Friday 11 November 2011

Jumping on the bandwagon (after it's long gone)

So like most people, I hate jeggings.  Well, I hate them the way they are worn by most people I see on campus, which is as jeans.  Yuck.  Not only is it a really unflattering cut for most people, but I'm not sure if people realize that cheap lycra blends are totally see-through when stretched.  And they are stretched to their limit over some booty around these parts, let me tell you.

However, I was trolling around my local thrift shop and found 3m of this jeans-like jersey for $3 and thought, "What the hell.  At the very least, I can use it as muslin."  Then the other day I was wearing something and thought that I really needed some blue leggings or tights underneath and didn't have anything except black, so I thought I'd try to make some.

I hadn't yet used my serger for actual construction; only for seam finishing, which seems a waste considering I did without for 20 years and couldn't wait for the cost of overlockers to come down to a reasonable price for home sewists.  I used a well fitting pair of leggings to trace a pattern directly on to the fabric, then cut with a 1cm seam allowance and added length to the legs and to the top so I could add an elastic.  I serged up the legs, then across the crotch seams, added a channel for the waistband elastic and then turned up the leg hems.  I think that a slight flare on the bottom is more flattering for those of us with a bit of meat on the bones, so I didn't make them taper at the ankle like true jeggings....more like straight cut trousers.  Easy peasy.  I may whip up another pair tonight if I can squeeze enough out of some left-over ponte I have.
Christine over at daughterfish was mentioning this morning that all sewists have two cats.  I resent that stereotype!  
I hereby take a pledge never to wear these jeggings without a long tunic to cover them.  It's bad enough when some slim 18 year old walks down the street with her good china on display, but when it's a 41 year old mom.....let's not go there, shall we? 

Don't forget to enter my giveaway before it's too late!

7 comments:

  1. Well, I think they look really good! Perfect with that tunic. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Two cats, oh dear. Here we are 3 cats, 1 bunny, 1 hamster and oh yeah 3 teenagers. Love the tunic and jeggings, or does slim pants sound better for us mothers?

    ReplyDelete
  3. good china. you kill me.

    so listen. i want to do this too! but my serged seams always show thread from the outside when pulled tight. and these jammies would most definitely be pulled tight. do your seams show?

    (holy word verification! bodisms!)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks guys :)
    Oona: I used to have gaping seams with my serger too and I thought that was normal for a 3/4 threader, and I can't afford to buy the fancy industrial kind so I was resigned to it. Then I just messed around with the tension of the dials (the two on the right....what are they called? Upper looper and lower looper) until I got a good strong seam. It's still not as nice as a 5 thread seam would be, but it's OK. Just get a good long piece of scrap jersey and try lots of tension combinations until it looks good; or you know, you could read the manual and do it properly, but what's the fun in that??

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love it! You do have a way with words!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yay, cats! :)
    Too true about the leggins, although I admit I wear them with tunics that only just cover my bottom sometimes... ;) I like your straighter, not as tight look and that tunic is lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your jeggings look good! Jeggings are meant to be worn like leggings with along top covering the butt like you are doing. I have to give a talk to some moms about fashion tomorrow and this very subject will be talked about.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...