More shorts Jalie, SUAT, P4P, and That Moxie Girl

Time to catch up on more makes I didn’t get blogged.  Here are a few shorts I’ve made over the years (all the way back to 2014!) that I didn't have the time to get blogged before.

Pattern: Prefontaine Shorts by “That Moxie Girl”

Date made: waaaaay back in 2014! Mar 19, 2014

My measurements in 2014 were 37-29-44

Size and Alterations made: I cut a straight 14 with no alterations

Fabric: Floral Cotton Woven, just a regular quilting type cotton fabric. This cotton was a little bit lighter weight than a heavy quilting cotton.

Thoughts: I see that this pattern is still being sold on her etsy store.  At the time I thought they were a bit big on me.  But me in 2022 would totally wear these.  I love the binding detail on them and I think they are really cute shorts.  I no longer have them because my size has changed so much over the years. But I would totally make another pair of these. Plus these are made from woven fabric and I rarely use woven and have so few woven patterns to use up the fabric in my stash. Pattern: Jalie 2445

Date made: 06/26/2016

My Measurements in 2016 and 2017: Waist 30, Hip 45

Size made: X with a ton of alterations.

Alterations made:  On the backs I took 5/8” off the outer waist and 1/4” at center waist.  I added 1/2” to the outer hip but took away 1/2” on the butt scoop.  I then added 2.5” to the hem.

To the fronts I did the same on the waist, but for the hip I added 1/4” to outer and took in 1/4” on inner crotch scoop.  I also added 1/2” to the front thigh.  My notes say I added 1” total to thigh, 0 total to hip, and removed 1.75” from total waist. Whew, that’s a mouthful.  Let’s get a visual drawing for that.  (yes, I’m slightly crazy sometimes with trying alterations).

(Not the actual pattern below, just a generic drawing of shorts fronts and backs).

My size has changed so much and they are just too tight on me now (pic above from 2021).  I made the black pair 01/28/2017

Fabric: Random French terry scraps I had laying around from other projects.  Hot Pink French terry, and also black French terry

Thoughts:  I keep trying with this pattern to get it right.  I want to get it right.  I love the look of the pattern.  The pink pair fit pretty good, but my size has changed, I got paint on them, and I no longer know where they even ended up.  The black pair I think is in my “too small” bin. So I can’t even wear them.  They are just too tight for me now. I have tried this pattern so many times my eyes have crossed and I had to walk away.  I am on muslin #8 for the full pants, besides making these 5 other times as shorts. Someday…….. someday I’ll get it worked out.

Made before: Apr 2016 a red pair, and a purple pair for Miss K, May 2017 black and white pair for me. Pattern: Stitch Upon A Time (SUAT) Women’s Boxerwear

Date made: 07/21/2018

My Measurements in 2018 were: Bust 36, Waist 29, Hip 43  (I had lost quite a bit of weight at this time).

Size and Alterations made: I cut a size Large on these with a medium waistband.

Fabric: Aqua Cotton Lycra purchased from Purpleseamstress on August 02, 2017 for $6.50 a yard.  These don’t even use a yard.

Thoughts: Well as you can see they are too tight for me here.  I needed to size up.  I love the fabric, I like the pattern.  I’ve made another pair before that fit and I wore them quite often, until my size changed and now they don’t fit either. I love the reverse coverstitching I took the time to do on this pair.  I will definitely be making myself more of these.  This pattern is so comfortable to lay around the house in or wear under dresses so my thighs do not rub.

Made before: Aug 2015 (near the bottom of the post) in black and blue stripe. Pattern: P4P Palazzos  

Date made: 03/31/2019  Floral Pink and Blue and 07/08/2017 Black Heathered Stripe

My measurements in 2019: 39 bust, 31.5 waist, 46 hip

My Measurements in 2017: Waist 30, Hip 45

Size and Alterations made: Size L at the waist to XL hips down.  I also scooped out 1/2” from the back butt curve

Fabric: The ITY Floral blue and pink (made in march 2019) is “Watercolor Floral Print ITY” from FabricMart, purchased July 2015, $4.50/yard.   I used scraps from my wrap dress made in Sept 2015.  I absolutely love this fabric and will hoard my last bits and scraps as long as I can!  (made in july 2017) black fabric is a scrap from the failed mcccalls nightgown from June 2017. It is a space dye knit with no real stretch, though it was listed as having ample stretch.  Its soft and flowy. Black/Grey Slubbed Jersey Knit 95% rayon 5% lycra. I purchased it from FashionFabricsclub in Aug 2016 for $3.95/yard.  It is just bad fabric, plain and simple.  2 makes both a fail….. bad fabric. Thoughts:  The floral ity ones were my favorite shorts pattern until the M4M Mila came along.  Now I have a love affair with that pattern; but these palazzos still hold a place in my heart and I still wear my floral ones often  This pattern turns out shorts that are super comfy to wear and super fast to make.  Sometimes I can fit the pattern pieces onto scraps of fabric leftover from other patterns, win – win!  Its a stellar pattern. Made before: green/black plaid shorts in 2017, teal shorts in 2017, and black shorts in 2017, and aztec blue pants in Feb 2020 Happy Sewing! Kristin

More Pants and Leggings! Jalie, 5oo4, Sew-a-Little-Seam

  Pattern: Jalie 3355 made the pants previously: Nov 2014 megaman costume, Oct 2015 for K.

I have made the hoodie part of this pattern beyond countless times, we LOVE that part of this pattern.  Now I want to perfect the pants portion so I can lounge around in a hoodie and sweats and just be lazy, I mean comfortable, all day.

Date Started: 12/08/20

Date Finished: 12/10/20

My Measurements at the time: waist 33, hip 46

Size Sewn: straight BB

Alterations: 1/2” knock knee alteration. lowered the front rise by 2.75”, lowered the back rise by 1”, scooped the butt curve 1/2”. I used 33.25” of 1” wide elastic in the waist.

Fabric: aqua blue French terry knit

Thoughts: This is actually a wearable muslin to test the fit and alterations because I have the most insanely soft sweatshirt fabric I want to make my “final” pair out of so I can live in them forever.  I am actually quite pleased with this muslin.  I would totally call this wearable and almost perfect.  I’m almost there with this pair. I think increasing the knock knee to 3/4” just might be all I need to do.  Those little wrinkles at the back butt/upper thigh are the only thing left to fix and these would be a pattern I grabbed often.  I will do one more muslin pair before my final special fabric. Life Changing Knock Knee Alteration Info is about halfway through this post here. Pattern: Sew-a-little-seam – Movie Night Pajamas for Women, Leggings Pattern info and sizing: The Women’s Movie Night Pajama is a PDF sewing pattern for sizes 0/2 (32″ bust, 36″ hip) to 28 (50″ bust, 54″ hip). The pattern is FREE if you find the code in the Sew a Little Seam Facebook group! Made Previously 4 other times: Sept 2019 red wine floral, Nov 2019 Snoopy Xmas, May 2019 blue floral, and May 2019 green capri.

(I lightened up the photo a bit so you can see better the fantastic fit – black is so hard to photograph)

This pair: Date Started: 08/31/21

Date Finished: 09/22/21

My Measurements at the time: waist 31, hip 45.5

Size Sewn: Waist 16/18, hip 20

Alterations: added 1” to the back rise, 1/2” scooped from the butt curve and 1/4” scooped from the front crotch curve.  I used 32.5” of 1.5” elastic in the waistband.

Fabric: super soft black double brushed poly.  These leggings are ultimate comfort, like wearing nothing at all.

Thoughts: I love them! I have loved every pair I’ve made of these leggings.  It is definitely my go-to pattern when I want a pair of leggings now. I don’t ever want to take any of the pairs off.  This is the first real clothing item I sewed up fully after my craniotomy (it took 4 mo to even think about sitting at a machine).  I needed a good fitting pair of black leggings badly.  It went ok.  Definitely a struggle, but I got through it and love the leggings.

Pattern: 5 out of 4 – Ninja Leggings

Date Finished: 06/19/2018

My Measurements at the time: 39 bust, 31.5 waist, 46 hip

Size Sewn:  med waist, Large elsewhere

Alterations: I sewed up knee length and added 1/4" to back and front at thigh. I also did a 1/4" butt scoop

Fabric: hunter green brushed poly knit

Thoughts: These things have a 3/8” Seam allowance – eeew and what the hell.   I need either 1/4” or 1/2” Seam allowance as that is what is standard like everywhere, and it works well with my serger.

I just don’t like them.  They are way to tight to begin with.  I’m not a fan of the crotch gusset.  I don’t like to sew it and I don’t think my crotch likes it, lol.  I wore these only one time for these pictures in 2018 and then they went to the bin.  Unfortunately I am just not a fan.  I won’t be sewing this pattern again.

Pattern: Jalie Clara 3887

Date Sewn: I honestly have no idea. sometime around 2018-2019

My Measurements at the time: 39 bust, 31.5 waist, 46 hip

Size Sewn: V at waist, Z everywhere else

Alterations: Scooped 1/2" in butt and added 1/4" at back thigh. There is a FOLD at the front crotch that is hard to see. I forgot the first time which made me lose about 1/2” of fabric by sewing up the front there.

Fabric: very soft double brushed navy poly knit.

Thoughts:  These were beyond humorously small and tight. I couldn’t even get my one leg up in them let alone get them to my hips.  I remember I somehow got them smashed on and I felt like a stuck sausage.  I love Jalie patterns, but this one definitely needed a size up or 2 for me.  I will try them again someday, I haven’t wrote the pattern off just yet.  But this pair is long since gone to the bin.

Happy Sewing! Kristin

Lots of Pajama Pants - Jalie, Burda, 5oo4, etc.

As I mentioned before, I am trying to catch up on blogging some past makes that never made it to the blog.  My goal is to blog every make so I have details of what fabric I used, what alterations I tried, how they fit, how they sewed up, and so on.  Also I love looking back at past makes, it';s like a time capsule for me.  Unfortunately prior to 2019 I didn’t keep detailed notes on my makes.  I have to resort to what snippets I can find on my spreadsheets and what info I can gather from my pattern traces.  I used to write a lot on those thankfully.  I have always been a pattern tracer.  I use a lot of Burda and Ottobre so it made sense to me.  I trace EVERY pattern because I make lots of alterations and I change sizes a lot and sometimes Miss K wants the same pattern.  It doesn’t matter if its McCalls, Simplicity, Kwik sew, Jalie, Ottobre, Burda, or any Indie pattern online.  I print pdfs withmy copy shop printer so I trace then too. A couple years ago I made a great blog post on Pattern Tracing paper; what works best in terms of use, price, and accessibility.  I am STILL using the same pattern tracing paper and love it.  It works amazing for me and its cheap.  If you are interested in that post it is on my old blog here and the info is all 100% still relevant.

And now back to the pajama pants.  Some of these are far back as 2016 and I just had life get in the way and didn’t make time to post them.  I love some of them and STILL wear them to this day.  They deserve a spot on the blog for sure. So here are a handful of some older and more recent pajama pants makes. (most pictures are from way back when the pajamas were made).

Let’s start backwards and move forward.

Jalie 2686 Classic Pajama Pants previous makes: sheep pair and candy pair for Miss K in 2016

Sewn: Feb 24th, 2016

Fabric used: 2.5 yards Pink Beige Floral Flannel 44W, purchased Feb 2016 for $4.95/yard from fashionfabricsclub.  Total: $12.38 for the pants

I wear these ALL THE TIME.  I love them.  They have popped up in my Me Made May feed a few times.  They are so comfortable and just a classic pajama pant.

From my pattern paper, I used a size Y for the front piece and for the back piece I used Y for the waist and graded to a size AA for the hip downward.  I remember experimenting with this back in 2016 because my backside was larger than my frontside and pants seemed to fit better with the smaller front piece and larger back piece.  I don’t do this method much anymore – I find I just alter things similarly, lol. I also scooped the butt curve 1/2”.

Thoughts: Well, I made these 6 years ago and I still wear them often so I would say they are a hit.  I would make another pair in a heartbeat.

Miss K Fleece Pj Pants

Sewn: July 24, 2016

Fabric used: 2 yards Blizzard Fleece Fabric- Blue And Gray Argyle, purchased Oct 2014 from Joanns for $4/yard. so $8 total for pj pants.

Miss K cut and sewed these fleece pants up herself.  She was so proud at the time.  She wore them often.  The problem is they are a complete mystery as to what pattern she used.  It could have been Kwik sew 3604, or Simplicity 2046, or even Jalie 2686. I honestly have no idea.  She did a great job and needed no help.  Even though I have no information on them I wanted them on the blog because she made them all her own.

Jalie 3243 – green flamingos previous makes: Sept 2013 blue linen pants for me, 4 pairs for Miss K in 2013, pink flannel in 2014 for Miss K, more pink flannel trees in 2014 for Miss K, and pink plaid in 2015 for Miss K.  I’ve used this pattern quite a few times I guess!

Every now and then I get fiercely determined to get my pants fitting exactly right.  These two pair of shorts are a product of that.  I was testing crotch curve fitting on all three of these.

Dec 11, 2018 – flannel green flamingos.  they needed more butt and thigh room in the end. I still have these, but they sit in a “too small” bin. they are an inch high waist in front and low in back. but the pockets are so nice on these!  Some day I will conquer this pattern. From my paper pattern I used a size V for the waist and Z for the hip downwards.  I lowered the front waist 3/4” at CF, I added 1/2” to the front crotch curve at inner thigh, the back piece I used a size V at waist to BB from hips downward.  I scooped the butt curve 1/2” and added 2” to the hem length.

Fabric: Flannel Flamingo Kisses Aqua, 44W, purchased from Fabric.com in May 2016 for $4.89/yard.  used 1.5 yards so $7.34 total for shorts.

  Jalie 3243 brown stripe

Dec 18, 2018 – Brown stripe. So I went back to the drawing board on these and did a ton of alterations and it really didn’t seem to help at all.  These shorts turned out fitting worse than the flamingos and I just scrapped them. I also put the back pockets in too high. this was 70cent fabric so no real waste -thanks Hancock's, I miss you. From my pattern paper I used a size Z for the waist and BB from hip down.  I did a lot of weird alterations on this pair. I moved teh front waist in 1/2” from Z, added 1/2” to the front crotch curve tapering to 1/8” added at inner thigh and another 1/8” to the outer thigh at hem.  I added 2” to the hem length. 28.5” in waist elastic @1” wide. For the back piece I used a straight size BB and then took in 3/4” on both sides of waist. I added 1/4” to the outer hip tapering again to 1/8” added at inner thigh and another 1/8” to the outer thigh at hem. I also scooped the butt curve 1/2”. All these weird additions and subtractions didn’t make the shorts fit any better at all.  Sometimes simple is better than complicated.

Fabric: Brown Pinstripe Suiting, purchased May 2018 from fashionfabricsclub.  It has slight stretch to it.  90% cotton, 10% polyester.  I got it for only $2/yard and used maybe a yard –1.5 yards.

Jalie 3243 pink floral

April 7, 2019 – I came BACK to try again with this pattern and was into testing crotch curves at this point.  these are slightly better than both pairs above but I still don’t wear them as they just don’t feel right - I'll admit, they do look and fit much better than the other 2 pairs above. From my paper pattern I used a size V for the waist grading to a BB for the hips.  I used 28.5” in of elastic in the waist @ 1” wide. And I used a very modified crotch from my “crotch bowl” fitting.  I learned a few things by fitting a crotch bowl.  It was helpful, but I don’t think it is as useful as I wanted it to be.  It did point out to me that I have a low hanging butt so a scoop is always needed.

Fabric: 1.25 yards Pink Beige Floral Flannel 44W, purchased Feb 2016 for $4.95/yard from fashionfabricsclub.  Total: $6.19 for the shorts

Thoughts: I am bound and determined to get this darn pattern to fit me right.  I love the pockets and the look of the pattern.  I will revisit it again someday.   I feel I have come a long way from 2018 and even 2019 fitting pants.  So I am looking forward to trying new things to make these fit well.

Burda 11/2007 #122 previous makes: Sept 2017 black stripe for Miss K, Dec 2017 Red yoga for me, Dec 2017 purple stripe for me, Dec 2019 red xmas pjs for Miss K, and Aug 2020 my favorite pair of gray french terry pants for me.

Sewn April 1st, 2020

Fabric: Double Brushed Jersey Knit Fruit Widely Fruity Mint Fabric, 2 yards, purchased Feb 2020 from fabric.com for $3.12/yard so only $6.24 total for these lovely pj pants.

These were for Miss K and she loved them.  this is probably her favorite pajama pant pattern.  I have made her and I countless pairs over the years.  I sewed up a size 42 for her, scooped the butt curve 1/4”, took 1/2” off the waist on both sides, tapered the legs in 1” on each side as she prefers straight leg.  Then I took the waistband and divided  it in half, she doessn’t like a yoga band.  I put in elastic for her (29 in for future reference).  I scooped the front crotch 1/4”.  I also noted I took 1” out from crotch to knee – why? I am not entirely sure now.

Another Burda 11/2007 #122

Sewn: January 19, 2022

Fabric: Turquoise/White Tie-Dye Print Rayon/Lycra Jersey, purchased May 2017 for $4/yard from fabricmart fabrics.  Its a very soft rayon jersey knit. I used probably 1.5 yards so $6 total for these pjs.

I made yet another pair of these for Miss K – I warned you they were her favorite pattern.  This pair I used the same alterations because I had the pattern all ready to go.  This was sewn after my craniotomy and I was struggling but wanted to make her something.  She’s been begging for more pj pants for a long time. I got through them and she is happy so win-win.

Thoughts:  It’s clear both K and I love this pattern.  I will continue making it for a long time.  Expect to see many more pairs.

5 out of 4 Pajama Pants previous makes: A pair for all 4 of us

sewn: January 1, 2021

Fabric: super soft and plush yellow polka dot flannel.  This fabric is so nice. “Pineapple/White 100% Cotton Small Polka Dot Flannel - Robert Kaufman – 42W” purchased Sept 2017 for $2.92/yard in the FabricMart Precut Sale (please please have another one of those!!). 2.88 yards used so $8.40 total.

I used a size L with a M for the waist in Low rise.  I was sewing up a purple pair just days before in an XL and they were comically huge on me so I had to scrap them and start new.

my measurements at that time were: 33 waist and 45 hip. The pattern says for women to size down on these since they are unisex, If you are a pear shaped woman with an ample bottom half I strongly suggest ignoring the instructions and sew the size your hip corresponds to. alterations:  I do know I did a 1/2” knock knee alteration on these.  I have found this makes ALL the difference in how my pants fit below the butt to the knee.  This is by far my most ah-ha moment in pants fitting.  I never thought I had knock knees but now, its all I can see.  this alteration is gold. I talk about the knock knee alteration and show the photo how to do it in the middle of this pj post here.

I scooped the butt curve an entire 1.5” and added 1.5” to the length of the pants too.

Thoughts:  I find 5oo4 patterns just aren’t drafted well to my shape.  Which is ok, not every company will draft to the same shape and no shape is standard.  I do love these pj pants. I love how the pockets are put in.  They don’t flop around when sewn.  I have made these pants for everyone in the family and they all get worn often so they must be a hit with them.

Whew!  Lots of pajama pants and shorts here.  Some were hits (Jalie 2686, Burda 11/2007 #122, and 5oo4 pj pants); and some are just a work in progress still.

Thanks for reading! And Happy Sewing! Kristin