Baby Leggings and OWOP 2014

You know how it is. After a project FAIL that used up a whole load of time and sewing mojo, like my would-be denim sweet shorts, you often need a quick pick-me-up project. Something so quick and easy that it restores your faith in sewing. For me that invariably means making something from knit fabric. And what's even quicker than a project made from knit fabric? Something made from knit fabric that has JUST ONE PATTERN PIECE. 

Pattern:

I already have about five editions of the kids version of Ottobre design magazine from my subscription which ended last year. However, a couple of weeks ago I found the latest edition on sale in my local WHSmiths, and seeing as I have never seen them on sale IRL before, I was tempted to add another to the stack. At first I was reluctant to fork out £10, but when I saw that it had a baby/younger toddler version of the Tiny Path toddler leggings that I made my niece for Christmas, I decided it would be an investment. If this pair worked out well, I envisioned making a stack of these over the next however-long-Dolores-fits-into-the-sizes-of-this-pattern.  

Dolores is about to turn 11 months old, and is about 70 cms high last time I measured her. I traced the 74 size because that was probably couple of months ago now! I also added an extra 1 cm to the hem allowance because she tends to grow out of clothes length-ways long before she grows out of them width-ways. 

The thing to remember about Ottobre patterns is that they have hem allowances, facings and waistband turnings included, but not seam allowances. I didn't. I prepped this pattern, this whole one piece of pattern, whilst chatting to Pat and keeping an eye on Dolores, and totally forgot to add the seam allowances. DUHHHHH. I only remembered about the seam allowance after I finished sewing them. Anyway, the fit of this pair actually turned out ok, but I retraced the pattern piece, the one pattern piece, and added the seam allowance for future versions which will therefore hopefully last a bit longer than this one will.  

Fabric:

How good is this jersey fabric?! Not only is the print super cute, but it is also amazing quality. As you probably know if you read this blog often, I tend to either use stash fabric or harvest fabric from unwanted garments for my sewing projects. I do because fabric production and treating is very environmentally damaging, and I try to lower the impact my sewing habit has on the planet a little bit where I can. But this fabric was bought by a friend of mine brand new (as I wrote about here) and I must admit that it felt like a treat to work with and now have in Dolores's wardrobe. She bought it from myfabrics.co.uk and although they don't seem to have the same print anymore, there are a lot of other very cute children's print jersey if that's your bag. 

Thoughts:

Naturally, as soon as I made these I uncovered an enormous pile of hand-me-down trousers and leggings that I'd stashed away in Dolores's current size. But none as fun as these of course. I'm going to continue to make a load more of these leggings though in the next size up because she is growing at such an alarming rate, she'll probably need them next week. You'll have to wait for a modelled shot of these leggings, however you won't have to wait long because I've decided to use this pattern to take part in this year's OWOP challenge....

I was so pleased to hear that the OWOP is going ahead again! Originally hosted by its creator in 2012, Tilly challenged sewers with a fetish for a particular sewing pattern to wear the garments we'd made from that pattern every day for a week. I took part with Simplicity 2451 skirt pattern and found it a fascinating and fun challenge. It was great to be pushed to find new outfit combinations that incorporated my three versions, but also to see the many versions of others popular patterns that sewers around the globe had made and worn. It's a bit like a mini Me-Made-May, if you will!

This year it is hosted by the super lovely Handmade Jane and will take place from 6th to 12th September. I emailed Jane to check that it was cool to take part with a pattern that wouldn't be worn by myself, and she replied very swiftly to say that she insisted that I took part with this pattern! I can't wait to see what everyone else chooses as their OWOP pattern and to see how they wear them.