Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Simplicity 2572 - Skinny jeans for a skinny girl

My first son was a big baby. He was born at 9lbs. 2oz. and just got bigger and bigger. People use to stop me and say, "Wow! He's healthy!!!" And I would think, "Shut up! He's gorgeous!" Now when I look back at his baby pictures, I realize he really was a chunk. With huge baby cheeks. He was always in the 95th percentile for height and weight compared to other babies his age.

My second son was born at 8lbs. 11oz., and was a very average size baby. He wore the same clothes that his brother had worn 2 years earlier, but they usually fit him for a little longer. I never made them anything because sewing boy clothes didn't seem very interesting, and there were hardly any cute patterns for boys.

Now this new little person has been an adjustment. She started out tiny - 6lbs. 7oz. - and hasn't grown much in the 2.5 months since then. At the doctor's office for a checkup last week, the nurse put her on the scale to weigh her - 8lbs. 14oz.! I was shocked! My home scale read at least 10lbs. I had them reweigh her, thinking surely there had been some mistake. No mistake. She's in the 5th percent for weight and the 10th percent for height. It looks like she'll be a petite girl, and it's a good thing I know how to sew.

Making pants was not high on my list of cute baby clothes to make, but they are now a necessity that I can't find to fit her. We have a few pairs of leggings that don't fall off when I pick her up. Dresses aren't too bad since they don't have to fit in the waist, but no tights fit and her legs get cold. So, I guess I'll now be making lots of bottoms.

These little jeans only took a day and a half to whip up. I used the same pattern as this skirt, which I now realize will never fit. I love the bottom ruffles on this design and decided to do topstitching with orange thread to break up all the denim.

I also added a little heart pocket to the back. Originally there were two hearts on the back, but since her bottom is so tiny, two was too much. I made the XXS. In order to get these to fit, I cut 1" off each side pattern piece, resulting in pants that are 4" narrower then designed. I've compared the original pattern size to other RTW 0-3 months pants, and it is spot on. So other then being off by calling this a newborn size, this pattern should fit other babies with no problems.

This fabric is a cotton denim I've had in the stash forever. I'm not sure what I originally purchased it for, but there's enough of it left over for some baby overalls. These were so easy and such a success that I'll be making a black pair next. I'm thinking side cargo pockets and bottom cuffs.

27 comments:

  1. Cute jeans and my DM was still making my jeans when I was 13 as we couldn't find any to fit.

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  2. Sweet jeans. My Rachel is very petite too - she weighed under 6 pounds at birth and only grew to 5 feet!

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  3. Oh what cute little jeans! I always wished I would have had a petite baby so I could have he/she little longer, but they all grew right into the 95%+ percentile for both height and weight shortly after birth. Daddy is 6'3" so I guess that is why! I would highly recommend you checking out Ottobre magazine - ottobredesign dot com. They have such awesome patterns that fit so much better than anything else I've ever used. I have every issue but one and pretty much use only those for my kids when I sew for them (add a random KS in for good measure which is also really great with sizing). Happy sewing for your little sweetie. :-)

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  4. What a cutie-petite-y! Oh how I can relate to you! My son was a chunky boy and it bothered me how inconsiderate people could be sometimes!

    It is a good thing you can sew for your sweet little girl! Her jeans are adorable, and I love the heart back pocket!

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  5. As a totally selfish follower of your blog I for one am glad you have to sew for Rachel so we can see more of your cute creations!

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  6. Amanda,

    My BEAUTIFUL 21 year old is barely 5 feet tall, 00 petite in clothes and has lovely curves. I make a lot of her clothes, but she can wear a jcrew 00petite with no alterations! Her expensive designer jeans come from the kids department in the department stores where she can wear the same brands, for less than half price.

    Your Rachel reminds me of my Alexandra, both girls are lucky to have mothers who can sew "anything" they want! Custom sized for a a fraction of the price!

    Enjoy!!!!!!

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  7. So gorgeous (both Rachel and the pants)! She is very lucky to have a mother that sews, because I've found very little RTW that fit petite babies/toddlers properly plus you can make much nicer things too than the tacky licensed merchandise that seems to dominate the stores

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  8. Amanda - those are some seriously cute babies!!! I love them all - great pix!! Super sewing!

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  9. You're kids are adorable!! Love the jeans... they're so tiny and cute!

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  10. It's good to read your children. Your daughter's marvellous!

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  11. My granddaughter Lucy is tiny like that. She can wear size 12 month clothes width wise but she's four years old. She was on fifth percentile height and weight at a year. Her mom sews for her all the time, check out her blog http://colescornerandcreations.blogspot.com/
    Jeans are adorable.

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  12. What adorable babies!

    My sister had twins one well under 5 lbs and the other just under 5 lbs, and the thing she did with them instead of pants is "baby legs"- essentially legwarmers.

    The manufactored ones are expensive, and "one size fits all" thus very long! so I found a tutorial on the internet to make them out of women's knee socks. Those were still quite long on the babies (though the toddler of the family loves wearing them), so I then found that I could make them out of regular socks- and used ribbed ones, so they fit their skinny legs.

    She loved them because it meant "pants" that fit- AND it made diaper changes easier.

    And they are so easy to sew. With a girl you could even just cut the heel off and do a ruffle edge by overlocking the seam. For the boys I cut off the heel, and the toe, then fold the foot of the sock in half and sew that to the leg to make a cuff.

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  13. Rachel looks wonderful in her first pair of jeans! They are so cute! I love the frills and the heart pocket - it's such a nice idea to give jeans some nice girly touches like this.

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  14. You guys are so adorable! Really, no other word for it than that. My oldest was (continues to be) above the 97th percentile for height and weight. People are always shocked when they find out she's only 2 year old, they assume she's 4 or at least 3. Daddy is 6'4", though, so I'm not surprised.

    Echoing the babylegs - I'm refashioning a bunch for my baby twin girls out of knee-high girls socks (Target). We live in MN, and one flimsy layer of pants fabric doesn't seem sufficient, esp when the pants legs get hiked up when the babies are carried.

    How in the world do you have time to sew with 3 young 'uns? Color me mighty impressed with your mad time management skillz!

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  15. Look at your cutie pies. Yep, good thing she has you because how adorable are those jeans!

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  16. Cute pants and your baby beutiful!! =)

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  17. Reminds me of my first born. She was born 6,4. Even now at 19 she is still small. Had to make (or take in) everything. Rachel may always be petite - not a bad thing at all. BTW, Very cute jeans!

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  18. Adorable baby! Those are the cutest jeans ever!

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  19. She is such a doll baby:) She's cute in her "designer-made-by-mom" jeans.

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  20. OOh! Your baby is very beautiful and fashionable!

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  21. Very cute - my 3 y.o. DD is built slim and Ottobre has been a Godsend as far as fitting her, plus I do tend to scale things in. Ottobre also has wonderful things for boys that are actually stylish and fun to sew. A lot of the big four patterns run big. I would also recommend Children's Corner patterns when she is just a tiny bit bigger (6-12mo. plus) as they fit very well and true to size, plus I think you'd love the focus on beautiful technique.

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  22. My daughter was very small also - well actually she was born 3 months premature. Her first dresses were doll clothes as newborn baby clothes were way too big for her!

    Your little one is a sweetie and she's so fortunate her mommy can sew for her.

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  23. I could just eat her up! She is absolutely adorable! Love the jeans.

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  24. What a beautiful baby girl!!! Congratulations!!!

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  25. She is so adorable! The pants look awesome!

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  26. I also have a petite girl, now 11 years old. A subscription to Ottobre has been a sanity saver -- their sizing is so much better than Simplicity et al, although I still have to "slenderize" even their "slim" patterns.

    Sewing pants really can be fun! Especially when they're for such an adorable little girl!

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  27. Really cute! I got to hold my bff's daughter last week and about died - she is barely 5.5lbs and I was afraid I'd break her. I'm guessing she is going to be a petite one, too. I also can't get over how much the first picture of your son looks like you - there is no mistaking who is his mama! :)

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