Altering pants is a little trickier than altering a simple dress. I made a copy of the shorts pattern found in Learn to Sew for Your doll. Then I measured from the doll’s crotch to her waist to see where I needed to move the waist line on the pattern.

I drew a line on the pattern at the new waist line and added a line one half inch above it for the elastic casing.

I cut out the pattern piece. Next I measured half way around her waist. I measured half the waist at 5 inches. I added 1 inch to my 5 inch measurement to find the new width for my pattern piece.

I cut the pattern in half and taped it together again, shrinking it to a 6 inch width.

I sewed the pants up, made casings at the waist and legs, added elastic to the casings. I adjusted the elastic to fit the waist and each leg.

Here is the doll in her diaper cover and sundress. I have pinned the dress up one half inch so that you can see how the dress would look as a top.

sherralyn my patterns Adapting a pattern