Kids' Hiking Gaiters Pattern

If you follow my blog or my social media feeds (or if you know me personally!), you know that I love spending time with my family, especially if we get to be out in nature!  You will also be very aware that I like to sew, especially when I get to use original creative thought in the process!

This Kids' Hiking Gaiters project has been a perfect marriage of my love of outdoor adventuring and creative sewing! 

WHY GAITERS? 

If the trail is muddy, dusty, rocky, wet, or snowy, gaiters are a hiker's best friend. They keep unwanted pebbles, dirt, ice, and anything else on the trail out of your boots. They add an extra layer of protection for your legs from thorns and scratchy underbrush.  No more frayed pants legs and scratched up shins! And if there is 2 feet of snow?? No problem!!

My husband and I have been working on fully outfitting our family for backpacking trips over the past 3 years. It has been a learning process that has taken time, research, money, and experience.  We have bought nice hiking gaiters for 4 of the 6 of us--the 4 who could wear adult-sized gaiters. However, child-sized gaiters are much harder to find. We wanted them to be as rugged as adult gaiters, but we needed them to fit our kids. So I told my husband I would design some.  I am SUPER excited about these. I used the pattern to make two pairs of gaiters for my kids, and it worked beautifully.

I designed these to be sewn using a standard home-use sewing machine. No industrial machine is needed. 

I have listed this pattern and tutorial, which includes a printable PDF of the pattern and an illustrated, step-by-step tutorial, on Etsy for an introductory price of $2.00 USD:

Kids' Hiking Gaiters Pattern

As an extra help for anyone making these, I am sharing here some places you can buy the materials to make these. Many standard fabric stores don't carry the sport utility fabrics required, but they can be found!

Here are some of my sources: 

• FOR ONE-STOP SHOPPING: If you live in the Seattle area, Seattle Fabrics in Freemont is an excellent source for any and all the outdoor fabrics and sewing notions you will need.  I guess that is a bonus to having Outdoor Research and REI headquartered here. If you don't live here, no worries, Amazon (also headquartered here) ships everywhere and has many excellent outdoor fabric and notion deals.
• PACK CLOTH :  Amazon has some great deals on this tough, water-resistant fabric. It is what your child's backpack is made of and makes excellent gaiters. (And my daughter would have LOVED that hot-pink option! Too bad I just found it!)

• IRONING BOARD FABRIC:  I found this versatile fabric at Joann's. Although it contains cotton (which we generally avoid with outdoor gear), it has aluminum woven into the surface making it very tough and water resistant. It also won't melt if a hot ember lands on it (which can't be said of any of the nylon fabrics!).  In my gaiters pattern, I double up this fabric to give added stability to the gaiter. 
• RIPSTOP NYLON:  Many fabric stores are starting to carry a limited supply of ripstop nylon. Not all ripstop is created equal. If you are wanting to use it for the main body of the gaiters, I suggested holding out to find a heavier, coated ripstop so it will be water resistant.  Amazon has some--but be sure to read the reviews; some say they are water resistant but do not have a polyurethane coating.  For the front panels of the gaiters, an uncoated ripstop would be fine. 

• LADDER LOCK SLIDER BUCKLES and WEBBING: You might find these at your fabric store, but be careful of the quality.  You want webbing and buckles that can hold up to abuse since these will be right at the base of the boot. They will undoubtedly be scratched by rocks, get caked in dirt and mud, and get very wet.  Again, Amazon is a good source, but read reviews and go for the branded options.  Often REI and other outdoor outfitters will carry these where you buy rock climbing gear if you don't want to buy the large quantities offered on Amazon.

• COAT HOOKS: These can be found at fabric stores. They will come as "Coat Hook and Eyes." You'll only need the hooks for this. You can also order them on Amazon.  Be sure to get them large enough to hook around a shoe lace (there are some tiny hook and eye sets out there). 
  

• 1.5 INCH VELCRO: When designing these gaiters, I ALMOST went with a 3/4" Velcro. That was my original plan. Then as the design went forward, I realized that if I wanted my kids' gaiters to be as tough as the adults', they needed the fat, tough Velcro.  Call your fabric store before driving there to just buy this. It is not as in-demand as smaller width options and so isn't always carried. For me, it was cheaper to just order it than spend the gas to go searching. I bought this Country Brook Hook and Loop Velcro. It is EXCELLENT. No regrets on this purchase.

I snapped the photo above while making my kids' gaiters, testing out my original design. It was truly a rewarding process--knowing I was making something useful to my family, and that I could share for others to use.
If you get the pattern download, I'd love to hear about your experience making and using the gaiters! And of course, I love hearing about any family adventures on the trails!


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Lace-Trimmed High-Waisted Skirt Tutorial

I saw a pin for this skirt from Mod Cloth on Pinterest a while back, and have been on the lookout for fabric to make my own version.  I found this silk-blend fabric on the discount table at JoAnn's a few weeks ago. It is completely opaque, but not too heavy. It has beautiful sheen and subtle embroidered detail. I think it was probably a decorator fabric, but I decided it would be perfect for my lace-trim skirt! I bought 2 yards as well as some wide lace and a zipper to match. 

After cutting out mine, I saw that I had enough left to also do a matching skirt for my daughter! Yay! 

I only have one daughter, so you had better believe I am "that mom" who matches her as long as she'll allow me!

Now on to the tutorial!

1. Cut your fabric and lace.  Two yards of fabric made my skirt and my daughter's with about 1/4 yard to spare. I wear a Women's size 6, and my daughter wears size 5T. 

To determine your measurements for cutting:

• Waistband-- Women's: Waist size + 1 inch (length) by 8 inches (width) (Waistband is folded lengthwise in picture.)  Girls': Waist size + 1 inch (length) by 5 inches (width).
• Skirt body--Women's and Girls':  Waist size (or more for a fuller skirt) wide by measurement of bellybutton to kneecap length (Cut 2). 
• Wide flat lace in same measurement as skirt body width

2. You'll also need corresponding thread, 9" zipper for Woman's skirt/ 4-6" for girl's, satin ribbon for belt (optional, not pictured here). 

3. Iron 1/2 inch fold around wrong side of entire waistband. Fold in half (wrong sides together) and press. 

4. Make sure each end of the band is the same width. These two ends will be almost touching in the finished product, so they need to be identical.  Set waistband aside.

5. Sew body of skirt together on one side (right sides together). If using a regular sewing machine, iron the seam allowance open. If using a serger, iron along inside of seam.

6. Lay out waistband. Line up the unsewn edge of the skirt body with one edge of the waistband. Overlap 1/2 inch of the top of the skirt body on the inside of the waist band as shown. Lay out the zipper next to it, lining up the zipper pull with the top of the waistband.

7. Mark the bottom of the zipper on the skirt body with a pin. 

8. With right sides together, sew the other side of the skirt body together (RST), stopping at the pin. Iron 1/4 inch down along the un-sewn remaining edge of the skirt body as shown.

9. Iron the hem.  I was able to use the factory-finished edge for the hem of my skirt, so one fold is sufficient. If your edge is not factory-finished, iron a 1/2 inch hem, then iron one more 1 inch fold. I realized that my lace could be sewn in conjunction with sewing my hem (as you can see). If this will work for your lace, skip to the next step. If not, pin your hem in place and sew a top stitch around the entire hem of the skirt body.

10. Begin pinning lace on to the hem at one of the seams. Continue pinning in place around the body of the skirt. Finish with a 1/2" overlap.  

Part of what gives this skirt its striking appearance is the lace that falls below the hemline. Choose your lace and your placement of it on the skirt's edge with this in mind.

11. Begin sewing the lace with a zig-zag stitch across the overlapping portion of the lace.  Sew a straight stitch across the entire circumference of the lace in two places--one near the top of the lace and one near the base of the skirt. 

12. Sew two gathering stitches around the top of the skirt body. Pull the bobbin (underside) thread to gather the skirt to the same width as the waistband. 

13. Line up the center of the skirt body (the closed seam side) with the center of the waistband. Adjust the gathers to be equal on each side. Lay the gathered top edge of the skirt body inside the folded waistband (about 1/2") and pin in place. Many pins in this step mean a nicer finished product, so don't  hesitate to use a bunch!

Sew a top stitch just inside the bottom edge of the waistband to secure the skirt in place. Leave 1 inch open at each end of the waistband and skirt for the zipper.

14. Place zipper between the folds of the waistband, but under the skirt body as shown.

15. Pin in place, then sew a top-stitch using a zipper foot. (This is my daughter's tiny skirt--hence the tiny zipper and giant-looking pins!)

16. Add the satin ribbon (if desired), and you are done! These are our Easter skirts, but I plan to use them year round! 

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