From short shorts to capris
When I made my short shorts pattern I knew I would eventually knit pants. The whole point of the shorts pattern was to work out the fit of the seat and rise because after that it’s just legs and whatever amount of stylish shaping I wanted to add to them.
These are my first pair of pants using that pattern, and what I changed to make them.
First off, this doll has the Resinsoul double-jointed 42cm girl body (known in the hobby as the Rong body after the first doll released using it). The shorts pattern was written to fit the Resinsoul single-jointed 42cm girl body (variously known as the Mei body, the old body, etc.) which has 17cm hips. The Rong body has 18cm hips so the shorts as written fit it very tightly, outlining the hip sockets.
Since I didn’t want the pants to be very tight I added one more set of hip increases, this adds four stitches around the hips, about one extra centimeter, and two additional rows of depth to the rise. These are low rise pants even with the added two rows and I could have added a few more rows before the crotch increases if I had wanted. I suggest adding one set of hip increases for every centimeter over 17 that your doll’s hips measure, so if your doll has 19cm hips add two additional hip increase rounds. If your doll has much larger hips consider adding stitches (4 stitches per centimeter) to the cast on instead of, or in addition to, the extra hip increases since the cast on edge has to be able to stretch over the hips.
The additional rounds of hip increases add two stitches per added round to each leg, so you need to account for them when placing the markers for the crotch increases and when dividing for the legs.
[Please excuse the wrinkles, she’s been sitting in them for a while and I didn’t smooth them out enough when I took photos.]
After dividing for the legs I knit one and a half inches, about twenty-five rounds. This made the pants leg reach just below the fullest part of the doll’s thigh. I could have knit a bit less, maybe twenty rounds, so that I would start the decreases closer to the fullest part of the thigh. It is difficult to judge the length with the knitting in progress due to the fact that the crotch is still open when knitting the first leg.
Since I wanted a tapered leg I started decreasing one stitch every other round, alternating using a k2tog at the start of the round with an ssk at the end of the round, this creates the effect of an inseam (which you can see a bit of in the photo above). I made eleven decreases, leaving me with an odd number of stitches for the mock rib pattern I planned for the hem. If I had started the decreases sooner I would have spaced them at every third round to make the angle of the taper a bit less severe.
After finishing the decreases I knit one inch more of leg (sixteen rounds), putting the length just below the knee and about half an inch less than what I wanted the final length to be. Then to set up for the split hem I knit half the stitches so I would be at the outside of the leg to start knitting back and forth for the hem.
Mock Rib
Row 1 (WS): purl
Row 2: (k1, p1) to last stitch, k1
I knit seven rows of the mock rib and then bound off in the rib pattern. To neaten up the V slit I put the remaining loop from the bind off onto a #7 (1.5mm) steel crochet hook and slip stitched along the V before fastening off.
The bullet list of changes I made:
- extra hip increases as needed
- knit 1.5″ after dividing for legs (below fullest part of thigh)
- decrease 1 stitch every other round, alternating start and end of round, 11 times
- knit 1″ even (until 0.5″ less than desired length)
- knit to outside of leg, turn and knit 7 rows of mock rib for hem
- bind off in pattern
- crochet slip stitch along hem V slit to neat it up
The bullet list of changes I suggest:
- extra hip increases as needed
- knit 1.25″ after dividing for legs (at fullest part of thigh)
- decrease 1 stitch every third round, alternating start and end of round, 11 times
- knit even until 0.5″ less than desired finished length
- knit to outside of leg, turn and knit 7 rows of mock rib for hem
- bind off in pattern
- crochet slip stitch along hem V slit to neat it up
You can purchase the original short shorts pattern from Ravelry with this link:
This pattern is also available from PayHip.