Sportswear leggings for January

Well it’s a new year and New Years resolutions etc so I am making sportswear. Its not actually because I made the New Year resolution to get fit though, it is actually because I made the resolution to seriously reduce my stash of fabric. Well to be fair I have been aiming to do this for months but now after making lots of items up at last, rather than just thinking of making them that is!

My not-quite-so-capsule-wardrobe of Autumn led to lots of off-cuts of fabrics left over of large-ish sized bits of useable fabrics. Since my aim is not to add these back to my far too large stash I need to use them up rather than waste all my lovely fabric. I also really really do need some warm track pants. I was thinking originally of my TRN Lekala pattern which I have already made up several times but decided instead why not use this polyester fabric which seems to retain shape very well to make winter leggings?

Partly this is another aim- I seem to also have stashed loads (and I do mean loads) of patterns which at this time remain unused. So,me in fact go back nearly ten years now and still uncut so time to use my patterns and to get rid of my fabric and make useful and wearable clothing that will also ( hopefuly) keep me warm.

 I am not at all sure what the fibre content is of this fabric. I bought loads of it over  time off an Ebay seller and it was quite cheap and sold as “stretch crepe polyester”. I think possibly there may really be some lycra in it because it seems not to go out of shape but maybe not. I do not know. I am not an expert at fabric so this is all guessing and there were no labels etc. I think the right side which is the crepe side is vile. Reminds me of elastic waisted trousers worn by my Grandma in the 80s. You do find things made from this fabric even in trendy high street shops such as River Island but personally I see it as “old lady” fabric.

A while back now I decided to use the wrong side to make a jacket and while the jacket is not perfect ( wavy zip!).

You can read about this jacket here:https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2017/04/98-and-99-sports-top-and-flared.html

I do wear this with enjoyment and I reckon its definitely the way to go with this crepe stuff. I actually read recently that this is currently called Ponte de Roma. Well whatever it is I only like the back of the fabric and then only because I already own this and cannot afford to just throw it away. Since tmaking my jacket I have done the same thing and made the majority of the Winter Capsule Wardrobe by reversing the same type of fabric and that also was successful so again this time I am making leggings with the wrong side. The other impprtant thing about this stuff is its warm. Far warmer than exercise fabric.

Perfect I think for winter leggings - but a few experiments will prove this one way or the other.

So for my first experimental pair I used this pattern:

I have already used this pattern and made the top up which is worn with these leggings and you can read about that here:

https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2018/10/view-b-mccalls-m7261-sportswear-pattern.html

This time though for leggings:

 I am quite pleased and they nearly lined up perfectly at all the joins. Hopefully the next pair will be perfect.

I even dug out my ancient (90s) fluffy ski jacket ad they go with that too. The original idea was to clear out someof my old clothing so anything I cannot currently wear. The idea was if I have not worn it for a year then try on, assess and then get rid. In the case of my fluffy pink jacket though it has to be a keep. I suddenly have something I can handle wearing with it.

And yes they seem to work well. Also stood up to being raked by dog claws and no pulls on them which is excellent. They are definetly warmer than regular exercise wear and still useable for running - if I was to get that inspired to try. So far they have stood up perfectly to every day life so I am intending to make a few more pairs of these as well.

The other interesting thing about these leggings ( other than fabric choice that is) is they have no elastic in the waistband. I was skeptical at first about this. I decide to give it a go even though the pattern is made for proper lycra type performance / dance wear fabric. They work perfectly with this crepe fabric even with no elastic. I wore them all day – shopping round town. Dog walking, house cleaning etc and they are fine and stayed put without elastic.

Since then in fact I have now worn several times and they still work. Amazing! I would never have believed it and nearly added elastic just to make sure but decided to go with the pattern and see. I will have to see what happened when they get a bit more worn but for now they work really well. And you know what I felt really good in these about town even with my diamonds not being quite perfectly matched!

All in all then a great make from what I am now thinking may be ponte de Roma fabric.