Kwik Sew 3807 Leggings

Here is my daughter wearing the Kwik Sew leggings. She wanted this legging pattern because of the cute zip on the leg.  The ones I made here are sans zip.  Yes, those are a magazine print in cotton lycra from Fabric Fairy. I thought, cool, when she is bored she can just read her legs.  You can tell I am almost 50 and she is almost 17. This is a a one pattern piece pattern.  It is super easy and absolutely no problems with any of the construction. She is wearing it with black shorts in the pic and a tunic top from Aritzia (her fav store), Modcloth jacket and her itsy bitsy Coach purse. She is 5 foot 2 inches and about 108 pounds.  I made the extra small for her.

If you need a legging pattern that is super easy and great fit, then this is a good choice.

Happy Sewing

Claire

Vogue 8565 and Simplicity 2181

This was my attempt to mesh two patterns together. I like the outcome, but I will be doing this differently on my next one.
The Vogue is out of print and I believe Style Arc has a similar tee. I can tell you how I think you can make this without those two patterns, because I am going to try this again without either of these patterns.  On this top, I used the sleeves from S2181 and traced the front portion of the armhole to the front pattern piece and the same for the back.  After I sewed this up, the shoulders were to wide. I fixed the cap by sewing it deeper into the body which gave medium results. This is the reason the next version will be with a TNT like Jalie, Kwik Sew or Ottobre's basic tee.  ( more on my hypothesis later)

Changes besides the sleeves,
 Lowered the neckline by 2 inches
Neckline with self fabric:  See my video on how to put on a knit neckline without measuring.
Lengthened top by 2 inches

What I will do next time, or if you do not have this OOP Vogue:

I will take a portion of my knit fabric designated for the top and sew down the pleats.  These pleats are marked 1 inch apart and 9 inches long. They are sewn down with 1/4 inch seams. The pattern has 12 pleats going to the center, mine are all going to the left and 11 pleats.  Then I will lay my front pattern on top of this and cut it out. That way the sleeves will match the pattern used.  I guess you could also spread your TNT top pattern 12 inches out for the pleats if you are using a one layer pattern front.

If anyone has done this similar to my above hypothesis, let me know if it worked out or should I do something different.

Happy Sewing!

Claire

Simplicity 2181

This is a great little tee pattern. I made a size 14 and straightened the side seam a little.  My waist is not too little anymore.  Anyhoo, my daughter said that it was slimming, therefore it is my new favorite top.  I am wearing it with some Jalie jeans that I made.  I won't show you the waist of these jeans because I had to put some elastic in them so they would stay up.  The tee has a large front facing that I accidentally omitted. Once I had the front twist done, I skipped the instructions. This pattern needs a facing for the neck so I just copied the back neckline and added 2 1/2 inches in width. I cut the front facing 2 1/2 inches wide and joined it to my back facing at the shoulders then attached it to the neck hole. I understitched the facing and then coverstitched it down about 1/2 inch from the edge.  The next one is going to have an inch in length added.  I am 5' 2" and it just seems short to me.  No other fitting adjustments were done.  I wish I had done a little more matching work on the stripes, but I'm not sure I am too bothered by that.  It was fun, easy and flattering!

Have a nice weekend!!

Claire