Good morning, friends! I hope this post finds you well – I have missed all of you! If you missed out on the drama last week (and/or were wondering why I suddenly fell silent and my website went poof into the night), I had a bit of an issue with an expired domain and transferring it back into my name. You can read the boring backstory about it in this post, but basically – everything should be fixed and up and running. If you’re still having problems getting to the site (I was until last night, thanks to my internet provider), try clearing your cache and cookies and see if that helps. Sorry for all the dramz! Shit should be back to normal from here on out!
Anyway, enough of that boring internet talk – let’s talk about why we’re all here! Sewing and fabric and actual fun happy stuff, yeah!
For this week’s project, I bring you: Jeggings. I’m not sure if this means I’ve cracked some kind of sewing power code with all the ridiculously normal/boring things I’ve made at this point, or if it means I’ve hit rock bottom (I mean, we are talking about the ultimate comfort clothing here. I am not above making fun of jeggings, just so we’re clear). You tell me. What I can tell you is that these are INSANELY comfortable and now I kind of get the hype.
I’m not really much of a comfort-clothes seeker/wearer – I’m ok with being a little pulled in for the sake of looking nice when I’m out in public. That being said, it’s not a very interesting story as to how I came about obtaining a pair of the ultimate comfort/secret pajama clothes. It started out as a fabric review for Organic Cotton Plus. I was prowling around on their website, looking for something to pick as my next project, when I came across their organic knit denim. The fact that it’s called “knit denim” should have raised some sort of warning flag, but I didn’t even notice it – I just saw denim and immediately got starry-eyed. I’m always on the lookout for a good denim source, and this sounded too good to be true. Organic cotton denim with 5% lycra? GET ON MY BODY. I submitted my order and anxiously waited for my shipment.
The spoiler here is that this definitely is not denim – not in the true sense of what you get when you buy a pair of jeans. It’s definitely a knit fabric – a very thick, stable ponte-ish type of fabric that looks exactly like denim. It’s the right color and has that twill weave look. It thick and squishy with a good, firm stretch. It’s like a marriage of a tshirt and a pair of jeans. I don’t really understand it, but I’m not going to argue with it. At any rate, I had a yard of this stuff and I realized I needed to make something with it. And that’s where jeggings came in. I wanted to see if I could actually make a pair of jeggings. I did, and now y’all get to see how they turned out.
First things first, I realize that these don’t technically classify as actual jeggings. The material does – it’s more of a knit than a denim, it’s very stretchy and it has a lot of spandex in it. However, these are constructed like an actual pair of jeans. They have working pockets (both front and back), they have an actual zip fly, and there is no elastic in the waistband. The only part about these things that makes them even remotely jeggings-like is the fabric they’re made from. However, I’m going to keep calling them jeggings because – well, I made them, and I get to call the shots. Them’s the rules.
When I was planning these out (after receiving the fabric, but before cutting into it), I debated on whether to make these into jeans-looking pants – aka, true jeggings, with the pockets and fly simply suggested by lines of topstitching. I thought it would be interesting to see how the fabric works when it’s treated like a woven, so I decided to use an actual jeans pattern and follow it the same way I would if I was making these out of denim. I used the Ginger Jeans pattern and basically did not make any changes for the fabric. The size is the same size I used for my woven denim and stretch twill jeans, and all finishing and topstitching uses the same methods as those pairs do. The only difference is that I didn’t flat-fell any of my seams – I figured it was enough that I was making these out of stretch material, so I just serged and topstitched (like you would with leggings). I’m surprised at how well they fit, although I think the legs could be a little tighter around the ankle. Also – they turned out surprisingly long, due to the 4 way stretch. I actually cut 3″ off the pattern legs before cutting (that was the ONLY way I could make these out of a yard of fabric – short inseam!), which should make them the correct length – but they magically grew, and now they’re too long. I’ve cuffed them for now, because I want to wash them a couple more times and eliminate any additional shrinking before I re-hem them.
Making these was really fun, and surprisingly quick! Like I said, I made them the same way you’d make a pair of jeans, except I didn’t flat-fell any of the seams. Everything was sewn on my sewing machine with a stretch needle and the edges were finished with my serger. For the topstitching, I used a triple stitch (thanks to Emmie for showing me the stitch on my Bernina – I guess this means I should probably read the manual more often, ha!), which makes a nice defined topstitch that also stretches quite a bit. The waistband is interfaced with my favorite stretch interfacing (seriously – this stuff is AWESOME), which gives it enough structure to look nice, but doesn’t sacrifice any of that comfy stretch. There is an actual zipper and button installed, however, I did leave off the rivets.
Basically, these look & wear like jeans – BUT THEY FEEL LIKE PAJAMAS. If that doesn’t blow your mind with amazement, then I give up.
Sorry ’bout that VPL, story of my life. I do think the pockets are a bit low, which is likely due to the 4 way stretch. I don’t care enough to remove them and raise them, so it’s whatever.
Here are some gut close-ups so you can better see what I was working with. The material really looks like denim! Everything handled pretty well, except attaching the belt loops did get a little difficult at the end, just because there were soo many layers (I ended up hammering them as flat as I could, which helped a little. Still broke a couple of needles in the process, argh.). All the topstitching was done with a single needle and a single piece of thread, sewn with the triple stitch. I used lemon yellow cotton thread, also from Organic Cotton Plus, which was nice and thick and worked out quite well with the triple stitch. It looks more gold than neon yellow when it’s against the dark indigo, which I really like.
Proof that there’s actually a zipper in there! The zipper is also from Organic Cotton Plus; it’s just a heavy brass jeans YKK zipper, but it works really nicely with this pattern. The 6″ length was just barely long enough for the high-waisted version of this pattern; I ended up cutting about 1/2″ off in excess when all was said and done. The pocket lining is just some stretch cotton sateen I had in my stash. I wanted to use something with a stretch, so it wouldn’t fight against the stretch of the exterior fabric.
And here’s the back! Mock-flat felled seams (just serged and topstitched) and patch pockets! I had to cut the waistband in pieces, because I didn’t have enough fabric to cut it on the fold – but the seam is covered by the back belt loop, so it can just be our secret, ok.
So that’s my little sewing experiment! Turns out you *can* make jeans with jegging material – with all the look of jeans, but the comfort of leggings. Love it! And since there are back pockets, I don’t feel as compelled to cover my butt haha. What do you think? Is this a win or just the weirdest garment I’ve ever made? Have you – or do you – wear jeggings? I always made fun of them, but man, can’t deny how comfy they are!!
As a side note – I mentioned this on Instagram yesterday, but it bears mentioning here too. I’m moving soon! I was finally able to get hold of my landlord with the notice and vacate date (they require 60 days, but they’re gonna let us out in 30 days because they love us for being awesome tenants haha), so we’ll be out of this house by the end of March! My best friend/life partner/former roommate just bought a house in the woods in a small town outside of Nashville, and Landon & I will be moving into the lower level as her roommates! The house is cool as shit, the land is AMAZING (did I mention it’s in the woods? Gah I can’t wait to be a hippie and raise chickens in the forest lolol), and I so look forward to living with my two very best friends in one house. Plus – I get a new sewing room! How cool is that? :)
** Note: Organic Cotton Plus provided the materials (denim knit, zipper, thread) for this project in exchange for a review. All thoughts and options are my own.
