When Megan Nielsen announced her line of “Mini” patterns for kids, I was super excited! I immediately signed up for testing, and tested the Mini Virginia Leggings. One thing I particularly love about the new patterns is the size range. Now that my oldest daughter is a, um, “tween”, she’s outsized of most kids patterns. These patterns make it up to a size 12, so they’ll cover all three of my girls for now. For testing, I made the larger size for my oldest daughter. I prefer to make a straight size (unaltered) for testing purposes, and really I made them a size too big and ended up taking them in significantly. In retrospect, my fabric was also a bit too stretchy, so unfortunately my test wasn’t the most accurate representation of the pattern. Regardless, she wears them all the time even if the fit is a little off.
I still wanted to give the pattern another shot, so the other day I made up a pair for my youngest daughter, Isabella, who is 8. She’s itty bitty for her age, so I always run into the problem of her clothes being way too wide, or way too short. Also, being the third girl in line, her clothes are practically in rags by the time they make it to her closet! Basically, the leggings situation for her was dire. Her waist puts her in a size 4/5, but her height is in the 6/7 range. To accommodate, I traced off a 4/5, but added length to the rise and legs to correspond to the 6/7.
This sizing alteration worked out perfectly, and she is so very happy with them! The fabric I used is a nice thick cotton spandex that was leftover from an older project. Since my machines were all out and threaded, I quickly made her a second pair in grey, also from leftover fabric. I suspect more requests for leggings will be rolling in, as daughter no. 2 was giving me serious side eye for making Izzie not just one, but two new pairs of leggings.
Oh, and let’s not forget this tee… more scrap busting here! I found a large-ish scrap of this fabric in one of my bins, and I was able to just squeeze out a Briar Tee. Bonus points that it matches both pairs of leggings! I was on limited fabric yardage here, so I went with the longer variation, but cut it shorter by a size (6/7, cut to a 4/5 in length). I think this worked out really well, and she is absolutely in love with it. My girls really love the longer back hemline, so… more requests have been made. Isabella wore this outfit to school the very next day and bragged on it to her friends who were totes impressed that I made a tee shirt and two pairs of leggings in one afternoon.
So far, these patterns are huge winners in this household. I love them, my kids love them… there will be many repeats!
Mini Tania Culottes | Mini Briar Sweater and Tee | Mini Virginia Leggings | Mini Wardrobe Pack
—lisa g.
Disclosure: I was a tester for the Mini Virginia Leggings, and received the whole trio of finished patterns gratis. No blogging required, but hello! They’re adorable and I would have shared anyway.
Lisa, hear are so cute! How fun for Izzie to have a great new outfit! I tested the mini Tania culottes, which were so fun to see and turned out adorable. I can’t wait until my girl is big enough to fit into the smallest size on these patterns! I’ve got another year to go, I think.
I can’t type– that should have said these are so cute. Not hear are so cute. Ugh.
Believe me, she was super excited to receive it! And I can’t wait to make up the Tanias, such a nice alternative to a regular skirt.
Really cute outfit!
Thank you!
This is the same issue for all my kids. Thin and loooong . . .
Yes, you definitely understand! At least we can sew 🙂
What a great outfit! Izzie shares my oldest daughter’s measurements – I can never sew anything in a straight pattern size!!
I used to not bother about altering their patterns much, but if I’m going to take the time to sew for them, I may as well do it right. It’s nice seeing them in clothes that actually suit their proportions!
I always used to love making the kids’ clothes. They were simpler, didn’t take as much time, and looked so cute… like this outfit. Although I guess if your daughter is in her ‘tweens she doesn’t want to be known as “cute”?
Shorter seams make for quicker sewing, that’s for sure! For my oldest daughter, no, she is not into “cute”! Fortunately the Briar and the leggings will still work for her–it’s really a matter of fabric choice.
Super cute! I’ve got a taller skinny one too; and probably should’ve gone with a smaller size with length added, but hey it’ll last her longer. 😉 Love the fabrics you used!
These are fitted enough that I could have gotten away with a straight size, but her waist was right at the very bottom of the range for the 4/5. Anyway, I love these patterns. Thank you!
What a great outfit! This just seems like such a wearable pattern collection for kids… totally fabulous!
They are! Fun and practical kids wear patterns are a good investment. Thank you!
So cute!! I can totally see these all being staples in your daughters’ wardrobes!
Thank you! I’ve got my fingers crossed for a mini Darling Ranges next… that would be too cute!