Double Ruffle Leggings pattern and tutorial

Today I am sharing this tutorial for a snazzy pair of kids pants. Double ruffle leggings are all the rage in kids clothing nowadays. In the boutiques they sell for a pretty penny, but they are not at all difficult to sew at home. Today I will show you how to sew and embellish these boutique style leggings.

Supplies:
Co-ordinating knits
Main fabric - three quarters of  yard
Coordinating fabric - 5.5 inches
Ribbon - 1 small scrap

Approximate time:
 2 hours

Pattern:

For 12 month size:

Here is the 4 page pdf pattern for double ruffle leggings in 12 months size. Print with no-scaling on 8.5x11 inch paper. Set no margin.
You will need to tape pages 1 and 2 together to get the front piece of the pants. Tape pages 3 and 4 together to get the back. Cut 2 pieces from each.


For other sizes:
Draft a basic leggings pattern using a well fitting pair of leggings.
Here's a detailed tutorial on how to sew basic leggings from MADE.
For ruffled leggings the legs of the pattern need to be shortened by about 5 inches. So leave out bottom 5 inches of the pattern.

Also keep in mind that these leggings may not work well for crawling kids as all the ruffles will get in their way and they will have trouble crawling.

Sewing Margins: 3/8 inch unless otherwise specified

Construction:

Cut two pieces each from front and back pieces.

Sew together outer seams of both the legs.

Sew the inseam on both legs.

Turn one leg inside out. Slip the turned out leg inside the other one.

Sew along the crotch.
Since leggings are made of knits I didn't bother serging any of the seams. You could serge them if you like.

Turn the leggings right side out.

 For the ruffles, cut strips of 3.5 inch length. To get the width measure the all round width of each leg, double this number, this would become the width of each strip.

To make double ruffles, I cut two strips of 3.5 X 2w and two strips of 5.5X2w
Sew the shorter ends together( right sides together) of each strip to make wide tubes.

Slide the shorter tube over the longer one. Align one edge of both layers.

To make the ruffles I use this cheater's method. Set the machine speed on highest, stitch length on the longest and increase tension ( I set it to 7.0 instead of normal 5.2). Now sew along the edge where both layers are aligned. You will see that the fabric gathers along this seam. Once you are done sewing this seam, pull the bobbin thread by hand or spread out gathers to make the width of ruffles equal to the cuffs of the pant.
Once they are equal, sew them on the pants cuff. Keep the raw edges outside because the knits don't fray. I have also tried sewing the ruffles to the pants with right sides together to hide the raw edges but I feel that it adds too much bulk to the seam. But you could try it and see if you like it better.

Repeat the same steps for the other leg. I left the ruffles unhemmed as the knits don't fray but if you like the look of lettuce hem, do a a rolled hem to finish the edges. Here's a great tutorial on sewing rolled hems.

To finish the waistband. Cut a piece of non-roll elastic, about 3 inch shorter than the width of waist. Sew the ends together.

Now using zig-zag or 3 step zig-zag stitch sew it to the top of the pants ( on the inside). Stretch the elastic slightly as you sew to make the elastic equal to the pants.

Turn the elastic on itself towards inside and sew another zig-zag seam over it. Stretch it again while you sew.

 The ruffled leggings are done but since I can never have too much fluff, I decided to embellish them with some fabric flowers:

Here's the mini tutorial on how to sew fabric flowers.

Hand-sew teeny tiny bow at the front.

And what do you know? Your fancy-schmancy Double Ruffle Leggings are done. If you like this tutorial, visit Blooms And Bugs for more such goodies.