Making Patchwork Pants for Child...

[happyday8598]

HOW?!??!

How do you size it to fit the way that "regular" clothes fit? Should I just break open a pair of pants that fit my 5T son perfectly, and patchwork according to that size??

I've never made patchwork anything before... it doesn't look too difficult... is it???

Anybody have any pics of themselves or their youngins in their homemade patchwork pants/shirts/skirts/dresses???

Love,
Emily

[EmsMom]

I have never made patchwork pants but I have made patchwork and I have made clothes so I can offer some advice. You can open up a pair of pants that fit your child and trace the pattern pieces onto some paper to make a pattern. Use a very simple pants design, though, especially for your first try. An alternative is to look for patterns in a fabric store. They are usually quite expensive but very often go on sale for as low as 99 cents at a big chain like Joanns. An advantage to this is the pattern will usually have at least three sizes and probably a few designs for pants, shorts, etc.

Once you have a paper pattern, you can simply piece the patch work together and then cut out the pattern from your newly created "fabric" Traditional scrap quilts often used strips of fabric sewed together in lines or squares sewed in rows. A "Crazy quilt" is randomly joined, oddly shaped pieces of scraps. However, crazy quilts were often sewn to a foundation fabric which might be too heavy or bulky for pants.

After you cut out your pattern pieces, the seams you use to sew together the pieces into pants should reinforce all of the unsecured seams so the pants will hold up to wear. You might want to stich the seams twice for extra strength.

A sewing machine is highly recommended for this project. Although a small backstich by hand is a very strong stich, it takes forever.

Good luck.

[lilyka]

I recommend getting a cheap basic patter. four peices and an elastic encaseed waist band. do your patchwork to make a big peice (or at least a big enough peice to fit the pattern ) and cut from there. i think they maybe should be lined or else they would be awfully itchy.

[jjquilter]

As Emsmom said, patchwork is usually made by stitching random pieces of fabric to a muslin backing. However, if you don't use a backing, it won't end up being flat.

So, I highly recommend either using a background (cut muslin to the pattern you want, then sew the patches to the muslin), or cutting out squares and sewing them together, then cutting out the pattern from the square patch you've sewn.

Good luck!