Black Terry Joggers - Burdastyle 119, 06/2014

  

These are Burdastyle 119, 06/2014 joggers. 

They were harder to make than I expected!

This pair are really a muslin for some expensive fabric so that if I make misakes, then I will trash the cheapo stuff instead.

 

There are some bad mistakes on these so a good thing I did this!

 

Despite the mistakes in these they have been lived in since finishing so they are still a massive success for my wardrobe even with mistakes. 

Most folks will never notice either. I do tho!

The top I made a while back and seems to go surprisingly well with joggers. Its based on the Lydia top from burda.

I made it for more formal looks but whatever!

It poshes up my boring black joggers nicely.

These are really just classic joggers but the Burda version were orange on the front and red on the back and there is a side front seam that is slightly off centre down each leg. The back is just plain where Burda used bolour blocking to get a wrap around effect with the two colours. Its hard to see on the photos here because they are all black. 

 

 I did them all one colour because that is what I had available and I actually fancied some basic easy towear jogging trousers. To be honest, when tracing, you could just not cut the front panel in two and have a basic pair of jogging trousers instead. You have to trace the front panel as one piece then add seam allowance to each part. 

 I top stitched the front seam with a twin needle. Just to finish it off. I suppose it does give an added detail to some otherwise very basic track pants.

Unfortunately, I relied on the fact Burda usually gives me the correct measurements for extra bits you have to cut that have to be cut free hand and are not included in the actual pattern - like waistbands. This time Burda got it wrong.

 

I ended up with more gathers on one side than the other and undid the - this was my bad sewing - but I also sewed it uneven due to having tried to get the remaining fabric into the waistband. What a mess! 

I originally blamed myself but I accidentally cut two identical bits for the waistband instead of the one I was meant to have cut, so after it did not work I measured again and it was spot on. That does not excuse me trying to bodge it and shove the extra fabric into the one side. I even pinned in quarters. Its still all went wrong.

I could not get it to work right at all and having got myself in a right mess and had to unpick the waistband several times, I cut a larger waistband and started all over again and pinned very carefully all round.

One of the problems with all this was being overlocked my first attempt at this, it cut off my excess seam allowance and since it wet on totally wonky this meant my trousers top is all chopped up and uneven. It did go together eventually with a new waistband. Then though I managed to overlock tucks on one side of the pocket. Stuff unpicking it all again. I will probably end up wrecking the fabric and although it was cheap, I do like it and cannot get more. It was £5 for 3m but it was an offer and they not surprisingly sold out pretty quickly.

Both pockets are rather badly sewn really as you can see.

Still I virtually never wear my tops tucked in or pulled up (other than for the blog photos) so no one but me will probably realise this error. And I will be far more careful on the next pair.

The waistband problem may really be my fabric choice. The french terry these are made from is not super stretch so maybe the Burda measurements just do not work with non lycra stretch fabrics. I really do not know. This fabric is certainly more solid than most sweatshirting. 

Usually, I find Burda very reliable for the measurements of things like waistbands so suspect its either me or the fabric. Or maybe a bit of both. In fact I do not trust the pre-printed waistbands from the big four companies and always add a few cm to make sure they fit the waistband, but I have learned to trust Burda for this so this is a first for me - as in for it not to fit with a Burda pattern. 

Still despite all the problems getting these sewn up I do actually enjoy them and had lived in them. They washed really well - no pilling etc which did worry me, and have even stood up to dog claws. I have one dog who has to jump up regularly and refuses to stop so this does damage many of my clothes.
More pictures:

 

I have now decided, having worn these for a couple of weeks - including all day for work since I am still working from home-  that I may not after all use this pattern for the other sweatshirt fabric I bought. Still these make for a very nice pair of (imperfect) sweat pants. And its nice to have some plain black ones too!

Take care

Bracken