[Emily]

Finally finished up my pants for Ridiculously Skinny 3 year old, and I messed up the elastic and basically, it isn’t doing anything to keep his pants up right now. Since I have to go back in and adjust, I asked him, and he said he’d prefer a drawstring.

Thoughts on feasibility? I feel like this should be a simple “make long drawstring (maybe with elastic in the middle), run through elastic casing (not forgetting to make holes for the ends)”, but I’d appreciate some more experienced reassurance.
Thanks!

[Robin]

The new parachute pants have elastic and a drawstring. I think your plan is a good one.

[brenda1652]

Keeping in mind this is for a 3 yr old, I’d skip the draw string or just sew a decorative/fake one on but not functional. the problem is that you want him to be able to use the bathroom as well as dress himself with as little assist as possible, the real beauty of elastic waist pants for preschoolers in my mind. Can you just open the casing and grab hold of the elastic and cut and shorten it, sew the ends together and resew the casing? or if the elastic is sewn in by attaching to the casing, can you just open the casing and thread a new piece of elastic in a smaller width, right over the original elastic, then resew the casing closed again? I am always reworking the elastic in my own clothes since I have lost weight (again, the nice thing about these elastic waists for clothes for changing figures) as well as for my husband who is also dieting. When the kids were growing I also reworked their elastic pants and shorts several times. I didn’t bother with drawstrings until they were 11 or so and they never complained, then again I don’t remember running it by them, just fixed them up and they wore them.

• This reply was modified 9 years ago by brenda1652.

[Reeni]

you can also use some nice colored elastic as your drawstring. It’s easy to tie and untie for little fingers, but also works if they just want to pull the pants on or off without untying.

[Liesl Gibson]

The Sandbox Pants have a drawstring like you’re describing, Emily. Maybe look at those instructions and convert them to the After School? It would certainly be do-able, and the elastic makes it possible to pull the pants on and off without untying…