Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Run Jump Hop Skip Blog Tour

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Hello There! For those of you stopping by from the Run Jump Hop Skip Tour from Stitch it Now, I'm Cyndi and I blog over at The Nosy Pepper. I have always had a passion for fine arts, but I found a love for textiles a few years ago and caught the sewing bug. I'm a self taught sewist and I spend a lot of time bag making, but dabble a little in everything. I have an amazing almost five year old boy who loves for me to make him clothing and "stuff". I know that this will change soon, so I'm trying to enjoy it while I can! I'm so glad you stopped by, and would love for you to have a look around my little corner of the crafty world. I'd love it if yo you would follow on your favorite social media :)

To those of you who are unfamiliar with Stitch it Now, it's a blog and shop by Debbie Cameron. She developed her concept of ready to sew kits and patterns for children's clothes after raising her two boys and realizing how hard it can be to squeeze in that sewing time when you have small children. In her shop you can order a kit and it arrives already to sew, no pattern printing, cutting, or pattern prep. You just order the size you wish to sew and when it arrives you are ready to sew straight away! If you loathe the prep work like me, this is such a fantastic time and sanity saver! 

The Run Jump Hop Skip shorts/pants is the first pattern Debbie is releasing as a stand alone PDF. The pattern is for sizes 1-10 (no size 9) drafted to Australian sizes (so be sure to check your child's measurements!). They are designed to fit comfortably right below the waist, so your child isn't constantly yanking them up or down. My guy is always yanking his pants lower, so this was a perfect pattern for him! They feature a faux fly and elastic waist, so there is no fuss getting them off or on, perfect for toddlers learning how to dress themselves or older kids who don't want to be bothered by a zip and fly. There are pockets on the front and back and it's a perfect pattern for any bottom weight fabrics. The pattern has cutting guides for shorts as well, this is truly a versatile pattern that would be a great addition to your pattern library, you won't want to make just one pair! 





For my pants, I made a size 5 out of a camel corduroy from JoAnn. I found the fabric on sale for 2.50 a yard in the clearance rack...score!  Although I purchased 1.5 yards as the pattern suggests, I still had at least a third of a yard left over, so I could have easily gotten two pairs of shorts from that fabric.  As pattern testers we gave that feedback to Deb so she could alter her fabric requirement chart accordingly.  My son has waist that is somewhere between a 4-5 and super long legs, so a five was perfect for him. I usually have to add length anyway when I make him pants. Had I not left the extra length in, these would have fit him perfectly.






I love Debbie's suggestions about adding detailing to the back pockets...I couldn't get my model to hold still for very long but I did use a decorative stitch across them. I think I want to do that on every pair of pants I make now!








As you can see, I purposefully left these long. It's staying around the 90 degree mark here and the humidity is enough to make you long for a cold beverage and a pool. Considering that, I don't think he will be wearing these pants any time soon. My hope is that they will work for him when he starts school in the fall. If they are still long then, I'll hem them again. I'd rather them be too long than for him to end up in capris ;)

                                                 

These pants came together super quickly! I did all my cutting and sewing in a few hours one evening. It would have been less had I been more confident about the faux fly. I had attempted it a few times in the past but it had never really clicked with me and I usually gave up. Debbie's pattern just made it click for me, and after only a couple incidents of quadruple checking (and no seam ripper...woohoo) I had it done. For my next pair I think that the only changes I will make is to maybe bring the hips in a bit and top stitch the back pockets.

The pattern comes with oodles of helpful tips and for those of you who like checklists, there is a checklist that you can follow with corresponding page numbers as you work through the pattern. It's picture heavy for us visual learners, so a confident beginner could easily tackle this pattern. The results are fantastic and I couldn't be happier at how they turned out. I'm now off to make some shorts. 

Photobombed by the dog




To find out how to purchase your own pair of Run Jump Hop Skip Shorts/Pants be sure to visit Stitch it Now’s post of the pattern release . While you are there make sure you find out how to enter the giveaway, of course there’s a giveaway!  There’s a chance to win your own copy of the pattern, a fabric gift card or your choice of either boy or girl inspired Japanese Echino fabrics. Goodluck!  photo 92050c1f-07eb-4b59-92b7-d2175f6055ed_zpsa8b03590.jpg







2 comments:

Deb Cameron said...

Thanks Cyndi! Can't wait to see what your next sewing adventure will be :-)

Mara said...

You did a fantastic job, my son has the habit of pulling his pants down too and refuses to wear anything unless it is an elastic waistband, I will have to check the pattern out, Thank you.