Color Blocked Lounge Pants

When my Grandma Nina came for a visit this fall she brought me a black garbage bag of stretchy knit fabrics that she wasn't going to use.  I was tremendously pleased as I don't have much knit in my fabric stash...and, as the last several Me-Made-Mays have proven, I've really fallen for stretchy, comfy garments these days.  So, win-win.  Grandma got rid of unneeded clutter and I acquired a much-desired stash of knits to play around with.

I completed my first project from the Grandma Stash last week--a color blocked pair of lounge pants, perfect for kicking around the house on the weekend.  I sent a photo to my mom and she declared them to be "wild and colorful."  Clearly, right up my alley.  :)

"Wild and colorful" indeed!

I've been trying to find more functional purposes to satisfy my creative/sewing itch.  I've certainly made more dresses than I need at this point.  (Though I have two more in-the-works right now, so...)  As such, when I noticed that my lone pair of sweatpants was seriously worn out after a decade or more of use I was pretty excited.  A replacement was in order.  Hooray!  A functional sewing project for me!

I dug around in the knits until I found the butterflies-on-a-white-background fabric.  That struck me as looking like swell loungewear/pajama material to me.  There wasn't enough of it for a full pair of pants though, plus it was fairly thin fabric.  I wanted something both sturdier and less transparent for the crotch area of my lounge pants.  So, I kept digging.  The purple and orange fabrics were both remnants, too, but between the three there was more than enough for a pair of Beth-sized pants.  

A close up of the butterfly fabric. 

I used the Simplicity pattern that I have modified for for Matt's boxers and then just eyeballed it for the legs.  As I was working I recalled that I've actually used this same pattern, in conjunction with an existing pair of pants, to make Matt some lounge pants back in 2015.  I've sure gotten a lot of miles out of that Simplicity pattern.  I now think I might try making those View 1 pants, too.  I've never made any proper fitted pants.  Just boxers and lounge pants.  And a billion skirts!  Okay, okay, I exaggerate.  Still, it would be cool to break new sewing ground.

Simplicity 7501 is the pattern I modified for my purposes.

There was a moment, as I was finishing up the lounge pants, where I thought:  "Oh, no...  Did I make accidental Denver Broncos colored pants or something?"  That was really NOT what I was going for, but the color blocking looked so "sporty" to me.  Matt assured me that Denver was orange and blue, not purple.  He even went so far as to look up the color combo for me.  There are sports teams who use purple and orange, but not many and mostly at the college level.  So, it is what it is.

Lounging in my lounge pants.  :)

I love how much volume the legs have, poofing out over the ankle cuffs in a mild harem pant style.  I added extra length to the legs explicitly for this purpose.  Having elastic at the bottom cuff also keeps me warmer because there is no draft on my ankles.

I'm happy.  I think I'll make a second pair, actually.

It is a Winter Wonderland out there today.  Heck!  We might even have a White Christmas.  Fingers crossed!

Comments

  1. Beth those pants are so you and utterly brill!! What a fab way to repurpose scraps of fabric from your Grandma Nina - what does she think of them? San xx

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    1. Good question! I'll have to ask my mom if she showed Grandma the pictures I sent. Thanks, San, and have a nice day.

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  2. Hi Beth,
    ...what fun...I absolutely love the pants...and the print in the middle is adorable...they fit you really well...it's exactly like you to use up your cloth like that...
    ~Have a lovely day!

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  3. Oh your pretty snow! Little jealous.

    Also, how do you sew knits? Your pants are so cool. I haven't figured out how to sew knits without getting ripples. Maybe you have a serger - I do not.

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  4. Beth they look so cosy and i'd be happy to strut around in them at home, esp. as i am still working from home. Also as you may have noted I've been away from blogging for a month or so, but have come by to Wish you a restful festive break too, hope to resume blogging come the New Year. Take care until then my blogger friend.

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    1. Thanks, Shaheen. I hope you have an amazing season of seasonal festivities! Happy New Year!

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  5. Hi! I thought I put in a comment, with a question, but it's not on the post now so I'll try again :)

    I love your snow and I'm a tiny bit jealous! I also love your colorful pants and the connection to family makes them extra-special. How do you sew knits without getting wavy seams? On your regular machine? Perhaps you have a serger. . . I do not, and I want to figure out how to sew knits with such nice seams. Thanks for any advice. . .

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    1. Sorry, Margo. That was my bad. I was being delinquent in moderating my comments. :) I hope you've had a lovely Christmas!

      No great tricks to relay about the sewing-knits-without-it-rippling. You nailed it. I have a serger/overlocker. My dad bought it for me for my birthday in, oh, 2017, I think. I use it a lot to make a more so-called "professional finish" on the inside of my garments, not to mention the doors it opened working with knit fabrics! I love it and can't imagine going back now, but there sure was a learning curve and I did have to make room for it on my sewing table...

      Happy New Year!

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  6. It's nice when you can get lots of mileage on a pattern. And, when you can use parts of different fabrics together for one item! Good work.

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    1. Absolutely! Very satisfying all around, isn't it?!?

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