Basic leggings that fit!

I have not blogged for some time and there is a good reason for this slackness. This year I have spent a lot of time looking through my old me-made clothing. Some I have binned or recycled. A great deal though I have begun to alter because its pretty much all too big for me. 

For example these leggings: 

steampunk, 

camo leggings,

skull leggings

There is a very good reason for my ill fitting clothing when I began sewing again after many years when I had done no more than sew on a lost button. Well no there are two reasons. 

1) I was scared of messing up my very expensive fabric and making something that did not fit. So long as the item was big it would fit. Actually, most of my early fabric was cheap rubbish but it was what I could get hold of and to be fair it was really good for practicing until I got good enough to spend more on my fabric. I still by cheap, don't  get me wrong, but nowadays I also buy "nice". If its cheap then great but if not I will probably still buy it if I can.

2) I wanted to blog so much I did not care if I never made things fit so long as I had a post to write about. Yes agreed that is sad. But honesty  means I have to admit that and I may as well be open with it rather than just saying it to myself. Well things have changed. Now I would rather do less blog posts and make things that are really nice.

So the last few weeks have been taken up re-making things. There is still a lot left I need to deal with but I am getting there and I have lots of well fitting clothes to wear now. And my wardrobe feels really nice ( although still somewhat over full!) 

Anyway the reason for my silence with blogging is I spent a quite a few days recently remaking these old clothes and now at last they all fit. Three things I have remade are these leggings, skulls, camo and steam punk patterned - see above links. I will not waste your time or mine doing before or after pictures at least not until next Me-Made-May when I may get round to that. For now suffice it to say these now all fit and I also chopped off the ruched ankles as well because they are harder to wear. Having re-made these leggings I now also know what size actually fits and where I need to adjust the pattern - for example the ankles are just baggy on the pattern and I want proper leggings with tight fitting ankles. 

The size problem was also compounded by my losing weight. I went down a dress size by accident. This meant my leggings were 2-3 sizes too big for me so that made it all even worse. 

I then decided to buy some ( quite expensive at £8.95/m) new active wear (wicking) fabric which is 4-way stretch. Although from what I have read although sellers say ts 4-way really what they mean is 2-way. But thats a rant for another time. Look it up if this interests you. But now I have sorted it and made some new leggings as well. I have a better wardrobe leggings wise than I have had for around 30 years I think. Sometimes you need to just step back from blogging and think about what exactly you are really trying to achieve. 

I love blogging and connecting with other sewers/ sewists but really I want to make nice clothing I like and want to wear and not just to make clothing.

I have cut 4 new pairs of leggings and I am very excited to be able to show you this first pair. Its actually the second pair I have sewn up but I have not yet worn the other pair so today is the first time wearing these and yes they feel good and I am really very happy with the fit. There is a snag though if you look at the back waistband right at the end of sewing I got a tuck. 

I considered unpicking and redoing but decided no its really not worth the effort since its likely only me will ever notice and I also run the risk of making a hole in my lovely leggings when unpicking them so this is staying. 

Have a lovely weekend and thanks for popping by my blog. 

Take care

Bracken