Took me two days, but I made a pair of Lovely Rita Skinnies for my little Miss! It snowed the other day and now she can wear these under dresses, with tunics or cute tops. And totally tucked into boots. Did I mention she’s obsessed with shoes? She is.
I made size 3T since she’s already out of 2 because of her height. I also sewed the elastic tighter so it fits her.
Oh, side note…I didn’t have 3/4″ elastic on hand (and instead of waking up kids from naps to drive to the store 7 miles away in the snow) I serged my 1″ elastic down to size. It cuts and finishes the edge for you, but the trick is stretching the elastic with your right hand in front of the blade and your left hand behind the needle. You start out serging as normal and then about two inches in you start stretching it completely. It’s a really advanced technique and I wouldn’t recommend beginners to try it, you could break your machine or needle. I used to do that on the edge of lycra when I made swimsuits. We would serge the elastic to the edge of the swimsuit with that method, then we folded the swimsuit edge under and stitched it. Anyways, I was wondering if it would work today and it did. So I cut/serged the elastic down to 3/4′ and threaded it through the Rita waistband.
Whenever I work with elastic and have to sew it to itself, I sew a little rectangle and then go back and make an X over it. All without breaking the thread. I’ve never had a waistband pop on me.
I love this fabric. It’s exactly what I wanted. But I didn’t realize how hard it would be to sew. I could barely see the black thread on the black fabric and it was hard seeing the topstitching and seams. The dots hid all the stitching making it really difficult to see what on Earth I was doing.
Love the pattern! Hate sewing black fabric. 😉
I really want to make this pattern again in other colors though. A rainbow of colors. It was a fun pair of pants to make and I like the design. Next time I’ll make the cute little button tab on the side of the pants, but I felt like it would be lost on this fabric.
You know, I really wish this pattern came in my size. I would love a burgundy pair of these skinny jeans with the cute little buttons down the legs. And then some khakis. Hmm, wonder what I have to do to make that a reality. 😉
Resources:
Rita Skinny Jeans pattern by Shwin&Shwin Designs
Fabric from Mill End Fabrics