[cybele727]

I am so confused about what size to pick for my son for the pants.

He’s 7. He’s not particularly fat or skinny. He’s just normal, even on the charts… good old 50%.

Size 7 in RTW he swims in. The size 6 is a bit tight in the waist and a touch short. Basically, he’s spot on for size/age in most RTW for pants.

Anyway…. His waist is a 25. When I look at at the size chart a 25 inch waist is a size 12! NO WAY!!!

The finished waist size of a 7 (fully extended) is 28.25 inches. The finished waist size of a 12 is over 30 inches.

I am so confused. If I follow his waist measurement I should be making a 12. But is there really 5 inches of ease in the waist??

Can someone explain this? Is there a sizing typo?

Jenny

[meleliza]

My 7 year old son is 23″ in the waist, but wears size 10-12 rtw, so I understand your confusion. However, the back is elastic, so fully extended, the pants would seem like they had a lot of ease. In fact, if you can see past the really busy fabric on the envelope cover, you’ll notice that they do display a good amount of ease. I’m thinking that nice men’s dress trousers do, in fact, have a lot more ease than were used to seeing in the current skinny- jean world. I imagine Liesl will chime in on this question during the business week.

I’m also wondering if you measured him at the actual waist? And not over other pants, right? Sorry if that’s a dumb thing to ask, I know you’re not a newbie, but my kid is like enormous for his age, 54″ tall and wearing size 10 pants from the store (still not long enough) and his waist is only 23″. And his hips are 26″.

[Sarvi]

I was coming to post the same thing as meleliza — the finished measurements must be before adding the elastic, since different people will use elastic with differing amounts of stretch, and will be cutting it to varying lengths to fit different kids. I hadn’t thought about there being more ease in pants styled more like men’s chinos or dress trousers, but I can definitely see that.

[Jennifer1568]

I have made this pattern twice. My daughter is a tall size 7. Her waist is 221/2 inches and her hips are 25 inches. She is 52 inches tall. I made a size 7 and there was plenty of ease particularly in the rise and front. panel. This pattern is cut really long. If you look at the samples, the trousers drape over shoes. For the second pair I made a size 6 into shorts. They are pretty snug. They won’t fit her next year. I want a tight fit for the look that I am going for, though. The reason the finished waist measurement is large is because the elastic waist cinches it up. I was worried about the fit so I made my first pair with inexpensive fabric. They turned out really cute and I love them. The back and the welt pocket are what I like. I am going to make a third pair this week and I will use the size 7 traced pattern again. I think you should use the pattern size that is recommended when you plug the child’s measurements into the size chart.

[Nicole]

I make my grown up son trousers for school and they have a lot ease through the bottom that is not there when I make his jeans.

I often fall back on Cindy’s tried and true method of placing the pattern pieces against my child.

I find that gives a pretty true indication.

[Jennifer1568]

Nicole, is the difference in fit between school trousers and jeans a result of the fabric? Is it because the jeans fabric is a little stretchy?

[Liesl Gibson]

Hey everyone,

There is quite a bit of ease in this pattern. The finished measurement chart for this pattern indicates the trouser waist fully extended, which means the waist without the elastic. This measurement is mostly useful for whether it will fit over the hips, since there isn’t a huge difference between waist and hip on this pattern (mostly the back darts, which are small). This isn’t a “skinny pant”–it’s more classic and easy fitting so kids can move without any restrictions. If you’re looking for a slimmer fit you could absolutely size down as needed.

With regard to length, when we polled our testers and informal “advisory committee,” the consensus was that everyone preferred the pants length to be on the long side, since you can always shorten as needed. Kids heights vary so much! Our photo shoot models were on the smaller side of the size range, so the pants are long on them, but use your own judgement with regard to proper length on the pants. I know many of you prefer to sew pants and dresses a bit on the long side, since they grow so quickly. And having seen how S outgrew ALL her pants lengths over the summer, I tend to agree with sewing them a bit longso they can get some wear out of the clothes before outgrowing them.

Does that help? I hope so!

[cybele727]

Thanks. Ok, so there really *is* 5 inches of ease in the waist, when fully extended (sans elastic). So the hip measurement is really the most relevant for purposes of ease in the waist, so long as the waist isn’t larger than the hips.

I think I will remeasure the waist just to make sure and then I will probably use the lay the pattern out on the body part. Oh the torture of making a 7 y/o boy stand stock still for all of 60 seconds! LOL. Maybe I should save it for a punitive moment. Get over here you young whippersnapper. I need to measure you! Don’t move! (Boy sighs, “again, mommy.”) 😉

And I do agree… I love extra length. My darling afterschool pants just had their hems ripped out to be lowered, so I can get another season out of them. My hopscotch dresses are now tunics with leggings. I prefer 2 seasons/years of wear if I can get it. Especially the things I adore, like my afterschool pants which are tres cute, and the only pants she wears!

Thankfully my kids grow slowly, but I * am* only 5 feet tall, so that is to be expected. 🙂

[cybele727]

Ha! I remeasured. Little bugger must have been wiggling at the time. Shocker… 7 y/o boy wiggles while standing “still” mother gets wrong measurements. Stop the presses!

The waist is 23.25 (between a 7 and 8) and his hip is 25 (size 5). He’s a little solid rectangle. I will probably make the 7 b/c the 8 will have way too much ease, I think. I will still hold the pattern up to him, though.

From waist to floor, his outseam is 27 inches. (Liesl– we measure outseam from waist down to where we want the hem to hit, right??)

[Nicole]

No Jennifer, it definitely the cut of the pattern. His school trousers have a fuller seat and darts and pleats.

Its so much fabric to sew!

I always long for something tiny to sew after making them.

[cybele727]

I am all sad that I don’t have tiny things anymore. 🙁 But alas, another new frontier of sewing… satisfying the sartorial terrorist my daughter has become.

[Nicole]

One word Cybele, compromise.

I ‘fought’ my older girls over choices but now I have learnt to work with them.

Elsa wants me to make her some lace shorts which look like pj bottoms to me, but they are neat and (reasonably) practical and much nicer the denim cut offs.

Then again, I have not actually made them yet….

Sorry to go off topic!

xx Nicole

[cybele727]

I am good with that. I give choices. But I choose the limits and they choose within. We are not near the point where they push my limits!

Ms Sassy is a wee terrorist. I was wearing a poly shirt and pant uniform and my daughter saw it for the first time. She said, “oh no mommy. Das ugly. You go take dat off, right now! Das unacceptable. You go find pretty to wear.”

My sister almost dropped on the floor in laughter. It was shocking, this vehement reaction to an admittedly ugly outfit.

[needlewoman]

Oh Cybele, your kidlets are wonderful – I’ll be very interested re the fit of the trousers as I am very inexperienced in making proper trousers. Thank you all for the really useful info abt the difference between jeans, and good trousers. I’ve seen a lovely self stripe in wool/cotton/polyester that would be great for some smart grown up trousers for some 3-9 yr olds I know.

[Tamara]

It is nice to know about the amount of ease in different patterns, especially since you “think” they will naturally fit just because the others in that particular size have also. I made this pair in a size ten and then were slightly snug in the groin area. I was interpreting a d expecting them to be of a similar fit to that of the field trip. Alas they weren’t and I am still yet to sit and analyse what exactly went askew.

I don’t normally measure my child for every item I sew him if I have just measured him for the previous. I also think that looking him today he has become a little more solid in recent months so maybe he has slowed in growth and I need to accommodate for that.

I plan to try again, when I have the chance and sit down and really nut out where I went wrong and hopefully have better success next time. It isn’t a common occurrence where a mishap of this degree happens with Liesl’s patterns but when it does it hurts somewhat and a solution is sought after.

The ultimate goal is to use this to cheat with the winter school uniform so it has to be rectified somehow.