KCW Day 1: Happy Prince Pants

I have decided to sew along with Kids Clothes Week once again, I did this back in January as well and it was lots of fun.  This time the theme is Children's books/stories and my love of kids books really drew me into the challenge.  While the link to kids stories may be quite tenuous in some, if not all, instances I have enjoyed making my projects reflect some of the books and stories I loved as a child or love to share with my children now.

First up for me this time around are a pair of trousers for Miss M which I've called her Happy Prince Pants.  The Happy Prince is a story that I used to listen to on the radio as a child.  Before weekend kids tv we used to have a sunday morning radio show of kids stories and songs and it was a treat to lie in bed on a Sunday morning and hope your favourite stories would be on that week (boy just writing that makes me feel old).  I had lots of favourites but one that stands out is the story of the Happy Prince.  Yes, like many others I would cry when I listened to it, but isn't being so emotionally involved a true sign of a fabulous story.

To be honest Miss M needed new trousers (she has grown a lot lately) and I have loved this bird cotton fabric for ages, but it didn't take me long to draw the connection between the birds and the colour of the fabric and the bright blue sky and the swallow of the story.

The pattern I used is from Ottobre 1/2014, pattern number 18 "Snappy Happy Pants".  I used view A as a base but I omitted the drawstring and knee patches.  I also managed to cut these out without adding a seam allowance - OOPS!  So I got a little creative and found some aqua wide bias in my stash and used it to add a stripe down the side in an attempt to compensate for the lack of seam allowance.  It seems to have worked fit-wise and I'm actually pleased with the added lift the stripe gives them.  I made a size 92 with 98 length in the leg and rise and didn't have to make any other adjustments at all in sizing.

The only issue I had with sewing these up was doing the bottom elastic casing no the legs.  The top three rows of elastic are sewn on before sewing the inside leg seam but then at the end you iron up and sew the bottom elastic casing.  I found the ironing up of the casing a real pain with the other elastic already in place.  In future I would irony hat casing up first, before sewing on the other elastic, and then sew the casing as the end as instructed to give a nice clean finish without the hassle.
A couple of pics showing the cute pockets and bottom leg elastic.

Even though these aren't pink they have been given the stamp of approval and have already been given a thorough testing :-)

Love these and so does Miss M - win:win!