Sewaholic Pacific Leggings and New Look 6344

I'd decided this year that I was going to give handmade gifts wherever possible. My mother in law was easy- she specifically asked for a couple of woven tops as all of her summer tops are polyester (yuk!). We went to Spotlight and chose this pattern.

It's very simple but stylish, with pleats at the neckline and a simple button opening at the back. She chose this very lightweight fabric which was tagged as 'cotton feel polyester'. If I didn't know better, I would say that this stuff is all natural- it does not feel like it has any polyester at all! It wasn't super fun to sew with though, as it it very thin and doesn't crease well. However, it turned out well.

I didn't have to make any adjustments to the pattern- I simply cut the size 20 based on her measurements and it fit her fine (we had a fitting session before I started on the second one).

I told her that the second one would be made from a surprise fabric. I chose this lovely rayon, which was much more pleasant to work with!

The first top took me about two hours, but the second one was much quicker. I will make some for myself soon as I really like the style.

I was umming and ahhing about what to make for my sister. I'd thought about making a yoga mat bag, but then I was reading a Sewaholic blog post about their new Pacific leggings, and thought I could make some awesome yoga pants.

I went to Fabric Frenzy as I knew their dance/ sport fabrics were on sale. I got a metre each of groovy tropical print Lyrca, and dark purple Supplex. I made myself a test pair first to see how difficult they were.

These leggings have a crotch gusset, and I've never sewn any type of gusset before. The instructions were very scant, so I asked Tasia from Sewaholic a question about it on her blog post. I also emailed her, and asked a question on the Sewaholic facebook page. Not a single response. I appreciate that the business is very busy, but customer service shouldn't stop once a sale has been made. 

Anyway, I digress. I just sewed the gusset as best I could, and I guess it doesn't look too bad.

The inside is a bit dodgy, but oh well!

So here are my finished pants. They look amazing on and are super comfy. The supplex is extremely comfortable and a dream to sew...the Lycra, not so much.

I wanted to make my sister's pair exactly the same, but the front panels take up quite a bit of fabric so there wasn't enough purple left. So hers have a funky waistband.

No idea why this is sideways, and can't be bothered fixing it. Sorry!

I did a groovy little faux flat lock effect on the back. See it? I stole this idea from the Sewaholic blog.

I used neon green to make it really stand out. I wanted to use it on the waist seam as well, and started to sew it, but my machine spazzed out. And it chose to spaz out when I got to the centre front, so I had to unpick it all. My machine wasn't cooperating so I just left the fancy stitching out.

I really like these leggings, but I'm not so sure about the gusset. It's visible from the front when they are worn, and it kinda looks like a weird fabric vagina. None of the leggings I have look like this- the gusset is hidden right between the legs. I'm going to have to modify the pattern next time I make some.

Now I can relax because all of my Christmas sewing is done! Yay!