As I mentioned in my last blog posts, i had another set of comfy clothes cut out and ready to go. I wanted to sew the Mile End sweatshirt and Plateau joggers up in other fabrics because I wanted to see how they fit with different knits and play with some cool fabric.
I made no fit changes at all. I really like the boxy slightly cropped silhouette of this top. The shape along with the details make it feel a little more modern and stylish and less like a plain old sweatshirt.
This time I made up view A but added the kangaroo pocket. I really love a good pocket. I can stash all kinds of good things in there if needed! Phone, tissues, candy, dog treats, hand sanitizer! LOL!! Plus I really like the look of it.
I also cut the main fabric on varying grain lines. Some I cut crosswise and some I cut lengthwise. This was for 2 reasons. The lengthwise grain has a lot of stretch and i wanted to control some of that stretchiness. The second was for aesthetically pleasing rotation of the ribs that have a predominate look of stripes.
The neckline, sleeve cuffs, hem band and pocket were all made out of this very soft and very black ribbing. This is the kind of ribbing that is 20 inches wide but in a tube and i had a remnant piece left over from another project. I had just enough to complete this project! I have no idea where I purchased this ribbing… or when. I think, maybe, on Etsy. Nope just checked my history there so, somewhere else online at some point in time!
Just like in the last one I interfaced the pocket openings and the shoulder seams only.
Constructions was done mostly on the serger, except for attaching the pocket and the shoulder seams.
Hems were done with the ribbing bands which makes it so nice and easy. One thing to note, with the ribbing I did not use the recommended lengths from the pattern instructions. The ribbing is like crazy stretchy almost 75% so I started with subtracting 25% off the length and then pinned it on place on the garment and made it even shorter after that. The waist band ended up being almost 8 inches shorter than the length I used on the previous top!
Totally worth taking the time otherwise the ribbing would be all wavy and look funny and then I would have been very disappointed.
This version of the Plateau joggers was made with black ponte knit from my stash. A much more stable knit then the soft French terry in the previous pair. Due to the more stable knit you can certainly see where my fitting flaws are, particularly in the back! Front looks great!
Like most of us I have a funny body. When I stand straight and you view me from the side my calf’s stick out quite far. In fact if you place a vertical line my calf’s stick out just as far as my tush! Which gives me drag lines on the side and back of my legs. Plus i have ‘fleshy’ inner upper thighs. So be warned of the upcoming backside photos!! They look quite different from the same exact pants in the same size cut from a different fabric in the previous version!
This time I made the view with the cuff instead of the elastic and I made them 1 inch longer.
For the waist band drawstring I used buttonholes in green thread and a ribbon from my stash. (I got this idea from one of my granddaughters pants that have a fun ribbon drawstring)
One of the things I really like about these pants is the side pocket construction! And the lack of a side seam at the top.
The only change I will definitely make next time is to deepen the pockets. They are good I just would prefer them slightly deeper. Maybe a 3/8 to 1/2 an inch.
The back pockets have a great size and placement.
Black is so hard to photograph and apparently shows every single dog hair especially when I lightened up the photos for details! Oh well, that’s life.
These pants are really comfortable and this is definitely my new TNT jogger pants pattern. I may or may not play around with shifting the calf back. I have tried many things over the years and have found that I either need to make my pants wide legged so they hang from my butt down straight and skim the calves, make bell bottoms so there is no pull from the calves or make the pants super tight, like leggings, so there is no place for wrinkles. Other than that there are wrinkles. I have even tried changing how I stand !! LOL!!! If I stand so my calves are more under my body then all the wrinkles go away but then I am in danger of falling over. Hah!! The things us sewers do to get rid of the wrinkles!
Happy sewing!!
PS- enjoy a real life moment of me in my new top, snuggled with The Princess and the little dog. :)
