs for kids. And usually I’m talking about old shirts my husband is done with or thrift store shirts… which makes these pjs pretty much free, love! I’ve linked back to a few older posts and am sharing a new tutorial too.

Can you believe the picture of tiny Jack in the collage? Where have the years gone? My first upcyle shirt to pj project was for 2t pjs. I was able to make Jack a top and bottom from ONE XL shirt… oh so small… You can find the full tutorial here.

Then a year or so later I used t-shirts from a thrift store to create fun stripped fabric and pjs that had removable footies. These were made for an upcycling challenge in So You Think You’re Crafty, so the kids kids faces weren’t included. You can find the full tutorial for the feet and stripes here.

Last year I shared a new upcycle option. Using the sleeves of a large adult shirt for kids pants! I shared a free PDF pattern for these cute pjs and you can find the pattern and tutorial here.

And today my new tutorial is how to upcycle shirt to pjs for big kids. Because Jack doesn’t fit into those little green pjs anymore… and there is NO WAY I can cut out a top and bottom from 1 shirt. Wanting to make winter pjs didn’t help. Those long leg and arm pieces made me get a little creative. So I can now say that 7T pjs take 3XL short sleeve Daddy tees.

 

I used the Peek a Boo Alex and Anna Pj pattern which if I’m not just creating my own pj pattern is my favorite. The top front and back are cut from the front and back of a green shirt. The pants are two pattern pieces, and one was cut from the front and another the back of the blue shirt. The orange tee was used to fill in the gaps, sleeves and adding to the top and bottom of the pants. The 7t pant legs are longer than a shirt…. to solve this I folded over the top and bottom of the pattern piece. {You could also just fold over more on one end and have only one seam} I evened it out… I also cut the neck ribbing from the orange shirt and used it on these pjs.

Each leg was cut like this, with folded top and bottom. Cut a bit more for the seam allowance on top and bottom.

Then use the folded part to create another pattern piece, again, make sure to add seam allowance on the side that will sew to the pants. Here I’ve added the orange top of the leg to the blue main leg.

The result is a pretty eclectic pair of pjs, but no one really sees them {except for the thousands that will read this post, ha!} and I like the price tag, FREE! These three shirts were in the pile my husband was done with.

This also is about a 1 hour project start to finish. I’ve made the pattern so many times, it just flies.. free fabric and 1 hour of time equal not to shabby in my book. What are your favorite shirt upcycling projects? Or easy Pj ideas? I’d love to hear what you’ve got going!