Free Pattern Friday: Lightning Leggings for Kids

Welcome to my monthly 'Free Pattern Friday' feature, where I road test a free sewing pattern or tutorial: sometimes a children's one, sometimes an adult's one. I try to publish these posts every first Friday of the month, timed to provide inspiration for those who plan to get their sew on over the weekend. I firmly believe that, if you pick your projects carefully, sewing doesn't have to be a crazy-expensive way to clothe yourself and your family. Thanks to all the amazing pattern designers who have offered up their hard work for us to enjoy for free.

Oh my goodness! I posted about this free pattern five years ago, and seeing the pictures of my kids so much smaller has slightly broken my heart! But the fact that I'm still banging on about this pattern should give you some clue as to how great it is. Back then, the designer was calling their brand Made By Jack's Mum. These days it goes by Waves & Wild. They have a number of free sewing patterns, but the Lightning Leggings pattern is particularly useful I feel. Thanks so much to them for sharing this excellent resource with the sewing community for free. To access it, you add it to your cart and go through their check out process, without having to pay, of course. 

(Image source: Waves & Wild)

Pattern type:

The Lightning Leggings pattern may appear, on the surface, like a basic leggings pattern. But the sheer amount of options makes this kind of the last word on kids' leggings patterns. There are three lengths (long, capri and knee length), two waist finishes (elasticated and cuffed), two hem finishes (hemmed and cuffed), two fits (relaxed fit which can work really well as PJ bottoms and traditional, slim fit) AND there is a separate version for nappy wearers. See what I mean? What else could you need?!

Sizing info:

The pattern is graded from prem baby right up to approx. 12 years (152cm height). My big kid, pictured here, is actually *just* off the size chart, so I basically graded up one size to make an age 13 (even though they're 11!). But when both my kids were smaller and in the 'proper' sizing, I found the fit to be accurate compared to their size chart. 

Fabric info:

It is advised to use knit fabric with 'good stretch and return (AKA recovery), including cotton/Lycra jersey'. The part about good recovery is key for leggings, ask me how I know.... The fabric I used here is some cotton/Lycra jersey as suggested and it works perfectly. Remember that different amounts of stretch and recovery might effect the fit and size of the finished garment. 

Findings:

It will not surprise you to hear that this pattern is a joy to use. The multiple options are great for kids who have strong opinions on how their clothes should look and feel, and for using up different quantities of fabric. 

If your child is smaller than the largest size, I would recommend getting a printout of this pattern, turning the layers off for all sizes smaller than your child's current size. Then you can trace off the pieces for the size and style options you need as they grow, without using up loads of printer ink each time. 

Would I make this again?

Probably not for my big kid, I'll find an adults pattern for them next so I don't have to keep grading out this one. But I'd definitely use the relaxed fit for my son of the right fabric crossed my path...

Tips for Teaching Kids to Sew

Last year I made an episode of my podcast about encouraging kids to sew. I deliberately didn't call it 'teaching kids to sew', in case you have no desire to do to the teaching part yourself. In the episode. I set out the argument for the benefits that kids get from learning to sew, and followed up with heaps of tips and ideas for how to successfully encourage them to do so. 

Fast forward a few months to January this year. I set myself four sewing-related goals for 2023:

1. Continue to work through my fabric stash, turning it into lovely, useful items. Initially I set out to help myself do this by limiting my fabric purchases, but I have since signed up for the Last Sewist Standing challenge which bans fabric purchases entirely! (More info on this in this episode.)
2. Alternate 'from scratch' projects with mending or altering an existing item (#makeonemendone). 
3. Continue to find more fun and useful projects to make with scraps and leftovers. I truly believe that they are a valuable resource, but like many sewers, I feel like I'm drowning in them!
4. Teach my kids some specific sewing skills. I think I already do a good job in modelling that sewing is fun, creative and expressive, as well as a possible option for clothing yourself. However, I feel that my daughter in particular could do with some more actual skills to help her make her project ideas a reality, and to do so more successfully. 

To make good on that fourth goal, I recently helped my daughter through a T-shirt project. I tried out some tactics that I'm going to share with you here, in case it will help you, or someone you know, teach a young person to sew in the future!

Tip #1: Give them lots of agency

This may sound obvious, but by giving them as much creative input into the project as possible at the planning stage and through the creation process, the more invested and interested in it they will be. Like many kids, my daughter doesn't have a very long attention span and quickly loses interest in stuff after the initial buzz of a new idea. So allowing her to effectively design the whole thing and make further choices throughout kept her more engaged in this than any previous sewing project we've tackled together. 

She was the one who decided she wanted a lilac T-shirt. I passed her a stack of Ottobre magazines, explained how to look for a style that included her size, and let her sift through to choose a pattern she liked. She selected a long-sleeved raglan top with a slim fit.  

Tip #2: Do the bulk of the boring bits

Because the pattern chosen was in an Ottobre magazine, the next step was to trace out the pieces and add seam allowance. Nothing would have turned my daughter off this project quicker than if I'd made her trace out those pieces herself. NOTHING. So instead, I traced out the pattern and added the seam allowance, but asked her to sit with me engaging her in conversation as I did it. Then, at least, she witnessed that part of the process so it was no longer an alien concept to her. I then got her to cut one of the pattern pieces out of paper so she had experience of that, and cut the rest out myself later on.

When it came to cutting the pattern out of fabric, she wasn't into the idea very much. So I positioned the pieces on the fabric and pinned them in place, and got her to carefully cut round the edges. She moaned a bit about having to do that, but I felt I could push her a bit to take on this step without the project being a bust. It was a gamble, but we got through it!

Tip #3: Balance trickiness and familiarity

For the actual construction, I decided we should use my regular machine rather than my overlocker for all the seams on this T-shirt. As Judy Williment-Ross' daughter once so cleverly articulated, using an overlocker is 'like sewing, but faster and with knives'! My daughter has tried using my overlocker once or twice, but this was her first 'proper' project with jersey fabric, and I felt that a new type of fabric that is trickier to handle was challenge enough. She is far more experienced with, and confident on, my regular machine so I decided to stick to that. 

I pinned all the seams for her, and she stitched them all using a new-to-her stitch (the lightning stitch). So there was a blend of new and familiar elements at play. I also decided to do the neckband myself, because pinning and stitching a neckband into the neck hole of a child-sized garment is super tricky! I felt that if the neckline looked a bit of a mess, it might put her off from wearing the finished item. Doing the neckline myself kind of felt like a risk; would she feel less ownership of the project if I did a major part of it without her? I decided to engage her in that step instead by getting her to choose a cute label to insert so she could tell what is the back at a glance. She picked this 'My best work yet' label from Kylie and the Machine: perfect in both context and colouring. 

Tip #4: Add a fun, unique design element 

As seasoned garment sewers, we know the joy of getting to wear garments we have customised to our own specifications. Everywhere we go in our me-mades, we are free from the risk of turning up somewhere wearing the same garment as someone else! That's really powerful, and something we can use to our advantage when teaching kids to sew. Find ways for them to express themselves further by making little additions to the overall design. We did that with this project with the back neck label, but labels can be inserted into or applied onto the garments pretty much wherever they choose. Ribbons, braids, buttons, contrast panels or pockets are all opportunities to let the child's wield their design prowess and 'own' this project/garment further. 

I have a little collection of iron-on patches collected from all over the place, predominantly so I can mend my kids' clothes super quickly when a whole appears. My daughter had a good rummage through them and selected a patch to apply to her T-shirt, and decided where she wanted it to be. Her choice was linked to a narrative she had about the character she would personify when wearing the garment. But obviously it doesn't have to go that deep!

Tip #5: Get it off the machine and into their wardrobes as quick as possible

My daughter had no interest in hemming the garment, so I did that whilst she was at school. Then one final press and it was done! I could have done this quicker to be honest, but you want to capitalise on the pride and accomplishment of a completed project and make it available for them to wear as soon as possible. 

Tip #6: Tell everyone they made it

Whenever my daughter is wearing this T-shirt, I make sure to tell whoever we're with that she made it herself. Cue lots of 'Oh, wow! Well done! That's really impressive's, and therefore external validation. Refrain from listing the various steps you, yourself actually did, and remind them of the work they put into it, e.g. 'You sewed all those seams so neatly and stuck to the seam allowance so well', etc. 

Summary:

Did my daughter love this whole project? No. Was there a lot of moaning at various stages? Yes (I managed to keep mine internal though). Was this a gorgeous, bonding experience? Maybe a little bit. Has she declared she wants to sew her entire wardrobe going forwards? No. But I do think/hope that she feels more agency over what she wears now, with the knowledge (and proof!) that she can make (most of) a T-shirt. I don't know when we'll embark on another project like this, but when she mentions a desire to do so, I'll be ready to try this formula again. I will help her build on her skills further, project after project, until she barely needs me (blub)!

Washed Denim Nia Trousers Remake

 

I'm a big fan of Belgian sewing pattern brand Bel' Etoile. They have a lovely range of patterns for women and children available in Dutch and English. Previously I've bought the Isa sweatshirt pattern and used the free Siem shorts pattern (which I reviewed here), and recently I tried the Nio/Nia pattern to make these trousers for my daughter. 

Pattern:

I'd had my eye on the Nia trousers for some time because the style is very similar to a thrifted pair of trousers that Lola used to love to wear but has since grown out of. Amusingly, it's also very similar to the Helen's Closet Arden pants pattern that I'm currently working on for myself! 

(image source: Bel' Etoile)

The Nio/Nia pattern is good value because it includes a trousers/shorts pattern as well as a top pattern, both of which include a number of style options and variations for kids of all genders. I can image I'll use the bottoms pattern a lot for both my kids over the decade or so. 

Fabric:

The fabric I used for these trousers is the 4oz washed denim from Fabric Godmother, although I can't remember if it was the blue or indigo colour way because I bought it several years ago and the dye batches vary quite a lot. I used the same type of washed denim to make a Tova top and a Block Tee (formerly Kabuki tee). 

About two years ago, I used this fabric in an attempt to make some 'summer jeans' using the trouser version of the Tilly and the Buttons Marigold jumpsuit pattern. I got very close to finishing, but a mid-way fitting indicated that they were going to look terrible on me, so I abandoned the project! Thankfully, I kept hold of the half-made item and was able to finally reuse it to make these. 

If you look closely, you may notice that the fabric on the inside of the pocket mouth on one side is a slightly paler colour. That's because I made a mistake when cutting the pocket pieces, so had to use another remnant of the same type of washed denim instead, which happened to be a lighter colour. I know that this fabric tends to fade with washing (in a really lovely way), so I expect the difference will be less noticeable over time. 

Thoughts:

I wasn't sure Lola would accept these trousers because her beloved pair that was a similar style was made from viscose, and she noted that these don't feel as slinky. However, she's worn them a couple of times with some light suggestion, and today I noticed that she chose to wear them without any input from me at all! If they look ok by the time Lola is done with them, I'll hold onto them for Frankie. I already have another pair planned for Lola in a printed cotton, plus a shorts version for Frankie for next year from some leftover slub linen that I'm currently working with.