The Fabric Alchemist

A reckoning came for my fabric stash. Full of fabrics for costumes long-completed, I wanted to make physical and emotional room for new fashion sewing projects. During that reckoning, I kept the leftover costume fabric with potential for functional every-day clothes.

Spandex was repurposed fun, personalized workout gear.

I started with the Seamwork Aires, one of the earlier patterns released by Seamwork Magazine/Colette Patterns.

The pants have a nice wide waistband with elastic inside. I’ve only pranced around the house, but so far they move well and stay up.

The pattern is designed to have a mid-thigh accent band. The purple mesh spandex is semi-transparent in the black dots, which I hope translates to extra breathability in addition to snazzy style.

I sewed the entire garment with my 4-thread serger, using a double-needle on my standard sewing machine when topstitching/cover-stitching was needed.

I used medium (3) and medium-long (4) stitch lengths for the double needle topstitching to ensure that they wouldn’t look too tiny when the fabric constricted. I did stretch the fabric a bit when topstitching, but not when I used the server.

There are always some “Oops” in hindsight:

• The back waistband has a bit of fabric that didn’t catch on the outer layer, will hand tack that down.
• The left leg opening is a bit tight, I didn’t stretch the fabric enough when topstitching. I will likely redo that leg hem because it visible indents my calf.

Changes I made:

Skipped the waistband pocket and attached the waistband elastic differently than instructed. After attaching the two layers of the waistband I basted the elastic to the serged seam allowance with a zig-zag stitch. Then I folded it down and undertitched the seam allowance and elastic to the inner layer of the waistband.

It feels so good to be sewing again. My recent vacation helped refresh my creative reservoir. And I think I might just use these new pants to motivate a new exercise habit. 🏃🏻‍♀️