[Anonymous]

Hello, I am just cutting out the pieces for the tea party playsuit for my son. He is a little shortie so I think I’ll need to shorten it for him. I’m never sure how to measure or hold up the pattern pieces for something like this. It’s not clear to me exactly what to do with the crotch part when I hold it up to him. Perhaps if I had a location of the waistline marked on the pattern piece it might help. Liesl, can you tell me where that waistline mark would be located on a size 2T? Any advice is appreciated!

[April Henry]

Not sure if you’ve seen Liesl’s tutorial on this yet, but hopefully this will help until she can answer your waistline question:

http://www.oliverands.com/blog/2010/02/lengthening-and-shortening-a-pattern.html

[Liesl Gibson]

I think this is one of those patterns which would be best altered with a muslin. There is such a variety of sizes and shapes at this age between diapers, growth spurts, etc., and shorts and pants are just trickier to fit as a whole. I would suggest either basting it together and trying it on him or buying an inexpensive fabric and sewing it together without the lining at the yoke to save time. You’ll be much happier with the result, I can almost guarantee.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, Liesl. I was kind of thinking that would be the way to go. I’ll definitely do it that way.