• Toddlers: round tummy, little or no waist, short legs, deep back curve. Patterns need more front rise over the tummy, more back rise, and room for a nappy until about 3.
• Children (3–8): legs grow faster than the body. The tummy flattens slowly; the waist and hip stay close (about 4 in, 10 cm, apart at 7–8 years in our example).
• Pre-teens (9–12): long and narrow, with the hip starting to pull away from the waist, earlier in many girls.
• Teens: adult proportions arrive at different ages; use the women’s or men’s block with teen measurements.

See Module 3, Babies and toddlers and Children, pre-teens and teens, for fit and growth room.

Total ease is only half the story; where it sits matters as much.

• Back more than front. The block gives the back 1 in (2.5 cm) more width than the front at the hip, because the seat needs room to sit.
• Crotch before side seam. A trouser that restricts the stride needs room at the crotch curve and inner thigh, not at the side seam.
• Thigh separately. Check thigh ease (at least 2–3 in, 5–7.5 cm, in a woven trouser) on the pattern at the crotch line; it is often where a slim draft fails.
• Children’s ease goes to the seat and knees, where they crawl, squat and climb.

1. Size children by height, then check waist and hip.
2. Measure a favourite trouser to find the ease a person likes; it beats any table.
3. Use a hip-to-hem “ease check”: lay the pattern pieces together and measure front plus back at hip, thigh, knee and hem.
4. Thin, soft cloth needs less ease than stiff cloth for the same comfort.
5. Linings take up ease; add 1/4–1/2 in (6–13 mm) at the hip for a lined trouser.
6. Heel-to-instep sets the narrowest hem without an opening; record it.
7. Professionals write the ease on the pattern beside each line, so the next person knows what was intended.
8. Elastic waists need the pattern waist to pass over the hip: top of the trouser at least hip plus 2 in (5 cm).
9. For growing children, add ease at the hip and rise rather than buying two sizes up.
10. Teens often like trends (wide or baggy) that need more design ease than you would choose; ask first.

Child’s trousers fit around but are too short

Cause: sized by age; a tall child for their age.

1. Use the height band, then check the waist.
2. Lengthen the leg pattern at the knee.
3. Prevention: measure height every time.

Fitted at the hip but too tight to sit

Cause: too little hip or crotch ease for a woven fabric.

1. Let out the back crotch and centre back.
2. Use a fabric with a little stretch.
3. Prevention: keep at least 2 in (5 cm) hip ease in wovens.

Palazzo looks like a straight trouser

Cause: not enough design ease at the hem, or a stiff fabric.

1. Slash and spread the leg for more hem width (see From the block: palazzo, harem, culotte and jogger).
2. Choose a softer, drapier fabric.
3. Prevention: check hem width against the ease table.

Foot will not go through the hem

Cause: hem narrower than the heel-to-instep loop.

1. Add a side-hem slit or a zip.
2. Widen the hem to the heel-to-instep plus 1/2 in (1.3 cm).
3. Prevention: record heel-to-instep for every tapered style.

Leggings go see-through at the seat

Cause: too much negative ease for the fabric.

1. Reduce negative ease.
2. Choose a heavier, better-recovering knit.
3. Prevention: test the fabric’s stretch before drafting.

Pleated trouser pleats gape open

Cause: not enough hip ease behind the pleats.

1. Let out the side seams at the hip.
2. Reduce pleat depth.
3. Prevention: 3–4 in (7.5–10 cm) hip ease plus the pleats.

Teen girl between children’s and women’s charts

Cause: adult proportions arriving.

1. Draft from her own measurements with the women’s block.
2. Use the children’s length with women’s hip.
3. Prevention: from about 11, always measure, never chart.

• Adding ease twice: once to the measurement and again to the pattern.
• Same ease for every fabric. Stiff denim and soft rayon need different amounts.
• Myth: “More ease is always more comfortable.” Too much at the crotch drags and bags.
• Myth: “Children’s sizes are standard.” They are as varied as adult sizes.

1. Easy: place three children you know on the chart by height; check their waist against it.
2. Medium: measure four trousers of different styles and find their hip and hem ease on a body you know.
3. Medium: fill an ease table for your own favourite trousers.
4. Hard: choose a style and fabric and write the full ease plan (waist, hip, thigh, knee, hem) before drafting.

As a hobby: an ease table for your own body is the most useful page in your sewing notebook.

For earning: school-uniform and festive children’s wear come in waves. A clear height chart for your studio speeds up every order.

For teaching: the ease ladder drawing is a good first class on style: one body, eight trousers, the same numbers changing.

• Children’s figures are typical working values, rounded; real charts (and Indian children) vary widely. Check against a brand or school chart where one is required.
• Growth steps per 6 cm height band are approximations.
• Ease figures are common teaching values for woven fabrics unless marked; schools and brands differ.
• Negative-ease percentages for knits depend on the fabric’s stretch and recovery; test every fabric.

1. Do you size children by height first?
2. Can you explain wearing ease and design ease?
3. Do you know the hip ease of the basic block?
4. Can you find the minimum hem width for a tapered trouser?
5. Would you split a teen onto the women’s or men’s block?

• Wearing ease: room for movement.
• Design ease: room that creates the style.
• Negative ease: a pattern smaller than the body, for stretch.
• Height band: a children’s size defined by height, often 6 cm wide.
• Mohri: the ankle opening of a salwar, churidar or pyjama.