Saturday 2 July 2011

Production sewing Jalie 2215 trousers

I have a weakness for very expensive athletic wear. This is not due to any athleticism on my part, but an unreasonable fondness for technical fabrics in even my sedate exercise programme. Nylon lycra from Spotlight does not quite do the job.
Due to this weakness, I recently recieved a parcel from Mill Direct Textiles (Malden Mills), with some wicking Poly/Nylon outer, velour inner Polartec Power Stretch 9401, that was intended to make me some long running gear.
This minor project resulted in heartfelt pleas from the teenage fashion panel concerning their cold legs, and an upcoming cycling tour - inland, and at ungodly hours of the morning. (Did I mention that we share the house with a cycling fanatic?)

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My pair, from the deservedly popular Jalie "yoga pants" pattern 2215, has added front pockets with exposed zips.
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This was such a fiddly thing to add to the pattern that my daughters' pairs have internal, hold-your-change-and-a-key only waistband pockets instead, zipless.
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I swapped the sewing for a photo subject. 16 year old girls look better in these legging type trousers than their mothers - at least in this family.
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The fabric is very nice indeed. The outside is firm but stretchy, without shininess, and also thick and smoothing to the middle aged figure. The inner surface of the fabric is a luscious velour. It was worth every penny of the considerable total.

I did not waste any of the fabric.
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Here is a kindle cover for my husband (that zipper tag was stolen from my trousers once I realised I wouldn't be on the cycling trip this weekend, and that the kindle would)

To use up the very last scraps I made a size G pair, which allegedly fit a 3 year old girl.
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I did not really fancy the plain black for such a small person, so added a flower to one leg. The flower is appliqued polar fleece, and there is machine embroidery in 3 colours to embellish the applique and make a stem. I like it better in real life. The recipient has bright red hair, and I plan to make her a purple polar fleece jacket to co-ordinate with the flower because I like matchy-matchy.
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I made a few small changes to the pattern, the top of the trousers is raised closer to the waist, and the 3 smaller pairs are faced at the waistband with a contrast cotton-lycra knit.

Despite the value in production sewing, I am ready to do something a bit more challenging. Unfortunately, not only am I a bit unwell, but our tax year has just finished, making my work load quite unreasonable. Maybe I will have the energy to sew a pillowcase or something of similar difficulty..... I hope to improve the interest level of my sewing before too long, wish me luck!

11 comments:

Uta said...

Great, useful pants! I can only repeat myself: how can you be so good and sew so much "practical" stuff? I hope you feel better soon. Actually, I'm only commenting to let you know how jealous I am that your family is going cycling and you have the house to yourself...

Steph said...

Very cool, great sewing.

Sharon said...

Great pants and now I need some of that fabric for my stash LOL. Hope you feel better soon.

Gay McDonell said...

Oh I know what you mean about the fascination with the technical fabrics - and thanks for the contacts of these gems in the states - just got a big bag of samples - and they are mesmerising! Those cycling pants look great - hope you are feeling better soon!!

Carolyn said...

I hope you are feeling well soon!
Nice cycling/thermal pants, and I smiled at your opening statement... I share your level of )enthusiasm for athletic pursuits. Isn't dog-walking a sport?
Those zip pockets do indeed look very tricky, and I think the inner zipless pockets were a great idea.

katherine h said...

Thanks for the fabric review.

I have this pattern but have not tried it yet. My yoga pants are my most worn item so I am sure your family will love you for this sewing.

Kyle said...

Hope you feel better soon!!
I love the flower on the yoga pants. Very cool!

Audrey said...

The fabric sounds wonderful. And hopefully you can wear your pair of pants to do some running, which will hopefully relieve the stress of the year end work. Love the appliqued pair, so cute!

velosews said...

Hope you feel better soon. Tax time will pass. Love the pants.

The Slapdash Sewist said...

Very useful production sewing! They may not have been fun to sew but I am sure they will be worn forever. And based on your description of your trip to France, you are very athletic!!!

shams said...

Ms. Production Sewer - I like how you put a little twist on your pieces. :)

Thanks for the tip about the stretch bengaline. I'm no longer so eager to rush to buy it!