I discovered Jessica, and her blog A Little Grey, when she won Project Run & Play last spring. The clothes she made were super stylish but still wearable, modern but not serious, and cute but not cutesy. Pretty much everything I strive for, but rarely get just right. She is a very talented seamstress who makes amazing kid clothes. (not to mention stunning quilts) And today is no exception. Jessica took the Kid Pants pattern by Dana and turned it into a runway look. Check it out!

Hey, I’m Jessica from A Little Gray, and I’m downright chuffed to be kicking off the pre-KCWC festivities. I love this event so much, but in the spring I didn’t get to participate because I was competing in Project Run & Play. (Which is going on again right now, by the way. Lots of inspiration there.) But this time around, I am all in!

You should know that I love to sew boy clothes. I have a little girl too, but for some reason the boy sewing comes much more naturally to me. Color blocking has been a great trend for a while now, but it seems like girls have been having all the fun with blocked skirts and dresses. When I saw this new collection from Michael Kors, I knew my 3 year old needed to rock some color blocked pants.

This first pair is inspired directly by those Kors men’s pants that are different colors on the front and back. Using Dana’s fantastic kid pants pattern, I simply cut the front pattern piece from peacock blue corduroy and cut the back from navy. Not much to explain there, but it’s something I never would have thought to do before.

I also cut them a little skinnier (see below) and added back pockets with contrasting bright blue topstitching. I think back pockets are such a great way to make pants look much more polished and professional. I basically make mine like this tutorial. You can use an existing pair of pants to make a pocket pattern.

I couldn’t stop at just one pair of CB pants, (despite my husband’s looks of great concern for my sanity) so I decided to try it with contrasting bottoms this time. They look pretty cool cuffed with some chucks.  The result is just like this pair, but pieced instead of painted. That’s what I’m going to show you how to make today.

But first you can very easily make them fit slimmer if you prefer. I did this by marking a line on the bottom of each pattern piece, 1.25″ in on the inseam side. Continue to draw the line up so that it’s perpendicular to the other straight side of the pants. Then as you get closer to the crotch, ease the line into that curve. Make sure you measure the same amount in on both pieces, and your pants will line up without a hitch.

Now I’ve cut the new shape out of my pattern and I’m going to figure out where to cut again for color blocking. First, cut a piece of string to the length you want the main fabric of your pants to be before the contrast color starts. I wanted my contrast well below the knee and I cut my string to 11.5″. However, my son is tall and I have to add a few inches onto the bottom of this pattern for him. So if your child fits the pattern as is, you might want to take 2-3″ off of that length.

Use your string to start at the point of the crotch and measure down the inseam to mark the pattern at the end of the string. Of course, you want to keep it flush against that curve, which I wasn’t able to photograph very well.

 

Use a ruler to draw a line at that mark all the way across the pattern, keeping it perpendicular to both sides. Cut the pattern on that line and repeat the same process with the string on the other piece. It’s also helpful to write “front” and “back” on those bottom pieces now so you don’t get them confused.

Now cut all your pieces from the two fabrics, cutting two pieces on the reverse from each like normal. HOWEVER: be sure to add 3/8″ for seam allowance to the bottom of the main pieces and top of the contrast pieces. In other words, on the edges where you cut the pattern apart.

Now you are ready to sew the pants together as usual. But when you sew the inseam, pin very carefully so that the contrast seams match up perfectly. Do the same when you sew the outside seams, hem as usual, and you are done!

If you like this look, you should also check out Blue-Eyed Freckle’s tutorial for how to add a contrasting bottom to existing pants.

Thanks so much for having me Meg, I can’t wait to see what pops up in the flickr group. Maybe I’ll even get to see some color blocked pants? Happy KCWC sewing everyone!

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That right! The Kids Clothes Week Challenge is next week already: October 8-14. I like to have a weeks worth of guest posts before kcwc to get you extra excited and inspired. Last year, I had five talented bloggers sew their version of Rae’s Flashback Skinny Tee. I loved seeing one pattern done so many different ways (see them here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). One of those ladies, Heather from Well Crafted, went on to use the pattern for every. single. one. of her kcwc projects! This fall I thought I’d do the same thing with a different pattern. I have five new phenomenal bloggers who took Dana’s Kid Pants pattern and worked their magic on it. I can’t wait to show you!

But first, last year I asked you to get the word out about kcwc and wow! did you ever get the word out! We had almost 700 participants sewing along dutifully every night for one week! So I’m going to ask you again. There are 250 people signed up already, but I bet you guys can double that in no time.

• If you are on facebook share the fall 2012 kcwc link: http://www.elsiemarley.com/kids-clothes-week-fall-2012.html
• If you are on twitter, slap a hashtag on it #kcwc.
• If you are on instagram, take a picture of your beautiful piles of fabric. Then slap a hashtag on it #kcwc!
• If you are on pinterest, pin patterns, fabric, tutorials. Then, say it with me now, slap a hashtag on it #kcwc!
• If you are on flickr, join the elsiemarley group and get all your flickr friends on board!
• If you have a blog, write up a list of all the things you plan to sew or what patterns you are excited to use.
• Get your friends and your mom (and her friends) on board too!

Let’s make this kcwc super huge! The more people there are sewing next week, the more people there are motivating you, the more you’ll get done!

1. bright blue elbow patches
2. dress with purse/pocket
3. cozy poncho
4. yellow pants and awesome shirt

Are you thinking about kids clothes week, yet? Have you been spending unnecessary hours on Pinterest looking for inspiration? This year I thought we’d try having one huge kcwc community pinterest board. Doesn’t that sound awesome? If you leave your pinterest username in the comments I can invite you! We can fill the board with tutorials, patterns, fabric, awesome kid clothes both handmade and factory made. Pin your sketches! Pin your lists! Pin your piles of laundry! No, not the last one, unless it’s piles of dirty handmade clothes.

So leave your pinterest name in the comments and then go pin all the amazing things you are planning to make.

Why do I forget how awesome freezer paper stencils are? They are so easy they feel like cheating.

I stenciled this shirt for a just-turned-four year old boy. I stole the design from this shirt, but honestly I like mine more–even if the R did get a little crazy.

1. train bag 2. yellow stripe 3. hot dog shirt 4. color wheel 

For your perusing pleasure, here are some freezer paper stencils from the archives .

Remember how I said there were big changes coming to this little house of ours? This is it! That wall with the beautiful mantel and (very fake) fireplace has been torn down and behind it–surprise!–is a staircase leading to an upstairs! Bet you didn’t see that coming!

Our house is (well was) a duplex and we were living in the ground floor apartment. Preso! Change-o! We now have a two story house with twice as much space! It is crazy and exciting and totally overwhelming.  Be prepared for many before and after posts (as soon as I stop sewing for kcwc).