Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Suspenders for the little man: a Tutorial


These suspenders literally took me TEN MINUTES, I timed myself, that's 10 minutes to make them and to take photos for this tutorial! That's fast. They are SOOOO easy and adorable!!!

This is what you'll need (I used "swimsuit elastic" because it's a natural color that will match khaki pants, and it's super soft!)
Step 1: thread one vest buckle like pictured and fold it under to hide the raw edge
Put your needle in the LEFT needle position and sew that baby down, be sure to back stitch at the start and end
It looks like this
Step 2: Thread the suspender clip through the elastic and vest buckle



Step 3: Attach another suspender clip to the other end of the elastic by threading it through an inch or so, and folding under to hide the raw edge. Sew that down.
Now, REPEaT for the other elastic strip. Now you'll have 2 that look this this, (below)
Step 4: Cross your elastic pieces and pin them in place, make sure they are even and sew a diamond shape to hold them together
Look closely to see the stitching :)

And.......... TADAAAAAAAAA You're done! That was QUICK right?!
Put em on your little man and admire what a charmer he is! DARLING no?
Instead of using elastic you could use strips of fabric (I would recommend putting interfacing in them), to match a particular tie, or for a fun occasion. I made these for a local photographer who was photographing twins on their first birthday...uhhhh....CUTE!!!
{note: the 27 inches will fit a child 2-5 ish. for my little Everett who is 10 months old right now, and for the suspenders above for the 1 year old babies, I cut the elastic (or fabric) to be 24 inches.}

6 comments:

  1. I am trying to find out how much these would cost to make. Also, I can't find "swimsuit elastic". Is pajama elastic the same?

    Where did you purchase your elastic and supplies?

    Thanks for the help.

    Jenna

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    1. Jenna, thanks for your question, I buy swimsuit elastic for .69cents a yard ate local fabric shop called fabric center in salt lake city, you could use whatever elastic you want, I just like the color of the swimsuit elastic because it is tan and matches tan khaki pants, but if you are making say black to match black pants etc, then black pajama elastic would work the same. Depending on the size you make them you'll use 1.5-2 yards elastic, the suspended clips are ones I bought in bulk on etsy, but you can buy them for under $3 a pair, half that if you use a coupon, but you need 4. The vest buckles are $2 for the pair, but if you wait till all the notions are half off, you am get them for $1. So, if you pay ful, price for supplies you're looking at around $9 ish ? But if you buy on sale, more like $5-6
      Now normally I don't do this but a do have a few pair left over from a craft show that I sell to friend s and neighbors and I give them a deal of a pair of suspenders and a tie for $20. If you are at all interested in that, look at the ties in my etsy shop and let me know, hope that helped!

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  2. Thank you so much. I want to make some with the fabric, but I am new to sewing. Do you have any tips you can give for that?

    Thank you so much. This has been very helpful!

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  3. Where did you find the slides? I've checked JoAnn's, Hobby lobby and Michaels... None of them even have them online, much less in the stores. The ones I'm finding online are plastic or industrial, or sold out. And I can only find them in bulk on Etsy.

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