Thanks for the suggestions!  They're very helpful.  I had been going about it backwards - thinking about getting a pattern with a non-elastic waist and altering that part - but this approach sounds much easier.  I'll check out the Vogue book - I'd love to know more about clothing fitting/pattern making anyway. 

I also bought my sister a couple of really cute t-shirts to embellish to "make" the ensemble.   I hadn't thought of shoes... that'd be great!

My younger sister is 20 years old and has developmental disabilities.  She wears adult diapers and uses wheelchair, so it's hard for my parents' to find clothes for her that are comfortable, fit well, and are age appropriate.  I bought some really nice dark stretch denim on sale at JoAnn's last week, and I'd love to make her some cool looking "jeans" for Christmas.  They don't have to actually be styled like regular jeans, but I'd love for them to be a little more stylish than the sweatpants that she usually wears.  I've looked at most of the major pattern companies' websites and they don't seem to have anything with an elastic waist that's not PJ pants. 

The things I'm looking for (either in a pattern, or to adapt a pattern to accomodate) are:  would fit a 4'10", 115 pound young adult, roomy enough to accommodate an adult diaper, elastic or drawstring waist, works with medium-weight, 1-way stretch dark denim.

I'd love suggestions for patterns, tutorials, or ideas on how to adapt not-quite-perfect patterns.  

Thanks!

I was wandering the aisles of JoAnn Fabrics the other day and came across Amy Butler scrapbooking paper... after a couple of episodes of CSI and a couple of episodes of gluing my fingers together, I made a birthday card for my sister's upcoming 30th birthday.  And six more cards, because it was just too fun to stop.  Let me know what you think!

My sister's card:


Two more cake cards:


Summery dresses:


Cute handbags:

Amazing!  Very mod and beautiful!

What a cool idea!  Right now, I have a box of plastic forks and spoons in my desk, but I'm inspired to make something like this to bring my own and reduce the amount of stuff I throw away.

This is so cool!  I have a magnetic white board with a fill-in calendar on it - I may have to steal this idea for keeping track of water and exercise!

Thanks for looking that up! 

This is a beautiful dress!  I like the original look, but I like the halter/tied straps even better.  One of the great things about having a smaller chest (like I do, too) is that you can pull of really cute looks that might look to revealing on women with larger chests. 

Love it!  The unexpected fabric/pattern looks great with this dress.  If you find the pattern envelope, can you tell us the brand and number?  I love the shape of the dress!

That's beautiful.  A perfect birthday gift to yourself!  Now I'm realizing what was missing on the bag I just made myself - magnetic closures!