Planning and Design
In 2020 I bought from trackies from Bonds that were made from recycled cotton and looked like jeans (Re-loved Skinny Trackie). They were really comfy but also thanks to the jeans look, were something I very often wore out of the house 🤣 Six years later and they are literally falling apart 😣 I was actually thinking of replacing them last year because they were looking worse for wear, but Bonds don’t do the Re-loved range anymore and their Originals Trackies just look…too lounge. So I was going to buy the jeans look terry fleece from Wattle Hill Fabric when they released it last year, but I was in Singapore at the time and figured I would buy it when I got back to Australia, but which time it was all sold out. So when they rereleased it this year I immediately went and bought it in all the blue colourways 😅
I knew I wanted to replace the skinny trackies so had earmarked the Joni Knit Pants. But the Hudson also looked like it fit the bill, so had that one as well. I also currently own some Boody trackies that aren’t skinny, but are super comfy, so the Ernie Knit Pants felt like a good substitute (yeah future planning for when my Boody ones die too). And even though I bought the Plateau Joggers for the shorts version, since I had four fabrics to use, figured I could give this one a try too.
Materials
- Patterns
- Plateau Jogger (Closet Core)
- Joni Knit Pant (Style Arc)
- Hudson Pant (True Bias)
- Ernie Knit Pant (Style Arc)
- Fabric
- European Knit Oeko-Tex French Terry Denim Look Stonewash
- European Knit French Terry Denim Look Light Stonewash
- European Knit French Terry Denim Look Dark Charcoal Stonewash
- European Knit French Terry Sweatshirt Fabric Denim Look Dark Navy
- Thread
- Maraflex cols. 64, 75, 339
- Madeira Aerolock Overlocker Thread – Super White
- SoftLoc™ Tex 35 Wooly Poly Thread – White
- Elastic
- High Density Non-Roll Woven Elastic 50mm – White (Homecraft Textiles)
- High Density Non-Roll Woven Elastic 40mm – White (Homecraft Textiles)
- Knitted Elastic 25mm – Black
- Prym Knitted Elastic 60mm – Black
Sustainability Check
👍 French terry is 95% cotton, 5% elastane so technically biodegradable
👍Maraflex is 100% polybutylene terephthalate and compostable (as long as it’s not in marine or fresh water)
👎 Overlocker threads are polyester
👎The elastic is polyester/elastane
Construction
Preparation
I thought about doing cheats TDCO, but since these are trackpants they are probably designed with a fair amount of ease and also I’ll be using a knit fabric which has stretch. I guess thinking about my RTW wardrobe, I haven’t had comfort issues with any of the knit pants I own.
Two of the patterns are Style Arc which means choosing my RTW size (10), the Hudson I was also a 10, but for the Plateau I was a size 12. Had a moment where my brain wanted to go with size 10 because of the all the other pants, it got me into the mentality that “but I’m a size 10”. Which is silly because the numbers are just a guide on which lines to follow. I don’t care at all if I’m a size 36/38/40 or a A-G or whatever, but I guess RTW has hardwired me to see numbers in the 6-16 range as a judgement on my weight. Not that I’m worried about what RTW size I am, but I guess I do use weight/pant size as an indicator of if I need to assess any changes to my lifestyle that might not be the healthiest (example, when I started working fulltime I both stopped exercising as much and drinking more tea with sugar and I gained weight and that made me identify that I should start drinking tea without sugar and also that I had lapsed in my exercise regime).
I also took the time to read through the instructions instead of just winging it and was surprised at how different the pocket constructions were for all except the Ernie. Which I would have known about if I hadn’t just bought the patterns based on the model photos and line work haha. But it made me decide to strategically tackle the patterns in order from hard to easy.
Plateau Jogger
This one had an interesting wrap around pocket. I had to think pretty hard about when to overlock certain parts of this since the instructions didn’t seem to think you needed to overlock any of it except for the side seam. Which I kind of understand why they omit it for certain seams but I’m glad I sewed them because to me they aren’t completely hidden.
Once the pocket was done though the rest was pretty standard. I think I probably need to practice topstitching over elastic in a casing since it doesn’t look all that neat to me. Although I also probably won’t notice at all after a weeks time lol. Also I like how Closet Core give two ways to join the elastic (cut to 80cm), one being the new method I’m using. I think it was a good to do it this way because otherwise it would have been really bulky trying to topstitch over it.
Also, I lost bobbin chicken…ran out on the very last lot of topstitching of one of the pant leg cuffs 😣
Joni Knit Pant
So being a Style Arc pattern and an Arc Archive one at that I was prepared for minimal instructions. So I did some ‘extra’ steps like understitching and then topstitching the pocket opening. And they don’t mention clipping it either but it’s necessary to make the pocket + front piece lay flat. I was also a bit confused by the pleats. I folded them the way they said to and it didn’t seem right. So I double checked the pattern piece and I had it correct so went with it as is.
After sewing the front and pack inseam I topstitched this down and then did the same after sewing the crotch seam. I wasn’t sold on the fake fly detail when I read about it but the way it’s constructed is pretty clever. Although I feel like it would look better if the fly was much narrower. Probably could have added a bar tack to make it even more ‘real fly’-like but I don’t enjoy doing bar tacks, especially on knits, so didn’t bother.
The I did the side seam and somehow missed enclosing one of the pocket raw edges. So had to fudge that. Then I didn’t like their instructions for the waistband so did it the same way as the Closet Core one. I also cut the elastic the same length as the Closet Core one so I could wear it on my hips if I wanted to. But after securing the waistband with topstitching I tried it on and the design very much means I cannot wear it on my hips haha. So the waist is a bit too loose.
Then I had a bit of trouble attaching the ankle cuffs. When sewing the side seams together I had to double check the pattern piece to figure out which was was the grain. And at that point I realised that the max stretch was not the same as the grain. I guess that does sometimes happen with knits? First time it has happened to me. So I tried to attach it as it any way and got really frustrated. So aborted that and trimmed the cuff piece to be the correct width. It is a little shorter but I knew from my test wear that the pants were too long anyway so having the cuffs be slightly shorter won’t matter. I also overlocked the cuff raw edge because trying to align 3 layers of stretchy fabric is no fun.
I can’t say it was a pleasant make. Especially since I held up the completed pants and I was like totally sure the pleats were going the wrong way. So I went and double-checked my original A0 printing and I had copied it over correctly. I stared at the line art for the pant for a long time and I’m pretty sure the pleats on those look like they are drawn going in the opposite direction. The direction that makes sense to me. Sooooo, Style Arc put the wrong direction on? Or I don’t know how to read pleat markings and have been doing it wrong my entire life and never noticed (unlikely)? Or it’s opposite day and I’m reading it wrong just today for some reason? In any case I decided to completely remove the waistband and redo it all with the pleats going in the opposite direction, regardless of if I’m right or not. I also reattached the waistband with a 1.5cm allowance since it looked too loose before (probably my bad for not doing it their way). And shortened the elastic to 70cm. It was also a good chance to fix up the overlocking, I need to overlock from the side that will be showing so that if anything does get curled up, it will at least be hidden 😝
Hudson Pant
Palate cleanser after the Joni Knit Pant! Everything went smoothly! I added topstitching to the pocket opening and the inseam because I can and I want to. The waistband construction was the same as the Plateau but this time I marked out 8ths which made it a lot easier to do the topstitching over the elastic. I also made sure to test the pants on before doing all the finishing touches to the waistband (80cm elastic works well since this one does sit on the hip, I even went to the True Bias website to confirm via their model photos haha).
The only thing I would do differently next time is secure the overlocking threads at the floor end of the pants. Because I like to overlock the cuff raw edges together, the loose overlocker ends from the pant itself doesn’t get secured within any additional overlocking.
Ernie Knit Pant
So despite being the same fabric and ironing it the same as all the other fabrics, I felt like I really struggled to get this one to lie flat. It felt like there were always little ‘bubble’s on the under fabric layer and even after smoothing them out they seemed to just bounce back or something. So because I was so focused on this I forgot to check the nap direction…but I got lucky and it was going the right way, phew!
This pattern was wide enough that I couldn’t easily have both front and back pieces side by side on the folded fabric, so I needed to offset them a bit. I decided to split the waistband to save on a bit of fabric, although the remainder is only 30cm which is a bit of an awkward length to make something out of. Might need to save it for a colour-blocked project.
Sewing the pockets and legs was pretty straightforward except either I forgot to transfer the midpoint markings for the legs or there were none to begin with… The interesting part was the elasticised parts. I thought their methodology sounded like a pain in the ass so I sewed the topstitching first to make a casing and then thread the elastic through. For the waistband I thought I’d only be able to fit 2cm wide elastic so used that as a guide for my stitching but then the casing ended up wide enough for the 25mm wide elastic so used that instead. Preparing the waistband then attaching it is a method I haven’t tried before. I did realise I need to overlock the seam with the waistband side up otherwise the fabric tended to roll and not get caught by the overlocker stitches. Also the crotch seam got pushed opposite ways either side but I decided I didn’t care enough to fix it.
For the leg casings I used the only 10mm polyester elastic I have which is for bra-making and belatedly realised it doesn’t have much stretch haha. But should be fine since the elastic isn’t drastically smaller than the casing (and then later when I was putting away all my elastics I unearthed a normal 10mm polyester elastic lol).
Also lost bobbin chicken again but this time with the casing closure and final topstitching for both legs. Although later that night I thought about it and was like ‘actually I don’t think I followed the instructions correctly’ and yeah, it’s not a casing, it’s topstitching over the elastic. I think it was a combination of I thought their instructions were weird so tried to do it differently as well as knit garment fatigue. Knits sew up so quickly it feels logical to do multiple at the same time (especially if they use the same overlocker thread) but honestly, I don’t really enjoy sewing knits so I end up getting sloppy after a certain point 😅 So I took a break with the Prado Trench Coat with the plan to come back to this after I had re-energised myself from making something out of a stable woven lol.
Except that when I went to replace the elastic, I realised I needed 6mm elastic. The pattern calls for 50mm, which I have, but maybe because I changed the way I attached the waistband, the casing was actually more suitable for 60mm. So put on hold again while I waited for my Weft and Warp samples to arrive so I could combine shipping of the elastic with fabric 🙃 At least Weft and Warp sell elastic by the 10mm increment. This way I can buy exactly what I need with no wastage. I did end up buying 25mm elastic to match for the cuffs. I figured I would probably get hung up if the elastic type didn’t match (looks like the easiest 60mm elastic to get is knitted and my 25mm elastic that isn’t cotton based is woven). Which btw the pattern calls for 3cm elastic but the casing I had measured was a bit less than 3cm. I think this one makes sense because the way they call for the cuff to be sewn, the edge of the elastic would align with the edge of the fabric foldover. The waistband one makes less sense to me because it should be the same method as the cuffs which means it should be a smaller casing, not larger. What this just tells me is it’s good to have a range of elastic sizes on hand so I can just match the elastic to the casing rather than fiddle with the casing to try and get it to match the elastic 😅 60mm is a rather unusual size though so I probably should adjust the waistband width…
Reflections
Plateau Jogger: If I wear this on my waist the length is perfect. But since the waistband elastic is so wide, it works really well on my hips too, albeit making the pant legs look quite slouchy. I think it would be better if the cuffs were done in ribbing. The fancy pocket is nice but unnecessary imo.
Joni Knit Pant: I probably won’t wear this one and not just cos my husband thinks it looks ridiculous. The wide elastic means I need to be very careful pulling it over my insulin pump to make sure it doesn’t get caught and potentially mess up the canula… Plus the feature side seam is annoying because I have to straighten each leg every time I put them on. High maintenance trackies, who has time for that?! Plus I feel like the faux fly is unnecessary and adds bulk to the centre front.
Hudson Pant: These are perfect! I wear them on my hips and they are slim enough to feel sorta stylish but not feel uncomfortable. Plus they were super easy to make.
Ernie Knit Pant: I ended up using the full 80cm since I felt like trimming off 5cm to throw away felt like a waste. This matches the other trackies I made but since this a knitted elastic, not woven, it is quite a bit looser, but it works. Very comfy when worn on the hips.
Things I learnt:
- I struggle with spelling Plateau lol
- Always sew cuffs with the pant leg side up
- Always overlock from the side that will be showing the most
- Pants with pleats don’t suit me
- I’m a basic trackies kinda girl
- Don’t sew more than 2 knit projects in a row
Categories: Sewing
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