Standard Measurements for Kids Clothes

Ta Da! I'm finally ready (maybe) to get things started on a series that I'm really excited about. I know most of you who make clothes for your children already know how to trace an existing piece of clothing to make a pattern. The problem is that not every size 3 is actually the same size, and most of the time I imagine you would want to make a copy of something because your kid has outgrown the garment. Then knowing how much to add to make a new one can be a pain in the tush.

So, for anyone who is interested, I'm going to show you how to draft patterns to specifically fit your child. You can use the standard measurements from the chart below, or take your child's measurements and plug them into the table. Once you have the 3 basic patterns adjusted to fit your little one, then I'll show you how to customize them for almost any style pattern you can imagine! 

Here's an example: 

Once you have a pattern for this...

You can very easily make any of these...

I know it may sound a bit difficult, but it's really not! To me it's kind of like putting a piece of Ikea furniture together. There are a lot of connect A-B and E-G type of instructions, but with a ruler and pencil instead of wood and screws.

Here's the chart I'll be working from. Feel free to copy and print out the image. It will make following along a bit easier later if you don't have to flip back and forth between different pages. I wish I had enough info to give you the 2T numbers, but I really can't find them anywhere! Sorry. If you are trying to make clothes for someone that is size 2T/24 months you can either take the measurements for that child, or make a 3T pattern and shrink it down when we get to the fitting stage. That is up to you. Before you start anything though, I would check at least the chest, waist, and hip measurements on the chart to make sure that they are close to your child's size. 

**If you are planning to take your child's exact measurements, but don't know where to start, don't worry. I'll show you how each measurement is taken when we come to it in the pattern-making process. You'll only need a hand-full of numbers to make each pattern, not the whole chart.**

So grab a tape measure and sharpen your pencils. By the time this is over, you should be able to make a pattern for almost any kids outfit you can come up with! (Or knock-off that outfit you've been drooling over, but know you'd never really spend that much on ; )