Hello stitchers! Today we finish our Brindille & Twig Layette Sew-Along! This is a three-piece sew-along, sized preemie to 6T!
A brief reminder: this sew-along includes the snug ear-flap beanie, the hooded raglan sweatshirt (which is a free pattern), and the big butt pants:
In our first post of the series, we tackled our beanie. Next, we made up our raglan hoodie. Today, we are on the final leg of the sew-along – the pants!
With regards to this garment, my sew-along differs from the B&T instructions as follows:
1. I am sewing with a zig zag stitch on a home machine – not serging (I am using 1.0mm wide by 3.0mm long); and
2. I inserted elastic in the waistline.
So for the pant, we have a project slightly easier than the hoodie, and even the beanie! Pictured below: the entirety of my supplies for the baby ensemble:
Fabrics from left to right: a mid/heavyweight cotton rib knit in white, a 100% Michael Miller yarn-dyed stripe in pink and orange, a corduroy-velour Malden Mills fleece in red, and a cotton lycra custom knit – festooned with a wonderful monster print! Finally, I have a length of elastic for the pants, which I discussed a bit already but will go into a little more detail here.
Adding elastic can be intimidating for some. They might wonder WHY I’m adding it! As I mentioned in the first post of this sew-along, all knits do not behave the same. Knits have a degree of stretch – usually from 0% to about 75%. Besides the stretch – there is also recovery. Recovery indicates the degree to which the fabric will return to it’s original state after being stretched. The B&T Big Butt Pant assumes a “rib knit or medium weight stretchy jersy” (page 2), but says nothing about recovery. Since the Michael Miller stripe I’m using is a 100% cotton, it’s recovery is dubious. I thought I’d insert some soft 1″ elastic to keep the pants on the baby.
So what length did I cut for the elastic? Easy-peasy. Page 4 indicates the measurement chart numbers; I am sewing a 3 month size, I used the “waist” measurement (18.5 inches, 47 centimeters) and cut just a half inch. We don’t want a super-snug elastic for a baby’s tummy, right?
So let’s put our elastic aside, and get started!
So first, we are installing our panels in our legs. Most pant legs have two pieces – a front and a bag. This pattern uses a legging-style pattern piece – roughly kite-shaped, with the side line running down the middle of the piece – but also incorporates crotch gussets. It can be confusing. But just follow instructions and you’ll be fine!
First, we are installing all of our panels to our inner pant seams, by placing the fabric pieces right-sides together and stitching (page 16 to 18). A reminder that I am zig-zag sewing, not serging, and sewing a second zig-zag after each seam, before trimming:
So believe it or not – with those four seams on 16 – 18 we are mostly done with the pant! We are now going to sew our inseams. Here, you want to do your best to keep your panel seams facing whatever direction you’ve elected to pin them. I chose to pin them to the interior of the body. Does it matter? Not really. But it is a good habit to get into – paying attention to details like this.
Time to make those cuffs! Much like the cuffs and waistbands of the raglan hoodie, we are sewing up the short cuff and waistband edges, right side together, before proceeding.
If you are inserting elastic, now is the time to join that center seam. I use a wide zig zag in a sort of faggoting method, for a low-bulk join.
Next, go ahead and fold your waistband and cuffs, wrong-side together, and line up your raw edges in preparation to join them to the pant body.
Here we are – about to sew! I go ahead and pin everything – the waistband and each cuff – before sewing. I change my thread color, too, to match each fabric. For the waistband elastic, before pinning simply slide the elastic into the “envelope” of the folded waistband (this process can be trickier for projects with smaller waistband depth, but it is easy here. After joining, you may want to stitch a reinforcement stitch. I didn’t see the need for this particular seam:
I secure my cuffs with only a handful of pins. As you can (barely) see, the pant leg is a bit looser than the cuff (this is okay; it isn’t a great look the other way around and don’t be afraid to rip stitches and correct if need be). That means I will pin with the cuff side up, and use the machine to help gently gather the pant leg into the cuff.
Here is my cuff seam – isn’t it gorgeous?
Great work! You are all finished!
Let me know how it’s going! Drop a line here, email me – or find me on Facebook.