Easiest Ruffle Pants

I was going to write "Easy Ruffle Pants" up there, but that would have been a lie!  They were not easy, they were the easiest.  No hem, no real measuring at the waist to create a casing for elastic... easy peasy lemon squeezy!

The pattern I used (mostly) is this ruffle pants pattern from PInk Poodle Bows pattern shop on Etsy.  I rarely use a pattern when making basic pants... but that can turn into kind of a crapshoot.  I wanted a nice easy pattern (with ruffles!) that I could reference in multiple sizes, and that was easy to adapt.  This pattern absolutely fits the bill!

The pants I made are a size 12-18 months, and I cut them for Miss Lucca.  I'm thinking that they would probably also fit Raina as shorts, and it's too bad she doesn't wear shorts this year :)  The leg is a generous wide cut leg, with ample space for Lucca's squishy and delicious baby thighs!

I used 3 fat quarters to make this size:  2 for the legs, one for the ruffles and waist facing.  I *might* have been able to squeeze out the 18-24 month pattern, too, but definitely couldn't go beyond that using fat quarters.  Now, I know I could just buy 1/4 yard of any fabric in the store... but I love digging through the fat quarters to find treasures!  These purple polka dots called my name, and told me they wanted to be pants.  I had to listen.  They were spot on!  (har har, did you catch that pun?!)

The ruffles are foldover, so NO HEMMING required!!  Woohoo!  I cut the ruffle strips twice as wide, folded them in half, and then followed directions from there.  I LOVE using a foldover ruffle instead of hemming.  So incredibly simple.

At the waist, I started folding and measuring, but before I got very far into it, I remembered one of the things I love about the treasure pocket pants pattern:  waist facing!!  So I cut a long strip the same circumference as the pants (and no, I did not measure - I pinned the extra long strip starting at the middle, and sewed the circle closed when I got all the way back around.  Again, no measuring!!), pinned it with the right side of the waist facing against the wrong side of the pants, sewed in place, flipped it over, and sewed it down with a space for the elastic to thread through.  Was that sentence long enough for you?  :)

I already have multiple pairs of these cut and waiting to be sewed up!  Some for Raina, a few more for Lucca... and most with a matching Knot Dress from the same Etsy shop!  I'm waiting to show those outfits complete, which hopefully wont take me too long... but you never know :)   Naptime has been non existent for the big girl, and unpredictable for the little girl.  Most of the time during Lucca's nap, Raina and I spend some quality messy art and science time together... but some days... like today... I let her spend some quality time with Curious George while I spend some quality time with my sewing machine.  No worries, though, we both spent some quality time with the Pirate's Booty, so we still got some bonding time in!  :)

Wearing my heart on my... knees?

The first day I had Raina wear these cool kid pants, she was NOT in the mood to model.  She was feeling very 2.5.  She was interested only in the flamingoes, and was pretty annoyed that the rides at the zoo had the nerve to be shut down on a weekday on October.  Nevertheless, I managed to grab a few shots of pants in action...

She is telling me to "Shoo."  Seriously.  Does it get more two than that?!

Okay, back to the pants.  These are pretty basic pants.  I traced a pair of Raina's pants onto this fabric, which I love, and which JoAnn Fabrics is now completely sold out of.  Apparentyl a lot of other people like it too.  Fortunately, I had the foresight to buy 2 yards of it, so I'm making it last!  You may remember it from my last post, where it made an appearance on a few bonnets.  You'll likely see it again soon.  Here are some close-ups of it's loveliness:

Can't get enough of it.  Any thoughts on more projects I should use it on?

Wait.  Pants.  Wasn't I getting back to the pants?  I traced a pair of Raina's pants onto the folded fabric, right at the bottom.  No hemming!  Raina is lanky, and has a pants problem.  As in, the don't fit her.  Ever.  Pants that are the right length literally fall off her bottom, and pants that fir correctly in the waist are capris.  So I make her pants.  I love the pants I make her, and she tolerates them.  :)  I sewed the front and back pieces together, inserted an elastic waistband, closed the seam... PANTS!  But they were missing something.

When I was little, I remember my mom making (what I remember being) some pretty sweet knee patches for my pants out of iron on bonding material... those patches sold to reinforce knees, elbows, and other parts of clothing that get worn quickly (are there other parts?)  Mostly, I remember them being cat patches... which seems weird looking back since my mom is totally not a cat person, but wharever.  My point:  knee patches.  I decided these pants needed some decoration in the knee area.  The heart patches are made from heavy-ish red jersey, reclaimed from a red t-shirt that's been in my "do something with this" pile for a while now, and can finally breathe a sigh of relief, knowing it will be loved again.

Knee patches, on cute pants.

PANTS!  Displayed lovingly on my kitchen floor, because my camera is dying and that's where the light is best :)

I give these pants an A+.  They are soft, comfy, and go with lots of Raina's shirts.  I especially love that they go with the Big Sister shirt.  Raina loves that they are pink and have a heart on them, thus making them "princess pants."  Whatever works, right?

Big Sis, princess pants, and the zoo Jeep... and a SMILE!