[ckcsbella]

I’m going to lengthen the sailboat pants to make a pair of dress pants for my daughter, and I’m just not sure where to lengthen them. Do I lengthen above the knee, below the knee, at the bottom or some combination of the three? I’m leaning towards above or below the knee, but would love input on which would be best.

[beachmom]

There’s a tutorial on the blog: http://www.oliverands.com/blog/2010/02/lengthening-and-shortening-a-pattern.html that’s explains the best way to do it. HTH!

[Kim]

I just made these in a size 2, out of dark denim, lengthened them, they came out great! I live in New Hampshire and it is cold. My granddaughter doesn’t seem to mind the cold, but her legs feel cold after arriving here with her mother. I cannot find socks above the ankle for her so I though about sewing more pants and lining them with a lightweight flannel or something. I’m not sure that my sewing machine will be able to sew the added thickness around the buttonholes.

[ckcsbella]

I just made them! And they’ve turned out really well (all I have left is to hem them, and I want to do it by hand as it’s an italian pin-striped wool.)

If you are worried about sewing all the thickness around the button holes, you could just line to the facing, and not line above it. Alternatively, you could use snaps, or I find that my girls don’t need to unbutton with the elastic, so you could do “faux” buttons. HTH!

[Kim]

Thank you so much.

[Sarvi]

I have a question about lengthening the pants in a size 12m — I get the general concept of where to add the length, but my problem is that in this particular size, there’s not a ton of room between the crotch (apologies, can’t think of a more pleasant word) and the bit that you fold in for the bottom hem (at the ankles). I’m going to wing it for this pair, but would love to hear any tips from you guys.

[Liesl Gibson]

Sarvi, lengthening shorts can be a little tricky. The legs are sometimes shaped differently than for pants, so simply splicing them to lengthen won’t always work. But yes, give it a try and see what happens. I don’t have the pattern in front of me to check, so I can give advice offhand. But I’m sure you can make it work, especially when their little legs are so short and they’re so little.

[Sarvi]

Thanks! I eyeballed it and I think they look pretty good; we’ll see how they sew up. Every time I gear up to sew her a pair of longer pants the weather turns back into summer and I get lazy. Used some leftover fabric from another project, so hopefully I can sort out the kinks in technique and be ready for the next cold snap.