Where in we finally made it.

We have leggings!  That fit!  Reasonably well.  Really well except for the waist band if I am truthful with you.  

I tried them on yesterday morning after sewing them together and was amazed.  I debated if I was going to fix the mess I made with the waist band or if I would call it good and tuck some elastic in.  This fabric is really thin and light and I am not sure how sturdy it would be after changes. Plus the single place that  I neeeded to make any real change on my measured out pattern is the back rise.  Changing the wiastband would mean the back rise, already a tiny bit short, would be even shorter.  So I opted for elestic in the waistband and my test pair was good to go.  I am wearing them right now with the dress I sewed earlier this summer, which is exactly what this dress needs.  

The dress is made from a years and years old t shirt I wore under a jacket when I worked at an office.  It was in great condition, not having been worn for a decade.  It fit through the shoulders but rolled up because it was just too short and small at the bottom.  I cut the shirt shorter by about four inches and attached a skirt from some bright tropical fish fabric.  I really like the dress, but haven't been able to wear it with confidence because the dress isn't long enough to cover adequately when bending and moving around.  This dress is very much part of my wish for leggings.

And this is probably the only picture the world will ever see of this pair of leggings.  Just a knee, but it thrills me!

They may have a seam up the side of the legs, but the fit is just what I was looking for.  And considering this was just the test pair...bonus me.

I laid out the first official pair of leggings on fabric yesterday.  I didn't cut it though.  There are only a certain number of hours I can see well enough in a day to work with the black fabric and black thread, plus waiting to cut till this morning allowed me to sort out what I did wrong with the waist band on my test pair.  I have to change how I think of a waist band on leggings and think of it as the elastic rather than as a finishing element at the waist.  

Anyway, on to cutting and sewing this morning.  And if I am lucky and everything goes well, maybe on to a top this afternoon on lighter brighter fabric!