As I sewed the last few weeks, it became clear to me, that while I have some lovely fabrics on hand to sew new pants for myself, I didn't have everything I wanted.
A large bolt of blue mostly nylon fabric. This is good old stash, bought in the days when travel clothing in nylon and poly blendswere the height of fashion for easy packing easy care and easy laundering. I bought it thinking to sew kid pants, but in the move from Calgary to Edmonton, my boys lost the desire to wear pants mom made.
I do have some lovely knit red and green but that is not really something I would wear for pants. These are destined for skirts or casual dresses. Or tops. Something nice and flowy.
And this lovely lovely linen from Maiwa. For pants, but only after I have made a few more pair and have the fit beyond perfect.
That is a lot of fabric for pants and stuff but there is nothing for legging type garments and nothing for causal comfortable wear everyday pants, something approaching 'athletic wear' pants for the not very athletic. I was looking for fabric with give and I didn't have any.
I went to my favourite not local online fabric source in Canada, the one with the largest fabric inventory that I have found yet, Fabricville, which is an offshoot of Fabricland's Quebec operations. The fabric is reasonably descriptive and they do itemise the sort of things that you could make with it.
At this point, I am venturing into new territory. I have sewn very little with knits other than in my extreme early days knitting with 70's double knits. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I ordered three different kinds of knits, hoping for at least one that would be exactly what I was looking for, for an easy fit narrow legged pair of pants that I could wear under skirts or jumpers for winter and that would be heavy enough to be considered pants with a tunic sweater.
This first is a fabric called Bullet knit. It is fine for pants. It is a little more reminicent of a 70's double knit than I was hoping for but it will do exactly what I need it to do. This was my fall back fabric just in case neither of the others was right. It was also the cheapest of the three coming in at under ten dollars a metre.
This second is what they are calling Heavy Actionwear. I first saw it in the section of fabrics for skaters and dancers and things like that but it showed up in knitwear too and was recommended on inquiry. It is a little bit glossy for my personal taste but it certainly will give me the coverage I am looking for in legging type garments. It is the stretchiest of the three and the priciest as well as being the biggest risk of the three fabrics I ordered.
And this last is called IMA-Gine Cotton Spandex. It might not work if you were thinking leggings that are pants. It seems a little lighter weight than would suit for my own personal comfort in the close fit of leggings, but it should do well for a more easy fitting pant. Any small pices of this fabric are going to be saved for Cassie. It is the perfect fabric for kids wear. So I am pretty good with this too.
All in all, well done Fabricville!
My next adventure is going to be a search for jogging fleece because that may well be all that is on the market now that is exactly what I am looking for. And come winter, jogging fleece might be just the thing. Maybe a lightweight jogging fleece?
Sewing will continue. It has too. There are no makers in stores making pants long enough in the back rise for coverage when I sit and having them custom made for me is not a price option I can afford. I need to do this myself. And so, I will.
The bonus is that I can have fun along the way and that I get to pull out some skills that have been used too little these past few years.
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