Black Loungewear Pants

Do you remember the post I wrote a few days ago about the frog I sewed for my bff growing up? Well on that same day she posted her pictures from Christmas and whaddya know, she made it all the way to the white house holiday party. That's her on the right. I am confident that the frog I made her played a part in making all of this possible :) Congrats Salamander, that's an amazing achievement! I think it would have been fun to go into politics... although I have to say that business can be fairly political sometimes.... but we don't get any cool meetings with the president. Congratulations again!

In other less fabulous news, I finished sewing my black sweatshirt material loungewear pants last night. What a great pattern. These pants took about 1.5 hours to cut & sew and they are so warm! I'm wearing them now and will wear them constantly this winter around the house. The details are below:

Inspiration: My favorite loungewear pants from Victoria's Secret

Pattern: Simplicity 3640 (Out of print! but you can still find it at the stores)

Fabric Used: 1 3/4 yards of black sweatshirt fleece. the pattern only calls for 1 1/2 but I bought extra in order to make the pants long enough. I could have gotten away with 1 1/2 I think.

Notions: 2" Wide black elastic

These pants have a fit that is fabu. As I mentioned in a previous post, the only alterations I make to them is:

1) Decreased the rise by 1". Without the lowered rise the pants fit right at the belly button. I like them to be a bit lower than that. (Don't worry, the 2" elastic in the yolk prevents any undie peek-a-boo in the back)

2) Lengthened the pants. I think if I made them according to the pattern they may be around 32" inseam. I need to add a couple of inches to that to avoid looking like a total nerd.

If you're looking for cute, easy pants to wear around the house, this is your pattern. I have made them before in ponte knit, they were nice but not as warm as I wanted. I might make them again in a few days with all of my leftover grey fleece from my grey coat double-lining!

What's on deck next? Well, I'm continuing my plight to make warm cozy tops/pants to wear around the house while still retaining some sense of style. Don't get me wrong, I like my fleece half-zips as much as the next girl but I REALLY do believe that I can find a more stylish way to use fleece. So. I've been sewing cute tops using fleece even though fleece isn't even close to being one of the recommended fabrics. Does that make all you sewers out there *cringe*? Sometimes it works, sometimes it might not but all in all I'm usually only out about $4 to $6 worth of fleece if it doesn't work out.

So, as part of this mission I went to the store last night and I found THE BEST PATTERN I'VE EVER SEEN. I planned to purchase Simplicity 2760, which is a pattern made specifically for fleece (again, trying to use all my leftover grey fleece) but instead returned with this awesome awesome pattern. Simplicity 2927 I love the tunic, I love the dress, I love everything about this pattern. It is possible that I love it so much that I might even trace the pattern off, rather than cutting into it. I've even considered making a muslin.... but that's a bit hard to justify considering I'm constructing the tunic using $4/yard fleece that is totally replaceable. I'm making the tunic with pockets. It might even be cute to make it in grey with orange pockets, we'll see! I also might make it with long sleeves, rather than short or 3/4 length sleeves.

Anyway, hope all of your sewing projects are going well!