Little Girl Leggings Tutorial

It was hard to do this while I had two kiddos awake and playing one minute and crying the next but I eventually got it done. 

Things you will need:

- at least 3/4 yard of knit or stretch fabric ( I used prob about 1/2 a yard for 12m leggings)

- coordinating thread

- 1 yard of 3/4 inch or 1 inch knit elastic

- ballpoint needle (for knit fabric) and ballpoint twin needle (opt.)

- scissors, pins, etc. 

Start by creating a pattern.  I wont show you how to do this but go HERE for a comprehensive tutorial.  MADE explains it way better than I ever could.

Once you have your pattern, take one end of your fabric (make sure the stretch of your fabric goes from left to right) and fold it over enough to accommodate the pattern.  Place the straight edge of the pattern on the fold, pin, and cut out.

Once that is cut out cut off the excess pieces to create a straight edge and fold over the end of the fabric again.  Flip pattern over so that you are doing the mirror image of the pattern.  Pin and cut out.

This is what your fabric pieces should look like so far.

Now its time to cut out the cuff pieces for the bottom.  Fold your fabric over once again and pin your pattern on the edge to get the correct width.  This will be folded in half, hot dog style, so you can do the height whatever you would like.  I did mine 3 inches so when folded in half it would be an inch and a half.  Unfold the cuff piece and cut out another.

Your pieces should look like this unfolded.

Next we are going to sew the cuff.

Fold in half long ways, pin and sew.  

* When sewing with knit fabric I have found that using a stretch stitch (shown below) works the best for me.  I have seen lots of people use just a zig zag stitch but I recommend doing some on a test piece and find what works best for you.  Using a straight stitch, for me, anytime I would stretch the fabric after I sewed it the stitches would break but I found the stretch stitch allowed the fabric to stretch and keep the stitches in tact. 

Repeat last step with second cuff.

Place like side of cuff to the bottom of the larger piece.  Pin and sew.

Fold piece over and iron out the seams for a more professional look.

Repeat last step with second cuff and larger piece.

Take both larger pieces and place like sides together and pin down the sides.  Shown below.  Sew down both sides just to the point.

When sewing down the sides sew one side with a larger seam and that will be the front.  The other side will be a smaller seam because it has to allow for a diaper.  

The front is about a 1/2 inch seam and the back is about a 1/4.  But after the final result I wish I would have done an even bigger seam in the front.   Its just a little baggy but it still works.

Now take those seams you just sewed and line them up.

 

First line up the crotch and pin.  Continue to pin all the way down each leg.  

Make sure the cuffs line up straight as well.

Now sew in the U shape from one cuff to the other with about a 1/4 seam.  What I have learned is to tapper in the cuff just a little bit on each side because it looks better and will hug the ankle better.  Once this is done turn them right side out and admire your work cause you are almost done.  

* You can try them on your little one to see if you need to sew them with a bigger seam or not. 

Now turn them back wrong side out.

Double fold down the top to form a casing to feed your elastic through.   My elastic is 3/4 inches so i folded it down twice to leave about an inch casing for me to work with.  Pin and flip the leggings back right side out. 

* I always cut a little more off the top of the front so the front is lower then the back. Also try these on your little one before you fold them down so you can get an estimate of how high you want the rise to be.  I always try to make them not so high waiste but high enough in the back to cover the diaper.  You may have to cut some fabric off the top or fold more under to make a shorter rise. 

Now starting at the back sew a 1 inch casing around the waist leaving about a 1 1/2 inch opening to feed the elastic through.  

*I usually use my twin ballpoint needle to sew this (see HERE for more on twin needle) .  I think it looks more professional but a single line works great as well or if you are feeling up to it just sew a 2nd line all the way around.  Also just using a plain straight stitch works just fine. 

Take your measuring tape and wrap it around your little ones waist to get their waist size then add an inch to that for overlap.  Measure and cut your elastic. 

Attach a safety pin on the end of your elastic and start feeding it into the casing.  Make sure your elastic doesnt twist as you feed it through.

Once you feed the elastic all the way through the casing pull it out enough to overlap the elastic about an inch or so.  Zig zag stitch the elastic to keep it from pulling apart.

Now stretch out your waistband so that the elastic will slide nicely into place.  Pin and sew the opening closed and viola YOUR DONE!!!

I decided to sew a piece of patterned knit in the back of the waistband as a label just to better help me know what is the front and the back. 

Now try them on your little one and admire your work.  Now that wasnt so bad.  

 

I hope that was easy to understand.  It was quite the task to to a tutorial so I hope I didnt leave anything out.  Let me know if you liked this.  

Infant Jeans to Jean skirt

Most of the time infant jeans are too short and too high waist for my taste so instead of wasting the jeans why not make them into something useful like a jean skirt.  Also by the time Taylor actually fits the waste of a pair of jeans the legs are beyond high waters. 

I didnt take a before picture of the jeans because I cut them off in anticipation of doing this a while ago but just got around to doing this project.  Make sure you cut the jeans to the desired length of the skirt but dont worry you can always trim off more in the end so error on the longer side.  Also I started doing it before I started taking pictures.  I have to get used to taking pictures as I do things.  After you cut across the legs of the jeans cut up the middle seam till you fill comfortable and overlap them until the skirt lays flat, pin and sew along the middle seam lines. 

TIP- Always use a denim needle when sewing with jeans.  It is much easier and you wont break a needle.

 Here is the back of the skirt.  It had a lot of overlap so I had to sew some lines the other way.

Here is the front.

If you notice the back of these jeans didnt have any pockets and was quite plain.  I wanted to add some pockets.

The bottom of the legs had a nice ruffle to them so that would make the perfect pockets.  You only need one leg.  I cut down the seams and cut to the length I wanted.  Now I have the perfect pockets for my skirt.  Iron a little hem all the way around your pockets and sew. Now you can go ahead and sew these on but I like to add a design to the pockets to give them a little character. 

Since I dont own a serger (which I want really, really bad) I have learned how to use a twin needle.  Can I just say these are awesome and I recommend to anyone to get one.  It is really great with waistbands and hemming or for decorative stitching.  I will touch on the waistband and hemming in another post but for now we will discuss the decorative stitching.

Here is my set up for my twin needle.  If your machine (like mine) doesnt have a holder for a second spool of thread you will need to purchase one like I have shown here.  You can purchase this as Joanns I think it was like $7 or so.  Thread your first needle like normal.  Put your 2nd thread on the spool and thread like you would normally.

I hope you can tell in this picture but when you get down to where you thread right above the needle you dont do that with the second thread it just hangs down and then is threaded through the second needle. 

I chose to do different color thread just for more of a decorative finish but with waistbands and hemming you will want to use the same color.

 Now start sewing in whatever line you want.  I chose a curvy one.

 Here is what the underside looks like.  It doesnt a nice zig zag stitch.

Now keep sewing until you get the design you want.  Just keep in mind on the other pocket you will need to do the mirror image of the other pocket.

Here is the pockets all finished.  Pin them down and sew them on.

One last step and then we are all finished.

I love the frayed edge look.  So about a 1/4 of an inch from the bottom sew around the bottom edge of the skirt.  Then throw it in the washer and dryer and marvel at the beautiful frayed edge.  Trim off all the long pieces and ta da your done.  After a few more washes it will continue to fray beautifully.

Now try it on your baby girl.

Well thats it for my first tutorial.  I am working on a post for some cute leggings like the ones pictured here.