Because the free pattern for my Charles' pants seems to be popular (1 reached 100 requests in a week), I decided to start a sew along for this pair of sailor pants. This way we'll be making the Charles' pants step by step together in 4 weeks time.
Today I'll give you an idea on how the schedule for the sew along looks like. I'll post a new session every Friday because I assume that sewing during the weekend is the easiest for everyone?
Request your pattern
If you don't have the pattern yet, just can do it here. You'll receive the pattern within one hour.
Choosing the right size
Do you have the pattern? Now we'll have to choose the right size first. Especially the waist is important.
18 months: 49cm
2 yo: 51cm
3yo: 52cm
4yo: 54cm
5yo 56cm
6yo: 58cm
The length can be adjusted because we have this relatively wide hem bands...
If you have doubts about the size, just choose the biggest one. We'll ad an adjustable button elastic at the back.
Preparing the pattern pieces
Before you cut the pattern pieces make sure that you add some seam allowances: 1 choose 1cm for seams made with my regular sewing machine, 7mm for seams made with the serger. I already do this on the A4 sheets because then you don't need extra paper to be waisted! You don't need to add more than 1cm of seam allowances at the bottom of the hem bands...
Then cut all this pieces of paper and assemble the full pattern.
Shopping
Take the pattern pieces with you to the fabric store or have a close look at the fabrics in your cupboard!
I like my versions of the Charles' pants with jeans the most (but off course that's personally). For the jeans you can use an old pair of jeans that you don't wear anymore. I'm sure that you have one left that's still in a good condition? A nice way to do some up-cycling!
Then find some nice coordinating cotton fabric. Here are some fabrics / brands I really like a lot: Lotta Jansdotter, Moda Fabrics, Cloud9, Dear Stella, Petit Pan Free Spirit,...
Blossom festival Cloud9
Don't forget your interfacing: otherwise the difference in thickness will be too big. You'll need 4 buttons for closing the pants, 2 flat ones for the elastic waist band and 2 snap buttons. If you like you can add some piping at the front, but you don't need to. It's up to you! And then also a piece of button elastic and some yarn for both fabrics.
- jeans or other fabric of your choice
- coordinating cotton fabric
- interfacing
- 4 buttons (outside, 2 buttons for the elastic, 2 snap buttons)
- piping (if you like to add some)
- elastic band
- 2 x yarn
Prewashing
Often this step is skipped, but it's so important to wash you fabrics to avoid shrinkage after wards. Because we do everything step-by-step: don't skip this one especially when you plan to work with cotton. You can just wash your fabric like you would do with the finished garment.
So that's it for today! Next session: next Friday!
If your following this sew along session, just leave a small message. It's always nice to know if some one is sewing along...
At the end of our session, make sure to send me some pictures because the nicest results will be featured!
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