May 10, 2016

Bye, Bye Basic Black

I love my new leggings!

I've sewn them from something called Scuba fabric that I recently picked up at my local JoAnn Fabric store.  This was a Nicole Miller fabric designed exclusively for JoAnn Fabrics.

It's kind of a spongy dual-layer fabric with lots of lengthwise and crosswise stretch...just perfect for leggings...and everyone's wearing leggings this season, whether to the gym or for just simply daytime wear.  It's 57" wide fabric, 94% polyester and 6% Spandex.


The pattern for the leggings is from the Sure-Fit Designs (downloadable) Leggings Fashion Leaflet found on this page - Click Here.



One of the few differences from the above instructions is that I eliminated the side seam.  Once I'd sized down for the 'leggings' fit, front and back were laid together at the side seams, so that the front and back could be cut together as one unit.  The actual instructions for a 'No Side Seam Pants Style' are found in the Sure-Fit Designs Children's Kit.  And there is also a discussion of how to eliminate the side seam in the Pajama Pants video found in the Sure-Fit Designs Learning Center. Click Here.


Without the side seam, you now have only 3 easy seams: both inseams and the crotch curve.  But first I used my Cover stitch machine to stitch up the hem.  Here are photos of both right and wrong side at the hem.  If you'd like complimentary videos on stitching with a Cover Stitch machine, Click Here.



Once the hem was turned up and stitched, the inseams were sewn with a 4-thread serger process.  I also used a stretchy cone thread which was something new for me.  This thread is kind of spongy like Wooly Nylon, but not quite so springy.  I thought it would be a good thread complement to the stretchy fabric since I knew I'd wear them in my yoga class.

Then the crotch seam was sewn.

And lastly, I applied 1" (2.5 cm) wide elastic at the waist edge.  The elastic was cut 2" (5 cm) less than my waist measurement and sewn to the waist edge with zigzag stitching.   For directions for applying waist elastic with this technique, refer to page 24 of your Sure-Fit Designs Pants Kit Instruction Book (5th edition).  When on, they feel really comfortable.  When I first put them on the 'scuba' fabric feels a little 'cold', but within a short period of time, they warm up (maybe it's me that's warming up!  I'm always cold!).


Yes, they were fun to make and extremely quick to sew.  They definitely qualify as another 'Made in a Day' project.

Happy Sewing!

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