How to Sew Tights for kids
Updated: Mar 17
Sewing tights for kids is so much fun! First of all, it's creative. You can select any stretchy fabric you want, and really make the tights of your dreams. It's challenging and very rewarding, even for beginners. Tights are a versatile garment. You can use tights for almost any occasion. You can use this guide for any age. The procedure is the same. If you don't have any tights sewing pattern you can scroll to the bottom of the page to buy our pattern.
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What equipment do we need?
We need a cutter, clips or pins, Gluepen, and a ruler. We
do also need fabric and elastic braid.
We will make these tights stretchy, so we use a jersey fabric and an elastic braid in the waist.
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Cutting and Preparing the fabric
We like to do as much as we can before sewing the garment together. It will make the steps easier, and it will leave a better result.
Step 1 - Cutting:
The Happy-Sewing Tights have two pattern pieces, one for each leg.
We fold the fabric and cut them bout at once.
You can click on the images if you want to get a better look at the cutting. I use a rotary cutter because it's much easier than using scissors.
Step 2 - Folding:
We are folding the tights at the bottom.
Fold the tights at the bottom is important because it will give a nicer line and keep the fabric from ripping. I fold it around 2-3 cm on both pieces. I sew the fold with a Baby lock cover stitch machine. But you can use any machines you like. I recommend using a stretch seam.
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Sewing the pieces together
With all the cutting and folding done, we can finally start sewing the pieces together. We start with the crotch seam and then the inner seams.
Step 1 - The crotch Seam:
We place the pieces together at the crotch where they overlap with around 0,5 to 2 cm. I make this seam inside the tights because we don't want it to be visible. I used glue at the start and endpoint of the seam to make sure that it's perfectly aligned.
We then apply clips.
Step 2 - The Back Seam
We then repeat this procedure on the back seam. We place the two mirrored pieces on top of each other. You can click on the image to the left to see what it should look like. We then apply glue and clips, as we did on the crotch seam. we sew this seam before we do the sideseam
We can sew these seams with any sewing machines. I sew this seam with an overlocker/serger, So I recommend an overlock seam or a false overlock seam. I used a Brother 4234D.
Step 3 - The Inner seam
When the crotch and back seams are finished, we can do the inner seam. We do this systematically to avoid and folds or dents in the tights. Start from the bottom of the leg and work ourselves around to the bottom of the other leg. We align it and apply clips. If you have the option to use glue, I recommend using it. I apply some glue at the start, in the middle, and at the end of the inner seam. We can sew the Inner seam with any sewing machine. But again, I'm using the Brother 4234D Serger.
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The waistband
The tights are almost done, But we have to add an elastic waistband. If you have the option I recommend that you select the length of the waistband yourself. I recommend that you measure the waist of the user and subtract 2 cm.
I then secure the waistband by stitching, I recommend that you use a normal sewing machine. I then place the waistband inside the tights and apply clips. Sew it with zigzag stitches.
The next step is folding the waist to hide the waistband, and sew around it one more time.
The tights are finished when you have removed any loose threadings.
I hope that this tutorial was useful. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comment section below. We do also have a chat function you can use.
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