Tag Archives: Jalie 2920

May 23, 2021 · 12:50 pm

Unnecessary Jeggings

Or, Thing You Can Sew During Naptime

I haven’t been able to do much naptime sewing lately, but I managed a wee bit today, and for some reason, I made the twins jeggings.

I mean, I like jeggings. They have a couple of RTW pairs that that are getting pretty janky and are also nine month size (and the twins, while fairly shrimpy, are getting a bit tall for that at almost 21 months)

But they also have eighty million other pants and we’re fast approaching shorts season.

Anyway, as jeggings go these ones are pretty minimal—no pockets or back yoke or anything. I started with the same basic Jalie leggings pattern (2920), in the F size (size 2), which I’ve used for other leggings for them in the past. The only changes I made were to add a fly extension at the front crotch, to support the mock-fly topstitching, and to add about 1” of length and a bit of width to the bottom of the leg, for a more “pants” and less “leggings” fit.

The fabric is this glorious heavy “denim” knit I bought a ridiculous amount of back when I worked at Fabricland, and I wouldn’t mind making myself another pair of jeggings from it if I can motivate myself.

I did the topstitching again using the triple straight stitch on my vintage Elna, which is both ridiculously fast and better looking than the same stitch on my Janome, although it’s a little hit or miss. Since I was working with 1/4” seam allowances and the only way to topstitch the inseam on leggings is to sew up the inside of the tube, which is always a bit tricky, I opted for a single row of topstitching everywhere except the “fly”, and I’m pretty happy with that choice. (Also, a lot faster)

Anyway, they fit fairly “loosely” as leggings go, and there’s plenty of length, so even if they don’t get much wear over the summer I’m sure they will still fit come fall.

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Tagged as Baby sewing, finished projects, Jalie, Jalie 2920, kids' clothes, kids' clothing

September 8, 2020 · 10:02 pm

Euphoria

My birthday, as you probably won’t recall, falls only a week after the twins’. I’m pretty resigned to it being permanently eclipsed now that they’re around, but this year was a bit of a bigger one: 40.

I could probably muse about what it means to have ended another decade, or the approach of middle age; about body changes and how they interact with fashion trends to affect your style. I could even say something about the fact that this blog was only a few months old when I turned 30.

But instead, I’m going to celebrate my birthday present. After years of wistful wishing, intermittent planning always aborted by some more pressing expense, I walked downstairs yesterday morning to a comically large box on the dining room table.

My husband (abetted by my children, my mother, and at least one sewing friend), had pulled the trigger I have never been able to, and bought me a coverstitch.

And because he’s him, it wasn’t the baseline model I had generally planned on. The Babylock Euphoria has all the bells and whistles, including air jet threading for the looper and a harp space big enough for a quilt, should you decide to coverstitch your quilting.

I can’t even wrap my head around it, to be honest. But it’s there, begging to be used. There’s about a million accessories that I need to buy (all the binding attachments, for a start)… and I’m back at work so my time is even more limited… but it’s here!

For my first project, I picked a design I’ve been musing about for months as a nursing-friendly topper. I used my trusty knit sloper and drafted the crossover and flare right on the fabric.

It’s cute, casual enough to wear working from home but spiffy enough for when I’m in the office, and best of all, it has miles of hem for testing out the coverstitcher.

Because this was self-drafted very much on the fly, there wasn’t really any testing of where the crossover would fall; I kinda feel like an inch or so higher or lower might have been better, but I’m not hating it. My bust point fell abruptly by at least an inch on August 31 last year (the day the twins were born) so my sense of where certain points on the pattern fall is a bit inaccurate these days. At least it still mostly fits.

I’m very happy with the width of the flare and the flutteriness I ended up with though.

I need to slow down and build a bit more precision with the thing, but as time poor as I am right now that’s maybe not going to happen. On the whole, though, it makes the whole hemming process much faster. I haven’t even needed to use a fusible so far.

The weather turned sharply nasty in time for my birthday, and we realized that the twins had outgrown most of their clothes during the last month while they were wearing mostly diapers (with occasional cute dresses). So tonight I spent some time cutting out some little pants and sweaters. Of course the first ones I went to sew up aren’t terribly warm, but those will come, I promise. These are cut from Jalie 2920, the classic leggings pattern, in the smallest size, which is a kids’ size 2. Technically far to big, but smaller than the baby sweatpants pattern I was also testing out so I thought I’d give them a try. This shiny polyester doesn’t have a huge amount of stretch so they actually work as loose-ish pants right now. I don’t think it’ll hold up, but it’s pretty and the fabric was a hand-me-down I’m unlikely to use for anything else. I actually had to turn the tensions (both upper and looper) down fairly dramatically on the coverstitch for this fabric, which was another lesson learned. I’m thinking matching dresses…

And more to come!

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Tagged as Babylock, coverstitch, finished projects, Jalie, Jalie 2920, knit sloper

February 7, 2018 · 7:00 am

Good intentions

So I bought this kinda ugly camo knit a year or so ago when the last little bit went on sale real cheap. I thought perhaps one of my kids would like camo leggings.

Well, when I made them up today, my kids agreed with me—about the ugliness. Not so much about the wanting them part. So I guess I now have a pair of ugly camo leggings.

I confess they’re kinda growing on me though. Even though the fabric is the kind where the colour fades as it stretches, it’s silky smooth and feels really nice.

I modified my trusty old Jalie 2920 by adding a slightly shaped double-layered cloth band at the waist rather than elastic, creating a smooth high-rise effect I’m enjoying. Which probably has everything to do with my changing relationship with my body these days, but we won’t dig too deep into that today. Anyway, so I have a new pair of leggings, and I think I like them. They don’t go with anything, though.

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Tagged as finished projects, Jalie 2920

September 29, 2013 · 7:23 pm

Little leggings, legion

A small selection

Last weekend, as often happens, we went to my Stylish sister-in-law’s. Certain television premieres may have been airing that, since we gave up cable, wouldn’t be watchable chez Isis. But before the stories were watched, we sewed. I’ve had a leggings itch ever since working on the Espresso leggings for Cake Patterns, especially with the weather turning. And this purple polkadot Michael Miller knit was kinda burning a hole in the stash ever since I caved and bought it last month.

Laying out little leggings

The purple was never meant for me; I handily got three little leggings out of it, for Syo, Fyon, and Waif, and there’s enough left for two more leggings or any number of pairs of underwear, depending. Stylish worked on tracing her pattern for Coat Club, but she is easily distracted by frivolities like cleaning her house and making supper, so she didn’t get much done. I, on the other hand, made five pairs of leggings, mainly by dint of ignoring everyone else.

Trying on.

I spent, by far, the most time laying out and matching up zig-zags. The purple knit isn’t as substantial as I’d originally thought and I’m really not sure how well it’ll wear—although it is CUTE. The zig-zags actually ran lengthwise on this fabric, which didn’t seem right, so I cut them on the cross-grain, which means the maximum stretch isn’t quite right. As a result the leggings are a bit snug, even on the Waif, who isn’t at all used to anything being tight.

I think the cuteness has made up for it, though—I made the leggings on Sunday, it’s now the following Sunday, and I’m not actually sure they’ve been taken off.*

Fleece Pants, Episode 3 (part II)

Fleece Leggings

Sick of fleece pants yet? Yeah? Too bad. It snowed every day this week, except for the bright sunny days with windchills in the -30s C. This is not what I want from the end of March, peeps.

At the end of Episode 3, I mentioned that Syo wanted fleece leggings. Well, not long after that I made the mistake of taking my children to the fabric store, and Syo managed to persuade me to buy her a metre of wolf-patterned fleece. At full price, no less. Oi. Kid has mad parent-guilting skillz. And very long eyelashes.

Very skinny fleecepants

Attempting to be mindful of the lessons of fleece stretch, I knew I would need to size up a bit for this pair. I went back to my original tracing of Kwik Sew 1670 and undid the tuck I had made in the pattern piece when it became obvious after the first pair that they were way oversized. I added some extra height at the CB, and some extra length along the crotch. And enough extra length in the leg to work for Tyo, probably. And (gulping) I cut them out.

And, well, I should’ve gone up a size. (it has, after all, been almost a year since I traced out this size for Syo, and while she’s not sprouting like a weed the way Tyo is these days, she still is getting bigger.) D’oh. Fortunately for me, Syo is extra-super-determined to wear this pair, and she’s very tolerant of tight. I can’t imagine where she might’ve picked that up from. *whistles*

Rear view

Print mixing to do Oona proud, I tell ya.

Half-ass waistband

Because I didn’t want to lose any height at the waist, I did only a single, very narrow fold-over at the waist elastic. It’s not a lovely finish inside, but it’s plush-back elastic so it’s pretty comfy, anyway, and I’m quite glad I didn’t use up any more height.

Rise

Unlike the purple fleece sweatpants, though, these are a hit. Like a big hit. Like a super-duper-can’t-peel-them-off-her-to-wash hit.

So I have a theory for future tight-fleece-pants-sizing adventures. I hypothesize that zero ease, or at most 10% negative ease, is probably about the max stretch ratio for fleece. So next time, I’m going to pick a size by measuring the thigh of the person who will be wearing them, and then measuring the pattern. Well, at least for fleece leggings, where that would be super simple. I’m still thinking about the yoga pants…

For those of you who are bored stiff of fleece pants, I did steal a few minutes to work on my stalled mail-order dress. I ripped off the yoke and shortened the waist. Everywhere but right at the cf. there are some funny things about this pattern, peeps. But it’s coming, I’m liking it much better. I just need to recut the skirt, but that won’t happen until

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Tagged as finished projects, Fleece Pants, For Syo, Jalie 2920

March 9, 2013 · 5:22 pm

Lots of little leggings

Jalie 2920 Leggings

Jalie 2920 is getting a lot of love around here. Maybe because a pattern with just one piece is about my speed these days. Stylish helpfully traced the sizes for her girls out, so when I had a smidgeon of downtime I found myself cranking out a couple. If I spent half an hour on either of these I’d be surprised. I feel a bit bad because I probably should’ve left the fabric for Stylish to practice on… but there’s enough left to make a couple more pairs, anyway.

I’m a little bit perplexed with this pattern, though. I get that it’s designed to stretch in length as well as width, and for snug, extra-stretchy fabrics… well, I dunno. This purple is NOT such a fabric. I mean, it’s a pretty nice, beefy knit. The amount of stretch is good. But it’s definitely not a four-way stretch. When tracing, I had Stylish give lots of extra room in the leg length, to compensate for this. I used the longest lengths here, and I’m glad I did. The Waif’s are a little long, but she seems to grow up rather than out, so that’s probably a good thing, and Fyon’s are spot on. And that’s five or six extra inches beyond the pattern’s “proper” lengths. Well, the length dictated by their heights, anyway. The Waif’s pair are a size 2(F), lengthened to the five length and then beyond. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen her in a pair of pants that wasn’t way loose and baggy on her.

The Waif, Tyo, and Fyon in their new leggings

This was after I had attempted to make myself another set of leggings from some luverly denim-look knit I’ve been sitting on and petting since I acquired it around New Year’s. The whole bolt at my local Fabricland recently got marked down to half price and I’m having a hard time not rushing in and buying up the whole damn thing. I used the same Jalie 2920 as for my black leggings. However, peeps, this is where those stretch gauges on the patterns become important. This stuff is stretchy, but not leggings-type stretchy. Length was not an issue, but while I could wriggle into them, well, um, let’s just say that it was putting undue stress on the fabric. D’oh.

Fortunately, as with the fleece pants, I have a suitable candidate with a derriere just a little bit smaller than my own handy in the house, so Tyo now has her first pair of jeggings. I guess I had better enjoy that while it lasts… we just had to buy her a whole new crop of skinny jeans, as the ones she got in September are getting too snug. (This is why I don’t make her jeans very often any more). The time until her hips surpass mine may be measured in months rather than years at this point. Oh, you cursed curvaceous pears.

I guess I just need to get some more denim-look knit for myself. /sniffle.

Anyone else addicted to deadly simple projects? I swear I’ll do something actually interesting one of these days…

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Tagged as finished projects, For Fyon, For the Waif, For Tyo, Jalie 2920

February 16, 2013 · 5:09 pm

Absolutely NOT the #Oonapants

Leggings

In fact, in the world of leggings, if Oonapants are at one (wild, crazy) end of the spectrum, these leggings are at the other. The sober, staid, boring end. But, I needed black leggings for a dance performance last night, and I’ve had this fabric earmarked for something of the sort for well over a year now, so leggings it was.

This has to be one of the fastest pattern-purchase-to-wearable-clothing projects I’ve done in a LONG time. The Crafty Sister-in-Law enticed me out in the morning with a jaunt to Value Village (a whole ‘nother sad tale of enablement, to be related at a future date…), and we decided on a whim to check out the next in our grand tour of the Saskatoon Garment District,* a humble little shop with the rather grand title of “Academy of Fashion Design.”

This shop is one I’ve been meaning to check out for several years, since my mom nosed them out as retailers of Jalie patterns. They are also, as the name suggests, a design school, as well as a Singer retailer/repair shop. They seem to specialize in dance/figure-skating and rodeo fabrics, although they have a little bit of everything. Behind the doors is a long, narrow cavern of fabrics, dotted with treadle sewing machines and French mannequins. I have to say, this is the most at home I’ve felt in a fabric shop, maybe ever. Maybe the prodigious mess reminded me of my own sewing room, or maybe it was the old machines dotting the place, usually half-buried in drifts of fabric. They have a little bit of everything, including the only stretch denim I’ve seen in person outside of Fabricland. And the girl minding the shop… well, I don’t know if she HAS a sewing blog, but peeps, she totally has the vibe. She felt like one of us.

Anyway, I picked up Jalie 2920, a pattern for leggings and stirrup tights. The more ~~obsessive~~ keen-memoried among you may recall that I already have a leggings pattern or two, including one traced out in my size, which I’ve teased you with glimpses of in the past. But, well, I confess shortly after I cut out the blue (as yet un-blogged) leggings, I lost the pattern piece; presumably it got folded up and stuffed in an envelope with something else, because I sure as hell can’t find it. And I have the Kwik Sew ones around Syo’s size, but, well, I was craving more variety in sizes, in particular a size that could be adapted for the Waif, who is nearing five but still has the width of a rather slender toddler. And, well, Jalie.

Ooo

So I bought the pattern, scurried home, and, after a minor panic when my tracing paper went missing, traced it out. I’m either a size R or S in Jalie sizing, but I went with the S, thinking that over-stretched leggings are not a good look for anyone. Having worn them for a couple of days, this may not have been the best idea… there’s a touch of looseness in the thigh that isn’t quite right.

As I traced, though, confusion set in. I added about three inches to the length (towards the low end for me and Jalie, but when I measured out the inseam of the pattern, I was alarmed to discover it still measured a measly 26″. I don’t do less than 32″, peeps. But then I spied a second pattern piece, meant to be combined with the end of the leg. I had ignored it, thinking it was just for the stirrup version, but maybe it was required for both? I don’t know. I was confused. Anyway, I added it on, roughly seven inches. That seemed to bring things into about the right ball park, right?

Loooooong

Erm, not so right. Those four-way stretch fabrics that stretch in length as well as width. Hrmph. So I will have to cut some off, although figuring out how much to cut off will be the trick. Still, too long is ever so much better than too short. Ever so much.

Derriere

I had to cut out both legs separately as my previous leggings for Syo had whittled my good jersey into some rather peculiar shapes. I was meticulous about flipping the pattern so that both sides would be mirror image… unfortunately I apparently also flipped my fabric when I was moving it, because both legs wound up cut out with the right side of the fabric on the same side. Fortunately for me, on this particular knit it’s almost impossible to tell the difference… anyone who can is, ah, WAY too close.

Hmm

I made a slight adjustment to the rise, which may be typical of me and Jalie patterns, lowering the front by about an inch but keeping the back as is. I know the rest of you are all over the high-waisted leggings… Not that I have any intention of sharing my leggings waistband with the public, but I’ll still take hip bulges (which I have anyway) over waist-bulges.

And really, that’s a lot more talking about a terribly boring pair of black leggings than is really merited.

*New Yorkers and other people from real cities with real garment districts, you can snicker politely into your sleeves. The “Saskatoon Garment District” is three smallish fabric shops (and a thrift shop that carries fabric and patterns) that happen to be located within a few blocks of each other downtown.

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Tagged as finished projects, Jalie 2920, knit, Oonapants