I bring to you today, a one size fits many PJ pant for your babies and toddlers! I hope you enjoy the pattern as much as I enjoyed making these PJs for my little guy. There are only certain times in life I think you can get away with wearing things plastered on your bum. Baby and toddlerhood is one of them. People everywhere should remember this! :)
Now before we begin, let's get a few things straight:
- I'm a mom who happens to like to sew. I don't draft patterns for a living. That said, this pattern works for me and I think will work for you too.
- I designed this pattern after my 2 yr old little dude. I happen to think that this pattern could work for children ages 6 mos to 3yrs- possibly 4 yrs, with some very easy adjustments which I will help you with.
- This pattern is meant for use with knit fabrics. Any type of knit should work great for the pants. If you would like cuffs on your pants you will need to use a stretchy interlock or cotton lycra. Not a non stretch jersey.
- Use a stretch stitch or small zig zag for all seams.
- Use a ballpoint needle.
Start by downloading your pattern pieces
HERECut out and tape your pieces together as shown. Now, I forgot to put the standard 1 inch box on my pages, and it was too much trouble to take this back to be rescanned. So, once your pieces are together, your piece should measure from top to bottom aprox 23 inches. You will also have the center back piece to go along with this.
A few notes about sizing:
- I made these pants long. You can either hem them or add a cuff to the bottom. The pattern piece as is will fit up to a size 3 allowing for a hemmed pant. If using cuffs you will need to remove some length. One nice thing about cuffs though is you can make them long as the ankle will be tight preventing them from being too long. So, you can have growing room. I suggest cutting the pant legs as is and adjusting length later unless you are making for a baby and know you will need to cut off several inches.
- In the photo you will see side by side the pattern made as is (I adjusted length slightly) and using a larger seam allowance to make for a smaller child and shortening lengths significantly. This pant now went from being a 2/3 to being 12 months.
- A chubby 6 month old does not vary in size much more than a 2yr old other than height. This allows the pattern to fit a range of sizes by only adjusting pant length, and elastic in the waist. For a younger baby I would suggest using a 1/2 inch seam allowance instead of 1/4 inch. For a young baby this will be a looser fitting more wide leg pant. For an older toddler this will be a snugger fitting pant.
- If using a stretchy knit I think this pattern could fit up to a size 4 but be a snug fitting "long underwear" type PJ pant. These fit my slim 4 yr old and very slim 6 yr old. In jersey these would not fit my girls. It would have to be a stretchy knit. Keep in mind you could adjust the legs to be slightly wider.
- If making for larger than a size 2 I suggest adjusting the rise of the pant (the top of the pant). For a size 3, I would add 1-2 inches to the top height of the pant, and for a 4 I would add 3 inches. The rise as is would be perfect for a baby or young toddler. On my 2yr old they come a bit below the belly button. If you cloth diaper you may also want to add some rise for that cute diaper butt.
- If making for any other size than a 2 I would suggest making a test pair. :)
Fold your knit in half and with the stretch going side to side put your pattern piece on top cutting two pant legs.
Use your pattern piece labeled "back" to cut out one back piece and embellish if desired.
If you would like cuffs on your pants cut two pieces of stretchy knit 7.5 inches X 3.5 inches.
Also cut a length of 3/4 inch elastic equal to your child's waist.
With your two leg pieces right sides together sew the front seam (this is the straight one).
Now, in the next step you are going to begin to sew in your back piece. The easiest way to do this is to have your back piece face up on the bottom and your leg piece on top. Line up the top edges... (pant is pulled back to show you the back piece is on bottom).
You'll notice the back seam of the pants, and the curve of the back piece go in opposite directions. This is why we want the back piece on the bottom. We want to follow the curve of the back piece and not the back seam of the pants and the easiest way to do that is to have the piece that you want to follow on the bottom. Using your hand, gently curve the back seam of the pants to match your back piece and sew. The back seam of your pants should end at the bottom middle of the back piece. See next photo.
Where the back seam ends and falls on the back piece, is the bottom middle of the back piece.
Now, we want to attach the back seam from the other pantmleg. This time you are going to start where you left off. We want to keep following that curve. You'll notice your last back seam piece probably went over the mid mark just a tinch. So, overlap your 2nd back seam by just a tinch and following your curve all the way around sewing your 2nd back seam on.
This is what you will have at this point.
Turn your pants back to inside out and starting at the ankle of one leg, sew up on leg, around the crotch and back down the other leg joining the legs of your pants.
Clip the curve in the crotch of your pants being careful not to cut through your stitches. This will ensure that your curve lays flat when you turn them right side out.
Take your cuff pieces and fold in half sewing down the short edge to create a tube. Do this with both pieces.
Now, fold each piece in half lengthwise matching raw edges. One side will have raw edges and the other side will be a folded edge. Make a mark opposite your seam.
Turn your pants right side out and make a mark opposite the inner seam on each leg. Now take one of your cuffs and matching the marks you made and seam marks pin aligning raw edges. Your cuff will be smaller than the opening on your leg. This is what will make the leg cuffs tight.
Stretching your leg cuff as you sew (to make it the same length as pant leg), sew onto bottom of pant.
Flip the cuff down and this is what you have! A nice tight ankle cuff.
Fold your top edge in one inch and make casing for your elastic. Measure a length of elastic equal to your child's waist. Insert into casing, overlap an inch or two and join.
You're done!
You can't have super cute PJ pants without super cute matching tops! I wish I had a free pattern to share with you, but for these tops I used a pattern from
Ottobre Magazine. The pattern I used in
this tutorial will give you a similar top. It is Carla C's All The Rage Raglan from
You Can Make This. If you want to add wrist cuffs as I have done with the dinosaur top, just measure the wrist opening of the top and cut the length of your cuff 75% of that. For the width you could use 3.5 inches just as we did with the cuffs of our pants.
Now my Little Dude isn't wearing jammies with the feet cut off of them! And to think, if I lived closer to actual shopping I may just have run out and bought him some new jammies and he wouldn't have had these adorable ones! Nice thick 100% cotton and made with love. Much better than the poly blend ones I would have found at our only big box store.
I hope you have fun with this pattern! As always, I would love to see your photos!
Puhleease upload them to our
Flickr Group! :)
Hopefully in the next few days I will have some action shots to share with you. I promise you, these are adorable on! Our Little Dude has been sick the past couple of days and has been wearing these day and night.
Have a great day my friends!
