Maternity leggings shots

And here we are. A great pattern (Peg Legs with maternity add-on), great fabric and a particularly great daughter-in-law. Also a good sport.

Leggings sew-along: gussets, waistbands and finishing

I was asked recently why a gusset and what shape should it be?

Interesting question.

The most accurate answer would be that the gusset is the open space you see when you split your pants. In simple terms (unless you have been dancing really, really wildly and really, really split your pants) it would be about the length of the seam you open and about as wide apart as that the resulting opening would be.

A gusset is giving a particular garment what it needs anyway.

What is also interesting to me as someone who has sewn a number of different shaped gussets over the years is that the different shapes, most commonly a diamond about 3"+ long and about 2"+ at the widest part in the middle, and a V shape, all work in a similar way. But think about your own physiology and consider what shape you need and where.

What is common to them all is that one side is usually attached to a top of the leg seam (either to the crotch seam or inseam) first and then captured in the completion of the seam. We already talked about that in how I would put in the Peg Legs gusset a few posts back.

The Peg Legs gusset is set horizontally with the widest part of the diamond lined up with the crotch seams and the longer parts of the diamond extending down into each inseam:

I have also sewn in gussets in the past where the narrow ends of the gusset where lined up with the crotch seam and and widest parts at the inseam (imagine the image above with the diamond vertically). Unfortunately I can't show that to you as the pattern I used to use that had it done that way  was an old Kwik Sew that has vanished from my collection and their catalogue.

By contrast to the diamond shape the Clara by Jalie has a smaller gusset, a sort of triangle set as an extension of the back crotch:

You can see here how it was first stitched to the bottom of the back crotch (I used a lightening stitch to do that) and then how it is captured when the back crotch is finally stitched. I am pretty sure that the explanation for the shape of this gusset is that the Clara's do not have a front crotch seam. The gusset as placed this way is finally stitched in via the one long seam ankle to ankle.

If you look at these two gussets you can see how they both add three dimensional space to the leggings right at a place that would just be a stress/vulnerable to stitching breaking place otherwise.

It also explains why gussets make leggings more comfortable.

I am sure you will also notice too that the diamond gusset is a larger unit and for that reason I suspect might give a little more movement room for a larger person. For this reason I chose the Peg Legs for my maternity leggings when I knew give was going to be important.

Gusset seams need to be topstitched.

This can be done with a cover hem or twin needle (see the Peg Legs gusset above) or a triple zig-zag like I did here in my Clara's, note the seam allowances are folded to the garment side and top stitched that way:

Topstitching is also an option for all of the construction seams in leggings and something you see a lot in athletic wear for instance these made by Brit from Halo:

The point of this topstitching, here with a cover hem in a custom pattern (Greenstyle Creations and Jalie's Cora both have multiple seam options, is both to reinforce the seams (think of flat felling in jeans) as well as flatten the seams for comfort against the body.

A note here now about topstitching with a conventional machine. In the last post about seams we talked about wooly nylon in the loopers of a serger for more comfortable, stretchy seams. There is also the option of a stretch thread in the needles, I have used Euroflex with good results but the colour selection is limited, so I generally use a good polyester thread. I have some Maxi-lock stretch on order from Dry Cleaner's Supply and will talk about that when it arrives - not something I can get in local fabric stores.

But back to topstitching and conventional stitches. For topstitching gussets I always wind wooly nylon by hand onto a bobbin (a machine winds it too fast and stretches it out of shape) and this give wonderful stretch to any stitch.

For topstitching in a knit I generally like a multi-step zig zag rather than one that just zigs and zags because doing the zig in steps means there are not the long threads to catch.

Here is what a stitch made with the wooly nylon in the bobbin looks like, the underside of a three-step zig zag and both sides of a common utility stitch you could also use to topstitch seams if you really wanted to:

three step zig-zag showing the bobbin side, bobbin hand wound with wooly nylon

Utility stitch right side on Supplex

Bobbin side of the same stitch showing how the wooly nylon stretches when stitched

On the issue of whether or not to topstitch the seams, really don't feel you have to. I have made many pairs of leggings without and they have held out just fine. Then again I am not a marathon runner so chaffing from seams has not been an issue for me. And the cover hemming looks pretty cool.

If you do decide to cover hem I personally think that a good fluffy wooly nylon is essential in the loopers. I also shorten the stitch length to about a 3 (I know many folks do a 4 but I like the extra stitches). You can do a two needle cover hem or a three needle.

Generally this is done from stitching from the wrong side so the loopers show decoratively on the right side, aiming to situate the stitches so they cover the well of the seam on the right side. This can actually be tricky to do, as is any dominant stitching that you do blind from the wrong side while hoping for the best. I have found that rather than trying aim for the centre of the seam try to put the middle needle of a 3 needle stitch or the centre of the space between the two needles of a two needle cover hem so it stitches right on top of the right hand needle/seam line of the garment's serged seam. This really helps getting it right. 

3-needle cover hem from the right side:

And from the wrong side where hopefully you can see the middle needle set more or less to follow over the right hand needle seam thread of the serged seam:

To hem the leggings it is very important that they can be stretched to go over the foot without the stitches breaking, or, even more important in capri length leggings where the hem is over the large calf muscle that can expand with movement, without binding.

For this reason I always stretch a little while I topstitch the hems, to build in that extra stretch, whether I sew the hem with a 3 step zig zag with wooly nylon hand wound in the bobbin or with a narrow 2 needle cover hem, my preference to avoid tunnelling in these stretchy fabrics. 

Below are two samples. You will see that the stitches in both hems looks small - this is because they were stretched when sewn and the extra stitches got packed in - something I wouldn't worry about in a hem at this level.

Finally the last detail in the construction of the leggings is the yoga band waistband. 

There are several ways these can be done. 

Some folks when working with a firmer knit like Supplex actually just sew the band and stitch it right on to the top of the leggings, counting on the double layer of fabric to provide both the stretch and support they need in a waistband without elastic. Others, and suggested in both patterns, also add a row of elastic only lightly stretched, to the seam allowance at the top of the band and band facing.

I have seen clear elastic suggested for this step, some sewers serge this into the seam that attaches both band layers, but I don't personally find that is feels secure enough inside the band.

My own preference is for a 1 / 2 " bathing suit elastic (you can recognize this for its boring muslin colour) that I triple zig zag stitch down to the inside of the band, butting the elastic right up to the seam like this:

Well this wraps up our leggings sew-along. 

Not sure if I did this right. Suspect that there are more organized ways to run something like this so let me know if going through a garment type like this is helpful. 

In future I am going to forget about the Facebook page I think hoped that there would be some pictures of works in progress from readers, but that was probably spreading us all too thin.  I think this blog and my Instagram are more my own mediums in social media.

So for a bit the blog is going to resume regularly scheduled programming but watch this space once August kicks in for a bathing suit sew-along. Need to get that in before that awful moment when Nova Scotians start sniffing the air and saying things like " I can smell fall" and the back-to-school ads become depressingly frequent.

Around here we like to wring out every last drop of summer, and when we can't do that start packing the RV to head south!

Leggings sew-a long: cutting and stitching tips

Hi folks.

By now it should be apparent that I don't really know how to do a proper internet type sew-along. What you are really getting here are my thoughts on various aspects as they would arise during construction and this is hopefully useful to you as you sew the same garment.

Nothing more organized. No beautiful step-by-steps.

This blog is part of my life and that gets lived.

For instance Daisy and I are still in bed as I write this. I will be getting up soon to take her to her acupuncture session that really does seem to work. She has been moving happily and easily the last few weeks and I am so glad about that. The 6 weeks we had to confine her in a penned in area were hell. She seemed to interpret this as we too were going to cage her up like the bad guys in her former life and there was too much hurt in her eyes. Recovery from that set-back has been slower than her back. I will do a lot to keep us from having to go there again.

I have been sewing my brains out. I had decided to make my DIL some maternity clothes and realized Monday that you can't put off sewing for a pregnancy when the due date in November. So I have gone into what my dad has called high gear. Two pairs of leggings, four tops and hopefully a bathing suit will go in the mail in the next few days. I also have made an identical skirt to one I had made her a while ago that had got misplaced somewhere on a recent trip east. It is awfully nice to be a sewer and be able to sew replacement garments.

I have also finally finished a shirt for her husband, my son, promised for his birthday in March. I will post some pictures once I know they have the garments in their own hands.

I am also getting ready for my daughter to come over tonight for help sewing her first dress. Having an adult child announce she wants to start sewing (she said reading my book put the idea into her head which is funny because I spent about 30 years sewing around her trying to do just that) makes me feel like other mothers might when a grown child says they are going to start going back to church. You know what I mean?

So within that life context you get my ideas on sewing leggings.

Does that count as a sew-along?

Are you finding this helpful?

So with that introduction here are my thoughts on starting sewing.

Layout and cutting:

Obviously you don't want to pierce the fabric too much with pins so I would keep those in the seam allowances. You can also use weights to hold the pattern down and lay a flat hand close to the cutting line and cut one hand length at a time, reposition and cut again.

I cut out two pairs at a time and left the first one pinned and then laid that on the second fabric as sort of a weighed pattern. I do this all the time and I am sure you do too.

The other hint I have that is really, really useful if you have trouble with accurate cutting is to always keep the pattern to the right of your scissors if you are right handed, and always to the left if you are left handed (and hopefully using left handed scissors). This absolutely gets the cut closer to the pattern and makes it more precise. Of course this can get awkward in some areas so I generally rough cut big around the pattern if I have to and spin the pinned piece around so I can still keep cutting with the pattern to the right of my scissors.

If you think this is crazy, just try it and see what you think. I really find this makes a difference.


Thread:

You can sew leggings up equally well on both a serger and on a sewing machine. In my mind the difference is not in strength of the seam so much as speed of construction.

I know that there are folks who say that a 3 thread serged seam is stretchier than a 4 thread, and they are right about that, but there is no way I can eliminate that second needle thread myself and feel good about it.

There is also a suggestion, more popular before cover hems became widely available and folks were trying to make their self-made athletic wear have the same stitches they saw in RTW (which of course is made on machines not available domestically), to flat lock the seams. I don't do this myself but if you do and it works please tell us about it. The argument, and it makes sense, is that flat locking makes the seam lay flatter. The thing though is only two thread flat lock really lies flat, a three thread will still have that ridge unless you topstitch it down, and there is no way I am going to trust this crotch or back seam to two threads. Sorry, you can't talk me out of that one, I am afraid. Just can't do it.

So apart from a 4 thread serged seam I would also use either a reverse action triple straight stitch or the lightening stitch ( a short reverse action zig zag) for construction.

On the Eversewn Sparrow 30 I have been testing that would be stitch #3 or #4 pictured below:

I wouldn't use any of the fancy stretch stitches on a machine to sew the actual seams, maybe save those for topstitching to be discussed in a later post, as these can pack down too much thread and create seam waving with the activity of the machine doing so much, and that can get uncomfortable so tight and close to the skin.

I should add here too that if you have snapped seam paranoia you have the option of restitching over your high stress seam areas with one of the above stitches at the machine after you have serged. I usually don't feel the need to do this but that doesn't mean it can't be done.

Which brings us to thread.

Use a good one.

I have used the new stretch threads like Euroflex with success but didn't bother in my own leggings. I found that a good polyester thread in the needles worked just fine and I used wooly nylon in the loopers for more comfort on the skin.

To increase the stretch in the seam at the machine you can also hand wind a bobbin with the wooly nylon too (it won't work in the upper threading but will work in the bobbin area in most machines).

The main thing of course is to do some test seams and really give them a good stretch.

The same can, and should be done with your threads.

A sewing machine technician told me something a long time ago that made a really big impression on me.

He noted that most sewers collected serger thread in different colours and had them around for many years. During those years the thread dries out and he suggested I pull on my threads to see if any broke easily before I used them. I have done that and was surprised at how many of my serger cone threads snapped.

If you find this happening to you I would suggest you either buy new thread to sew your leggings or use a good spool thread like Gutterman in the needles for this project.

And of course use a new needle and one for knits - look for the words Stretch as opposed to Jersey - the stretch needles have a better point and if you experience skipped stitches at all it is invariably a question of finding the right needle.

Basting:

The gusset pieces in both patterns I used are lined, this means double layer. You can see the Peg Leg piece above with the two layers basted together. You can use two layers of the leggings fabric but be aware this adds bulk in a tiny area. I have test sewed several pairs of leggings in different ways, serged seams and reverse action stitches on the Eversewn machine I am testing right now, want to see how it sews on different knits, and have used two different sergers too. I didn't have any trouble with bulky seams with my Juki serger but did with my daughter's older Pfaff. If you have had issues with serging over bulky seams you might want to make the lining for your gusset piece from a thinner fabric - I have used athletic mesh with good results.

In any case and in any pattern the gusset piece will be basted to the top of a garment leg before final stitching. I suggest you do this basting with a zig zag (something I should have thought of when I basted the two layers together above). The reason for this is that straight stitches break when stretched and zig zags won't, or at least not easily. This of course doesn't matter since the seams will eventually capture the gusset but the sound and feel of that breaking basting stitches can make you worry. 

The zig zag basting is more of an emotional thing.

For both of the patterns I am using I am not going to repeat the pattern instructions you can read yourself but when there is an easier way I will mention it.

A good example of this is the Peg Leg gusset piece.

The instructions are for the gusset to be basted in both sides to each side of the crotch. This can be a bit tricky and actually makes sewing the eventual inseams kind of complicated. I don't quite understand why this is advised.

I have been inserting gussets in things for decades and they are always sewing with in a short seam one side to one leg and the other side is captured in the long continuous inseam.

So I did the same thing here, serging on the gusset along one side and then pinning the remaining edge into the seam when I stitched that:

Pinning:

I have recently started to use clips rather than pins for a lot of my knit sewing, active wear in particular. Pins can spin around on you in knits, get caught in serger blades, and give out when you are really stretching as you sew, as in elastic to fabric for instance.

I find the security of the clips really helpful, all I do is make sure I clip them on coloured side up and push them down and pull them off before I come to them with my machine. And BTW no need to spend a fortune for a few at the fabric store- I got masses on Amazon for nearly nothing.

Stitching:

Finally don't fight with your stitching. If your serger has trouble crossing the bulk of the gusset switch to your sewing machine and a reverse action stitch for that part, no shame in doing that and I can tell you the stitching will be just as strong. And if you are paranoid about popping seams you can always reverse action stitch over the crotch seams after you serge too, although I don't bother to do that and haven't had any issues.

Also if you find keeping the layers together difficult under your serger (I did find the older serger had a little trouble with this) just zig zag the layers together and then serge. Works very well.

So folks that's a start. Anything I left out?

Any questions you have?

Thanks for hanging in with me for this long post!

More thoughts on fabric and fitting

Hi folks.

I had these amazing Supplex fabrics arrive from Halo Fabric Addicts yesterday and I have cut out four more pair of leggings - one for me, one for my daughter and two maternity versions for my daughter-in-law.

Supplex is not cheap but if you have confidence in your pattern it really lasts and yes it breathes. The days when I didn't care about breathability in fabric are long gone. I will be working both with the Supplex, some nylon/spandex from Joann's, and some cotton/lycra.

There doesn't seem to be much point in posting solid black and navy fabric, which is why my daughter and I will be getting, but here is the print I have ready to go for my DIL:

Some athletic mesh also came in the order - it's the stuff you see in legging inserts, and I am going to use it to line my waistbands in the black and navy pair. This is a bit of an experiment for me but a detail I have seen in RTW and I want to try it. Athletic mesh is lighter than Powermesh but seems really strong and has great horizontal stretch, but not much vertically.

On the subject of stretch and stretch direction Brit at Halo who has made many leggings as a business and I had an interesting email exchange on choosing the maximum stretch. This can be confusing in 4 way fabric.

Brit feels that the fabric she sells is so stretchy and has good recovery both directions so she makes some of her layout decisions based on which direction the colour changes (to avoid Lululemon show through) which I found interesting.

For instance here are her thoughts on laying out the mottled black/blue fabric above:

For the Marbled Blue/Black I believe the best orientation for the pattern is from selvage to selvage. If you give it a good stretch length-wise and another width-wise you'll notice that one directiongets slightly lighter in colour. (I believe it was cut edge to cutedge for that) so I run my pattern lengthwise perpendicular to that length.

This of course puts the pattern traditionally placed with the crosswise stretch running across the body (the advice I have talked about in previous posts) despite the fact the vertical stretch is near the same in this print, but I thought the advice about colour was really interesting.

Brit also shared a method for determining maximum stretch that I have not heard of before. Myself I just pull it each way and see which direction is slower to snap back, like chewed out bubble gum.

Brit calls this the "punch test":

Take the corner of the fabric and wrap it around one fist (like stuffing a wonton or punching bread dough) and really push into the fabric to see how the fabric recovers."

We both agree that whatever method you use it is important that the direction of greatest stretch is needed to accommodate   "butt/hips/thighs movement."

When cutting out last night I also had a few other thoughts to share. The Peg Legs includes calf measurement in the sizing charts. This is really important. I for example have an XL calf and a M thigh and a L everything else. To have my leggings fit I need to remember to grade out a bit below the knee.

So next will be cutting and stitching and then before you know it we will have leggings.

Leggings sew-along: thoughts on patterns

There are a number of legging patterns available these days. Many produce a garment that is indiscernible from ready-to-wear.

Nearly every indie pattern company of any size has a leggings pattern, and the Big Four do too.

As a result I have decided for this sew-along not to start with a review of all the possibilities, and not, until the last session, to talk about design details - colour blocking, pockets, decorative cover hemming, mesh inserts etc.

Instead I decided it would be more useful to share what my own experience has taught me about legging patterns. 

Also I also am looking forward to hearing from all of you - on pattern recommendations, and on pattern characteristics you think are really important.

For the purposes of this sew-along I am going to be working along with you on two very different patterns Jalie's Clara and Patterns 4 Pirates Peg Legs. The Clara is Jalie's newest legging pattern, released this spring, and the Peg Legs are a free pattern, supplemented by a Peg Leg's add-on package (you need this for the gusset) and by a the maternity add-on  that I will actually be using to make some leggings for my DIL.

Both patterns will allow you to have a preview of the instructions before you commit. If you go to the Jalie site you can read the instructions right there and of course because the Peg Legs are free you can do the same.

I chose these two patterns for myself because I know them well and each offers a very different look and to some extent feel. They are also very basic patterns in terms of design details, plain leggings, and I also felt that this would help to keep the focus on construction, stitching, and fabric options, and on fit.

If I were to describe the differences between the two patterns I would say that the Claras are closer to a real workout leggings think Lululemon ( you really need a very stretchy fabric to get the right fit), smooth and minimal. The Peg Legs are more an everyday wear legging, not as closely cut and can be made in fabrics with a wider range of stretchability.


There two pictures I think articulate this difference:

This doesn't mean I don't use and like other patterns, it's just that for our purposes right now I thought  it made sense to keep the focus on the basics.

So if you want to sew-along and work with another pattern that's great too - some more information for us all to share.

When you choose a pattern however I thing that it is essential it has these characteristics, again based on my experience:

1. The pattern has to have a gusset piece. This IMO is completely non-negotiable. Why? Look at our bodies. Leggings fit like a second skin, in some ways even more so as they are negative ease garments, cut smaller than our actual measurements, counting on the 4-way stretch fabric to fit, and they have to be cut like we are built. 

And how we are all built is not 2-dimensionally like a paper doll. 

We are 3-D people and we have front to back through the middle as well as side to side. In other words we have a crotch and we need a little piece of fabric sewn into the seams at the top of our legs to cover and accommodate this crotch. A pair of leggings without a gusset will pull tight in the crotch area and likely split with movement (the garment attempting when it splits to open up a spot that will be remarkably similar in size and shape to the gusset piece)

There are different gusset shapes of course and the more pronounced the gusset the more movement you may feel in the garment.

The Jalie Clara's have a sort of triangular gusset piece because these leggings lack a front seam (the front is laid on the fold) and there are therefore only 3 seams to attach to it. This gusset shape contributes to the sleek lines of this design.

You can see this tiny but critical pattern piece (C) in the pattern layout below:

The base pattern for the Peg Legs, which unlike the Claras have a centre front seam, does not include a gusset. To have the gusset piece you will need  the Peg Leg add-on package to find this pattern piece.

The centre front seam of the Peg Legs also means that the gusset is the more familiar diamond shape. Here is a construction photo that shows how this piece looks inserted:

BTW none of the Big 4 legging patterns of those I checked out included a gusset piece.

2. I have tried all the different leggings waistband options and for the best fit, comfort and stay upability (coining some new words here) I have decided that when you are talking leggings there really is no substitute for a wide yoga style waistband.

Stitched in elastic or even a casing will just pull down and I can't imagine that being a wearing experience any legging wearer wants.

A wide waistband, particularly one that is contoured as is standard in the Clara and one of the add-on options for the Peg Legs, has the whole capacity of the 4 way stretch fabric working with you to hold the top off the legging up and, in the patterns I will be working with, having elastic sewn into the seam allowances at the top of the band is just added security rather than all you are relying on.

The waistbands can of course be wide up to the navel (as the Claras are) or can be narrower and set lower into in the body of the legging for a low rise look, up as far as the navel or even well past it as in the Peg Leg maternity add-on version. 

Here are some of those Peg Leg options for waistbands. Note in the base pattern the waistbands are simple bands that can sit at the navel or well below, but the add-on has a higher contoured band.

As to sizing well that's an interesting question for sure. In leggings the fabric itself, with the vast differences that exist in 4-way stretch fabrics, both in terms of degree of stretch and degree of recovery, can really define fit. And that's exactly what we will talk about Friday.

In the meantime please leave your comments, suggestions, and questions leggings patterns below.

I am looking forward to hearing from you!