Sewaholic Pacific Leggings, Hot Patterns Tummy Tamer and Bootstrap Patterns

I have been sewing a lot lately!  Over the last week or so, I’ve made two Sewaholic Pacific Leggings, plus one pair of Hot Pattern Tummy Tamers and I’m in the middle of testing Bootstrap Patterns.

So, first up, the Sewaholic leggings.  I’m a pear shaped gal…there’s no mistaking it, so I love the concept of Sewaholic.  I hope the new owners continue on the path Tasia set them on, but regardless, I have the Thurlow – which in my opinion is an indispensible pant pattern for pears.  In fact, I’m wearing a pair of my denim Thurlows as I type.  I have several other of the Sewholic patterns, and even a few that I haven’t tried yet.  I recently bought some active wear from Fabric Mart and decided to make some workout clothes.  (I do yoga in the comfort of my basement with gaia online.  I LOVE gaia online and I love the fact that I can have a class with a different yoga instructor everyday if I want. )  Anyway, I wanted to try a legging pattern, and I considered the Jalie Cora…but with my recent disappointing experience with the eleonore, I decided to try the Sewaholic Pacific Legging.  In short, I LOVE them!!!!    The first pair I made, I actually had the stretch on my fabric going the wrong way!  Ughhhhhh.  So, I quickly remade a pair and they’re so much better.

I am soooo impressed with this pattern!   On most pants like this, the thighs aren’t big enough and the crotch just ends up pulling down and driving me insane.  These are a size 6 which matches the measurements I was to use.  And these pictures are actually of the first pair where the stretch wasn’t  right.  This green fabric was the first up because it was a little thin and I figured that if I didn’t like the end result, it didn’t matter that much.  The other athletic fabrics are nicer (thicker) than this. I may consider sizing up the next pair a size or two in the legs just for a little added  comfort. The waist is perfect as is.  With something that fits this close, a slight difference in the stretch of your fabric can make a big difference.  I made the first pair on my sewing machine and serger.  My serger hated this fabric though, so I made the 2nd pair entirely on my sewing machine with a zig zag stitch.  I like that I can use the machine if I wanted.  I think my serger likely just needed a smaller needle, but I didn’t think of that until later.  There will be many more of these in my future.   In fact, I would say if you’re a pair, you need this pattern in your stash. They’re easy to sew…and it sure beats buying some from the store that don’t fit right.

Next up was the Hot Patterns Tummy Tamer.  This is a pant that I’ve wanted to try for awhile.  I needed a smart pant to wear occasionally during the summer (and I really wish I had these made in time for the office picnic….but I missed that.) I still don’t have good pics of these yet.  Here’s the finished pair:

This is a high waisted pant…Generally, I don’t mind that, but I think I need to lower it just maybe half an inch or maybe a full inch on the next one.  You can see wrinkles on my hip and I think that’s from the side being too long. I adjusted the crotch curve on these and probably should have done a little more, but I needed to move on.  I would recommend if you know what your crotch curve should look like, just make that adjustment to start.  My other tip is to change the order of construction around so that you sew the crotch seam last for easy adjusting. Overall, I like them.  They’re a sophisticated pant and I like how smooth the tummy is.  I hate it when my belt pokes out beneath my shirts, but it’s often unavoidable if I need a belt.

Last up is what I’ve been working on the last few days.  I found this Reiss dress that I REALLY liked and wanted to make my own.  Reiss Dress  After looking all over, and even sending out a request for help on PR, I decided to make a Bootstrap Patterns style, #41569.

Bootstrap Pattern 41569

I’ve never used Bootstrap (or it’s sister Lekala before) so this was all new to me.  I carefully took my measurements and entered them.  I added the pattern to my cart and within a few minutes (10 maybe?), my pattern was ready to go.   I printed it off and made a muslin today.

Overall, I am TOTALLY impressed.  After running this test, I retook some measurements and have ordered another reducing my bust and waist by .5 inches.  On the version in the picture, I had also selected the option of slight “tummy protuberance.”  (I think there were 7 or so “tummy Protuberances” that you could choose from.  My muslin showed that was unnecessary, so I also removed that from my 2nd version.  I plan to cut the dress out start sewing tomorrow.  I thought I’d like the collar, but I don’t so I’m just going to leave that off of the final version.   I cannot begin to tell you how impressed I am with this.  I don’t think it decreases the need for a quick muslin, but wow…it makes it sooooo easy.  The bust basically fit, and the hips basically fit.  I didn’t need to order another, but I wanted to test out the system.  I suspect you’re going to see a lot of bootstrap in the future.  I also bought a couple of other patterns tonight too.  One is a simple cami, one was a pair of sleep shorts and I think the other was a dress.   I haven’t decided on fabric yet for the dress. I’ll figure that one out tomorrow.  🙂

Happy Sewing!