Sewing

Rainbow Lego Shorts

October 24, 2013

Rainbow Lego Shorts by Craftstorming

Hello! It’s Kid’s Clothes Week this week so I thought now was as good a time as any to show you some shorts I finished during the last KCW! It’s not exactly shorts weather here anymore but I am sure those of you in the Southern Hemisphere will appreciate some summer clothes.

Rainbow Lego Shorts by Craftstorming - Collage 1

I bought this amazing Lego fabric from Miss Matabi back in March 2012. I’ve bought a few other things from Frances since and she has the best fabric selection. This print is by Push Pin for Kokka and was made in Japan. I love all the random quirky details on it – the photo below shows my favourite bit where it says “Hello, my friend!”. Unfortunately it’s no longer available to buy anywhere (I think I got the last of it) – which made me feel some pressure to make something amazing with it.

Hello, my friend!

In the end an upcoming trip to Legoland motivated me to cut into the fabric. I was planning to make a pair of shorts for both my boys but the trip was brought forward by a few days and instead I hastily tried to sew Casper’s pair the night before we were leaving. The other fabrics I used came from a rainbow set of fat quarters I bought a while ago. We’ve got every colour of the rainbow in there for the different pockets, waistband and topstitching.

The pattern is the Field Trip Cargo Pants from Oliver + S, which also includes a raglan T-shirt pattern. I wanted something with a lot of extra features and the cargo pockets, belt loops and back pockets were perfect for what I had in mind. I thought Lego shorts should have plenty of pockets to store lego in. The pattern also has articulated knees and pieced front and back legs. I just left those out though as I thought the fabric was busy enough already. I lengthened the top leg pieces to what I thought would be long shorts but they turned out almost like short trousers. At least they should last a while and I also think Rowan might be able to wear them as trousers through the winter!

Rainbow Lego Shorts by Craftstorming - cargo pockets

This is a great pattern but not a particularly fast sew – especially if you decide to use several different colours for the details and change thread to match every one. I also added two rows of topstitching everywhere I could – all in different colours as well. I stitched down the sides at the top of each pocket to help keep them in place and if I make them again I’d either add buttons or velcro to help them to stay closed. I continued with the multi-colours for the waistband facing and also adjusted the waistband finish so that it’s adjustable – you can see my tutorial for how I do it here.

Rainbow Lego Shorts by Craftstorming - waistband

Sadly the shorts took a lot longer than I hoped and didn’t make it to Legoland but they have had a lot of wear since. We had a lot of fun with the photo shoot and found a lot of great props.

Rainbow Lego shorts by Craftstorming - back view

So are you taking part in KCW? I’m working on some skinny jeans now but I’m taking step by step photos for the pattern tutorial so it will slow me down a bit. I’ll show you them later in the week, even if it’s just some in progress shots. What have you managed to sew so far?

Rainbow Lego Shorts by Craftstorming - collage 2

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11 Comments

  • Reply Toni-Maree October 24, 2013 at 9:25 pm

    Haha I love all these pictures! Those big blocks are awesome. I can see why the shorts took a while, so many different fabrics. Love them!!

  • Reply Inder October 24, 2013 at 11:45 pm

    Ooh! these are fantastic! Lego shorts! I love what you’ve done with the Field Trip pattern here, and when I was making mine recently, I was actually thinking, these *should* have buttonhole elastic and an adjustable waist, but I’m not sure how I’d do it … TA DA! Well, there it is. I actually think I made the elastic too tight on Joe’s and I should go back and fix them, and while I’m at it, make them adjustable.

  • Reply Olga Becker October 25, 2013 at 12:13 am

    Such cute fabric! My son would love shorts like that!

  • Reply abby @ thingsforboys October 25, 2013 at 2:58 am

    These look great! Definitely worth the wait to see them. I’m sure they’d be Roman’s first pick out of the dresser too. I haven’t got much done at all this week. I made one outfit for a birthday gift but that’s it. Some things cut and ready to sew, just no time to get them done. I think I forgot how much attention a baby needs 😉

  • Reply Hilary October 25, 2013 at 4:18 am

    These are adorable 🙂

  • Reply Mie @ Sewing Like Mad October 26, 2013 at 5:08 pm

    As a Danes these shorts obviously makes me really really happy. And as a seamstress I am so happy to see how well made they are, haha.
    Great job Laura. Love the photo shoot and graphics too btw…okay, this is basically perfect 😉

  • Reply Celina October 26, 2013 at 7:40 pm

    Hello my friend! There is no way I am showing these to misterM! You always impress me with your attention to details and you impeccable sewing. Totally jealous!

  • Reply Max October 27, 2013 at 12:06 am

    Amazing!! Vincent would flip bricks to have a pair of these! Lego AND rainbow coloured! So good 😀

  • Reply Suz October 27, 2013 at 11:36 am

    How totally awesome!!! I bet these will be favourites:)

  • Reply Jane October 28, 2013 at 2:24 am

    Those shorts are AMAZING. My little boy (7) would love them. Great job and you can totally see all the extra work (hours!) involved.

  • Reply Lightning McStitch October 29, 2013 at 10:31 am

    Lucky you, what a fabric find! Great shorts. There are some awesome LEGO fabrics on Spoonflower (www.spoonflower.com) but this is really cute.

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