Knit Baby and Toddler Leggings | Video Tutorial

What’s adorable, uses only a quarter yard of fabric, and sews up in under an hour? These knit baby leggings! We can’t get over them. These things are as easy to make as they are cute (and they’re really cute).  Join Spoonflower friend and contributor Anda Corrie as she walks you through these DIY knit leggings, available in sizes 6 months – 5T, and bookmark this page–you’ll definitely want to make more than one pair. More of an audio/visual learner? Skip down to the bottom of the post and check out the step-by-step video with Spoonflower team member Meredith. Let’s get started! 

Luxe Chevron in Mint, Coral and Gold Dust by Willowlanetextiles

Anda: Let’s make baby leggings! First, you want a stretchy fabric. I’m obsessed with Spoonflower’s Organic Cotton knit at the moment— it’s super soft, a little thicker than many jersey knits, and I find it makes awesome baby clothes. There are many different knits available at Spoonflower, so choose the knit fabric that’s right for you. The pattern I’ve included for download is for size 6m. If you have a favorite pair of leggings that already fit your child, try folding them in half like the pattern demonstrates and tracing them instead. It will be hard to make any sizes larger than 9m with a fat quarter, however, so be sure to check your leggings size when ordering your fabric.

Materials:

• Leggings pattern*
  • 6 months
  • 2T-5T
• Your favorite knit fabric – we’re using Organic Cotton Knit
  • One fat quarter for size 6 months
  • One yard for sizes 2T-5T
• Matching thread (polyester or cotton will both work fine)
• 17.5” of ¾” wide elastic
• Scissors
• Pins
• A sewing machine!

*Be sure to print out both pages of the leggings pattern and tape together the top and bottom portion of the leggings before starting.*

Lay the fabric out and fold each end inwards like shown. Pin the pattern piece in place along the fold and cut out our fabric. Repeat for the other side of the fabric.

From the remaining fabric in the center, cut two rectangles. The stretch of your fabric should be going across the width of your cuff and your rectangle should be 6.25” wide and 4” tall.

Open up the pattern pieces and place with right sides facing. The wider edge is the waistband. Pin from sides of waist to where the fabric makes a point and sew with a straight stitch and a 1/2″ seam allowance.

Next, open up the pants so the seams you’ve just sewn are now in the center instead of on the sides. They should resemble baby leggings at this point. Line up the legs as shown, pin, and sew along the inseam.

Turn leggings right side out. Fold about ¼ – ½” of the waistband over and straight stitch around the top.

I like to stitch the elastic directly to the back of the leggings to keep it in place.  After doing this, fold over about 1” of fabric around the elastic and stitch. Be careful not to catch the elastic as you go! 

Straight stitch along the short end of each 4″ x 6.25” rectangle, making two little tubes. Fold them in half and then put them over the bottom of each pant leg, with raw seams all together. 

Zig zag stitch around raw seams, turn right side out and you’re all done. Now you’ve got a perfect, snuggly pair of leggings for your little one. Stitch up a few more in coordinating colors, or sew one and gift to a friend!

Don’t stop at just leggings! Create the perfect toddler tee in under an hour with this step by step tutorial.

About Our Guest Blogger

Anda Lewis Corrie is an illustrator, designer and artist living in Berlin with her little family. She likes sharing ideas, seasonal cocktails, drawing on every surface that can be drawn on, and she takes too many vacations.