Floral Pants: Wild Flowers and Skinny Jeans

Floral PantsKid’s Clothes Week Day 4: Floral Pants

To finish up Kid’s Clothes Week: Wild Things, we decided to make a pair of skinny jeans: wild flower style. Floral pants have been all the rage lately showing up in magazines, in stores, on Pinterest, and in the streets! It was only a matter of time before we took on the challenge!

I had some lovely coral floral fabric from Joann’s that I had purchased for a jacket (as it was a bottom weight) that would be perfect for the project.  And it was definitely going to be a project, as I had never made a pair of pants before!

After searching for days, literally days, I found a pattern that I thought would be able to be the foundation for the floral pants.  Believe me when I say that there are not many skinny pants patterns for young girls (or boys) out there! I ended up going with the W Pants pattern by Blank Slate Patterns.  The pants have some pretty significant slouch to them (perfect for young boys), but they offered a unique slanted pocket design with instructions for welt pockets included.  I knew I could alter these to make the perfect skinny pants!

W PantsAlterations I made:

  • Smaller waist with little use of elastic for smooth finish
  • Side zipper in order to take on and off
  • Decreased the size of the bottom by adjusting the crotch (following the instructions from Collette Patterns here)
  • Slimmed the pants from the hips to the ankle in 2 diagonal lines that were about 1 inch (plus seam allowance) larger than her actual leg measurements.

Finished Product:

Overall, I think they turned out fantastic! I was especially proud as they were my first pants ever.  If I had time to do again, I would make them even smaller in the bottom as they stretched out a little.

Here are some great shots from the, plus our inspiration!

Floral Pants

 

Floral Pants

 

Floral Pants

 

Floral Pants

 

We even added a little leopard print accent on the inside waist band as the theme is Wild Things, after all :)

Floral Pants

 

Scirocco Peplum Top Tutorial: Wild Things

Scirocco Peplum Top TutorialKid’s Clothes Week: Wild Things

I love Kid’s Clothes Week!  This season’s theme: Wild Things sparked my attention early on.  There are just so many possibilities!  However, when my rapidly growing up almost 9 year old announced she was “too old for animal faces on her clothes”, I was stumped.  I wanted something cutsie! She wanted something trendy.  We ended up going with a very chic leopard print peplum top.

Once we decided on a peplum top, I immediately went back to one of my favorite patterns: The Scirocco Dress from Figgy’s.  I knew the tried and true pattern would be the perfect starting point!

This time, instead of the tiered dress, I decided to modify the skirt to create a peplum top.  I also modified the back panels again to avoid the dreaded gape often caused by the bulkiness of the pattern. I simply drew the inner diagonal line closer in by 1 inch and all the way to the bottom corner, sparing just enough for the seam allowance plus 1/2 inch.  On the peplum top, I cut the triangles shorter, going all the way to the side about 2 inches from the bottom of the front pattern piece.  As the bodice has a lining, the side seams are still encased and do not show any unfinished seams.Scirocco Peplum Top Tutorial

To add the skirt, I simply made a circle skirt (with lining in the same material).  Instead of cutting on the fold, I cut straight through so that there would be side seams.  The back was created 4 inches wider (for the elastic waist band).  As there is more material in the back, it creates a certain oomph on the behind.  The length hits right about where the second tier of the dress would have hit.

Scirocco Peplum Top Tutorial

 

Scirocco Peplum Top Tutorial

 

Scirocco Peplum Top Tutorial