So how do you choose?
I am going to show you with my oldest son, we’ll call him J, and my daughter, we’ll call her E. Both have very different body types and I use both of the pattern types when sewing for them.
The most important thing when sewing for yourself, your spouse, your second cousin twice removed or your children is to measure them, and measure them accurately. Especially kids they grow inches overnight.
I’m not going to go into detail about how to measure, you can check out this post on how to measure your kiddo, or look in the patterns instructions. My main focus in this post is how to use those measurements to help you choose which pattern pieces to use.
We will start with J and see which pattern pieces we are going to use. First things first we need are his measurements.
Now I am going to look at each size chart and circle where his measurements fall in the two charts.
To make life easier for us we are going to choose which ever size chart there is less to grade, meaning less work for us. For him the obvious choice is the slim. He is tall and skinny, which is exactly the body type the slims are drafted for. It would be silly to use the regular pieces and grade between six different sizes.
Now let's repeat the process for E and see where her measurements fall into.
We are going to do the same thing for E, and circle her measurements on both charts.
Her body type is a lot different than J’s. She is more stout and has a larger hip. But it’s still a no-brainer which one we should use, the regular pattern. There will still be some grading but far less grading than if we used the slim pattern. (You can see her in the Samantha Children’s dress sewing pattern if you want to see her fitting in action)
It can be hard at first to know which pattern to use. The important thing to do is to take your child’s measurements and look at each chart. It is the greatest thing to have clothing that actually fits my kids. The years of buying shirts that were way too big just to get the length for my son is over, and having shirts that fit my daughter is awesome!
Knowing which pattern to use regular or slim is a game-changer in my book.
-- originally authored by Nicole Cook. Archived by Holly Hetzner