Leggings Galore!
You know those cool fall days, where you want to cozy up in a sweater, scarf, jeans, and boots, eat soup, and drink tea? Well, that's pretty much what the weather is like here in Vancouver for maybe 8 months out of the year. It's rarely COLD, but it is often cool and damp. Because of this, most everyone I know wears a lot of layers - including my girls.
In order to make their dresses and skirts more wearable, they need leggings. Now leggings take a lot of abuse on the playground, but they hold up much better than tights. (I have just about given up on tights for little girls.) Last year I made them some leggings for the spring/summer out of lightweight jersey (maybe a bamboo-lycra mix). To do this, I copied a pair of store-bought leggings that fit both girls, but had a hole in the knee. This worked, but as the summer went on, I realized that the lighter fabric just wasn't holding up as well as I would like and it was obvious that both girls were getting taller.
Around this time I found a link to directions to draft your own leggings on Pinterest and I considered that, but then I realized that for growing children, it might be easier to start from an already established pattern. Enter Kwik Sew 3476. Say what you will about Kwik Sew's less-than-inspiring pattern illustrations, but my experience has only been good. They make nicely drafted, highly wearable patterns.
I purchased one meter each of black and teal Stretch French Terry from Fabricana and gave it a go. This fabric is such a dream to work with! It has a lot of stretch and great recovery. It's cozy to wear and behaves well in the machine. And, since my girls are still quite small, I can get two pair of leggings on each meter of fabric! Score!
After figuring out how to alter the pattern for each of my girls, I went back and bought a meter of red, a meter of purple, and three more meters of black. Here is a sampling of the end result:
Each girl ended up with two pair of black leggings, and one pair each in red, teal, and purple. That makes a total of ten pairs of leggings sewin in September. The fabric cost alone comes to about $5 each, but then you ought to add a bit for thread and elastic, and then some for my time, but since I did them production-style, I was able to finish them all in just a couple of days' worth of free time. All in all, a good value!
In order to make their dresses and skirts more wearable, they need leggings. Now leggings take a lot of abuse on the playground, but they hold up much better than tights. (I have just about given up on tights for little girls.) Last year I made them some leggings for the spring/summer out of lightweight jersey (maybe a bamboo-lycra mix). To do this, I copied a pair of store-bought leggings that fit both girls, but had a hole in the knee. This worked, but as the summer went on, I realized that the lighter fabric just wasn't holding up as well as I would like and it was obvious that both girls were getting taller.
Around this time I found a link to directions to draft your own leggings on Pinterest and I considered that, but then I realized that for growing children, it might be easier to start from an already established pattern. Enter Kwik Sew 3476. Say what you will about Kwik Sew's less-than-inspiring pattern illustrations, but my experience has only been good. They make nicely drafted, highly wearable patterns.
I purchased one meter each of black and teal Stretch French Terry from Fabricana and gave it a go. This fabric is such a dream to work with! It has a lot of stretch and great recovery. It's cozy to wear and behaves well in the machine. And, since my girls are still quite small, I can get two pair of leggings on each meter of fabric! Score!
After figuring out how to alter the pattern for each of my girls, I went back and bought a meter of red, a meter of purple, and three more meters of black. Here is a sampling of the end result:
The red pair was pulled out of the dirty clothes for this photo, so you can see a little bagging and wrinkling, but they still look pretty sharp for being worn all day!
Each girl ended up with two pair of black leggings, and one pair each in red, teal, and purple. That makes a total of ten pairs of leggings sewin in September. The fabric cost alone comes to about $5 each, but then you ought to add a bit for thread and elastic, and then some for my time, but since I did them production-style, I was able to finish them all in just a couple of days' worth of free time. All in all, a good value!
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Laura