Noahs Comfy Trousers

Noah will not wear trousers. At some point (next year, when he starts school) he will have to accept that its not actually an option any more, but at the moment, I say let the kid wear stuff he likes wearing. Which is pretty much any fancy dress costume, and his pyjamas.

#Update - Noah started school September 2014. He will still not wear trousers. We have comprimised on shorts. Its mid-winter and he is wearing shorts....

I bought this lovely interlock fabric from http://www.funkykitsch.co.uk/. As its not cheap, I just got half a metre. I also got some sort of orangey/reddy jersey to match as I was intending on putting cuffs on (for growth). I am quite dozy and it didn't occur to me that half a metre was not long enough (obviously you can't use the fabric side-ways) so I decided to add a waistband too.



I cut them out based on the polarn leggings he already has. I realised shortly afterwards I'd cut one leg upside down, so had to cut another. Doh!

Pinned the cuffs to the legs and sewed. Cuffs were just folded strip. You really need to stretch the cuff fabric a bit whilst sewing. Used a special jersey needle.

Used the zig zag to neaten as I don't have an overlocker.

     Sewed legs together at crotch, then inside legs, incorportating cuffs at same time.

Sewed on waistband. Had to do just one edge of the waistband, and then would fold over and stitch down afterwards.

This is where my new double needle came into play. So fab for jersey!

This is the lovely neatness produced with the double needle.


Added a label


So there we go - finished!

Actually no - not finished at all. Not even close :(

They were much too wide in the waistband and the cuffs. They hung over his feet, and drooped around his hips. So I had to unpick the whole flipping lot.

Unpicked it. Cut a chunk off everything, and sewed it up again. Finish not as good as first time around, but they look ok. Next time the waistband will be wider.

 

Here is Noah wearing his new comfy trousers.

Update May 2013:

I made the 2nd Pair. This is the fox and owl fabric I bought from Funky Kitsch. These were done pretty quickly since I made all my mistakes the first time around! I'd say 2.5 hours.

I modified the cuff and waistband pattern after last time, so waisband is taller and neither are  too baggy for him.

     
After cutting, first sewing is cuffs onto bottom off legs. Zig zag cuffband to tidy.
    



Sew up leg 'inners' for both legs including cuffs.
    
 Tidy up with zigzag, and sew up crotch.
     

Sew up side seam of waistband and pin to inside of trousers.
     

Sewon waistband. Fold it over, pin again, then overstitch with double needle.
        
All done!!


     
      

Update July 2013:

Two more pairs made.

I bought this fabulous tiger fabric to make some that are more like PJ bottoms. i.e. with an elasticated waist and cuffs rather than a contrastic jersey. I think I made these back in April.

I just used a pair of his existing PJs to make a template.

 

I tried to find a photo of him wearing them - and this is the best I could come up with :)

Noah as a cowboy pretending to drive a tractor.

This pair I made on Monday night with the new Pfaff Quilt Expression 2046 (ok its not new - just new to me!)They are simply based on the trousers but omitting the cuffs - means I can use a fairly small amount of fabric.

Ran them up pretty quickly :)