Guest Blogger - Lessons Learned

My sister, Stephanie and I have come a long way with sewing, but still make mistakes, and thought it might be nice if someone else could learn from our mistakes.

Lessons Learned - Patchwork Pants
By Stephanie

I wasn't planning for this sewing project to be a "lessons learned" experience, so I don't have pictures to go with this other than the finished pair of pants.

I have always wanted to make a pair of patchwork pants, so when I saw this totally CuTE Moda fabric, Clementine, I decided to give it a try. I have made several pairs of pants and in my opinion, they are about the easiest thing to sew. However, I’ve never made a patchwork pair, and I didn’t have a pattern, but I figured, “How hard could it be?” I bought a charms pack that had different fabrics from that fabric line already cut into 5 inch squares. The thing I was scared about the most was having the corners all match up when I sew, so if I didn’t have to cut the fabric into squares myself, that would help. That was one less thing for me to mess up on.

When making a store bought pattern, always measure your child, because 9 times out of 10 they will not be the same size they are in store bought clothing. For example; Sadie wears a size 18 months store bought clothes, and I made theses pants a size 6 months for her.

I started sewing the pieces together, and found that it wasn’t hard at all to have all the corners line up. I used a walking foot on my sewing machine, and I’m not sure if that helped or not, but in the end, all but 2 corners were perfect, and the 2 that weren’t were less than 1/8 inch off.

The first thing I noticed that I should have done differently is buy 2 charm packs instead of 1. There were 42 squares in 1 pack, more than enough squares to make a pair of pants, but I didn’t want to use every single square. Some fabric squares were brighter than others, or I just didn’t want to use a particular color. Also in a charm pack, they may give you only 1 square of a particular fabric (most likely the one that you wish you had 3 of) and other times they may give you 2. So, if you buy more, you’ll have more choices for fabric placement. I used the fabric squares that I liked the best for the front of the pants and the back of the pants were the leftovers.

The second thing I did wrong (if you can’t tell from the picture) is when placing the pattern on the fabric. I placed the pattern piece directly going down the middle of the seam where I sewed the squares together. Because the pants weren’t that big, when sewing the side and middle seams together, the squares got cut off and now look like rectangles. So, my suggestion when making a pair of patchwork pants, place the outside seam of the pants as far as you can to the end of a set of squares, not in the middle of them.

Other than that, I still think they kind of turned out cute. It makes me want to try again though, and see if I can conquer the patchwork pants. I’m thinking a cute 4th of July fabric this time.



To sum it up:
Tip #1. When making a store bought pattern, always measure your child, because 9 times out of 10 they will not be the same size they are in store bought clothing. (This wasn't a lesson learned, but a nice tip for someone new to sewing patterns.)

Tip #2. Buy 2 charm packs (or at least make sure that it comes with enough of the fabric’s you want to use).

Tip #3. When making a pair of patchwork pants, place the outside seam of the pants as far as you can to the end of a set of squares, not in the middle of them, so you get squares, and not rectangles.