Island Jewel: Sewing a Harem Style Jumper

 Almost a year ago I purchased some pretty jewel tone prints with the plan on making something for my daughter.  At the time she would not wear any color other than pink.   Finally, she ready for other colors (although I did have to promise to sew her a pink dress as well.) 
The Process
The Aladdin Pants on the Blooms N Bugs blog were inspirational, however, I used my own process. While in the United States this summer, I purchased a tank top that coordinated with my fabric.  Using a pair of her pants I traced a template for the inseam of the pants but left the outer edge open--about 18 inches out.  I sewed the pants along the template I created so far.  The next step was to pin and baste box pleats around the waist with the exception in the center front, center back and about 4 inches on the sides.  I did not pleat the center front and back to avoid weird pulling in the crotch.  The sides were unpleated so I could adjust the last pleats to the diameter of the waist.  I sewed the sides up and then created the final box pleats on the sides. I trimmed about 4 inches from the bottom of the tank and then sewed the pants on to the bottom edge of the tank. The next step was to gather the bottom edges of each leg and fit them into the homemade binding tape cuff from contrasting fabric. The gathers should be lighter on the inside of the leg and fuller on the toward the outside.  Lastly, I added the contrasting belt. 
My girl seems to be enjoying her new jumper.