I recently discovered that a thrifted adult sized sweatshirt is the perfect item to upcycle into
Mini Hudson pants and I had to share it with you. In the end, the sweatshirt provided everything that I needed except the elastic, which makes for a pretty successful upcycle in my book. Now I am addicted and am on the hunt for old sweatshirts to use. I have a few tips that I learned along the way, as well as some pictures that I hope help.
When looking for a sweatshirt to use, whether from your own closet, or a thrift store, there are few things that you want to look for. Depending on what size pant you are making, you want to probably find the biggest sweatshirt that you can. I was making a size 2T and a mens large was good for me, but bigger would be better. That being said, this tutorial is best suited for the smaller sized pants such as sizes 2T- 4T, or the cropped version of the larger sizes.
You also want a sweatshirt with at least a little stretch in it. A lot of sweatshirts, especially the cheaper ones, don't have any stretch which wouldn't be suitable for this pattern. You definitely want a sweatshirt with both wrist and waist ribbing as you use those for your pants and an added bonus is a hooded sweatshirt with a drawstring as you can use the drawstring on your pants as well. Here is what I ended up with.
The first thing that you need to do is cut and separate your sweatshirt into large swatches of fabric. Since my sweatshirt had writing and a pocket on the front, my usable fabric came from the arms and back. Also carefully cut off the ribbing on the wrists and waist to use, as well as the necktie if your sweatshirt is hooded.
Cut out your waistband, pocket detail, and ankle bands from the ribbing.
Cut out the pocket pieces and the front and back pants with the main sweatshirt fabric. Do your best to pay attention to grainlines and assuring that the greatest amount of stretch pulls widthwise.
Sew up your pants according to the instructions.
If your sweatshirt had a hood with a drawstring, use that for the drawstring on the pants.
I love the way
these turned out. He seems to like them too.
