The best baby leggings pattern is finally here. It features 8 sizes from newborn to 36 months. All of the pattern pieces are printable from a home printer. There is not any scaling necessary as the pattern pieces are drafted professionally to size. There are optional ruffles and a rear extender for cloth diapers. Sound too good to be true? It's here! Read on!!
When I first decided that I wanted to
make a legging pattern, it was after multiple people had asked me to
design them. At the time of the first requests, I had an entire
drawer filled with leggings and dresses. I wasn't about to make any
more. However, this last box of baby clothes that I got out for
Claire left me a little skimpy in the baby legging department.
Actually, all of the departments were skimpy. In the 12 month size
that I just pulled out, she had 3 onesies, 1 dress, 2 - one piece
pajamas (this will be something on my to-do list I think), a couple
pairs of socks and a couple stretched out pairs of pants. What was
I thinking when I kept those?!
I got to work right
away making shirts for Claire out of t-shirts that hubs brought home
for me. He is a web designer and artist for a web company that is
connected to a t-shirt design shop so he has unlimited supply of
messed up shirts that need to be 'recycled'. Yay for me!
After I got a few
onesies and long sleeve shirts done, I whipped up a few baby jumpers.
After I got the baby jumpers done, I realized that IT IS WINTER. What
was I thinking?
It was time to
design some baby leggings.
Something that had
been irritating me about baby leggings in the previous size, was the
lack of room in the 'rear' area. I exclusively cloth diaper my
babies, which makes it hard to find proper fitting attire in a
'disposable' world. I know that some of my customers are NOT cloth
diaper mammas though, so I had to come up with a solution for both,
cloth diapered and non-cloth diapered rumps. The “Rear Extender”
was born. At first, I added WAY too much room for the cloth diaper.
The leggings looked saggy at first. No thanks. Leggings are supposed
to be form fitting. After a couple tries, I had it right. I love how
the baby leggings fit over cloth diapers now. They are smooth and
comfortable without adding any unnecessary room to the thigh area.
The Rear Extender is of course an optional feature of the baby
legging pattern, but it is necessary for us cloth diapering mammas to
add to our baby's wardrobe.
Another thing that
made me have to do a bit 'extra' designing, was the fact that
t-shirts aren't always suitable for a one piece legging pattern. I
needed side seams. That was a challenge for me as I hadn't
incorporated side seams in any other pants or shorts pattern before.
I love what I came up with though and you will too. The pattern piece
that I designed has the option of being one piece OR two pieces so
that you can have side seams. This is huge. If you have yardage
fabric, just whip out a few one pattern piece leggings...but if you
are recycling and need a bit more wiggle room, use the two piece
pattern with side seams!
The other reason
that I wanted side seams was that I wanted ruffles. Since winter was
upon me, I wanted my darling to be outfitted adorably, so ruffles
were necessary. Yet, to sew a ruffled diaper cover, would be more
work and just another thing to add to her drawer. Why couldn't I
simply add the ruffles to the rear of the leggings? I went to work
pondering, measuring, drawing and sewing. Finally, I had the perfect
solution for all sizes that are included in this sewing pattern. The
side seams are perfect for adding ruffles and you'll love the
placement of the ruffles on the baby leggings pattern.
As I was in the designing process and finally had my pieces drawn up, I did a quick search online for baby legging patterns. I was immediately overwhelmed with multiple patterns. They ranged anywhere from free to $20 a piece for the pattern. I was a little bit down after I saw all of the competition for a pattern. I felt like I had wasted my time to design something new when it had already been done. I left my computer and my designing for a few days. When I got out of the 'funk', I looked at the patterns online again. They were missing key components that mine was offering.
The easiest and most obvious 'lack' in the patterns that I found online for baby leggings, was that there were few printable pattern pieces. I don't know about you, but when I want to sew something, it's because I don't already have it. I can't take apart a pair of pants that I don't have to make a new pair. That's silly. I also hate to 'resize' anything. It never blows up to the appropriate size as it should. Yet, many of those patterns suggested doing that. I am so proud to be able to offer you professionally drafted pattern pieces with all of my sewing patterns, especially my baby leggings sewing pattern.
Overall, I had a great time designing these baby leggings. The sewing pattern rocks and I can't wait to share it. My love for dresses will extend into the winter months because of them. I want to try to make some fleece leggings too. Doesn't fleece baby leggings sound like the coziest things ever? I think it would end up pilling around the legs after a while if the baby is crawling or rolling. Either way, I might have to make a few before Christmas!
Thank you for joining me today to read about how I designed this pattern. I hope that my customers and readers enjoy my design stories. I love to design and it is so much fun to tell you about it.
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