I’ve been eyeing the grid pant motif on Pinterest lately, it’s an interesting take on a classic suit pant.  Of course I went in the complete opposite direction with mine and made them tight, loud, and a little crazy!  Full disclosure, there are a lot of shots of my butt in this post #sorrynotsorry.

When I say pants, I really mean leggings.  I know that some people say leggings aren’t pants, but I wholeheartedly disagree.  

Pants: Also called trousers. a garment shaped to cover the body from the waist to the ankles or knees with separate tube-shaped sections for both legs.

Tube shaped you say?  Hmmmmm, sounds like leggings to me!  Anyway, enough about this, since I know I’m preaching to the choir here. Who doesn’t like whipping up a pair of leggings and bragging about making pants?  I know I do.

     

To make these pants I traced a pair of existing leggings and added extra to the top in order to get the high waist.  I also graded up a few sizes so they wouldn’t be toooo tight (I swear, I did!). I love a high waist on my leggings because then they don’t fall down!  There is nothing worse than pulling up your leggings all day long.  If you want to trace your own leggings, check out this video.

 

 

The fabric I chose is a double knit, very similar to a bullet knit with it’s textured exterior.  The pattern only shows on the right side of the fabric, the wrong side is white.  I used a zig zag stitch to put these together and I chose to use french seams.  The fabric doesn’t fray so the french seams were not necessary but they make for a clean finish. Also, if ever the seam does rip open, there is a backup line of stitching waiting, yay!

This pattern only has an inner leg seam, so I wasn’t too concerned with pattern matching.  I did try to match it up as best I could so I could get the triangle effect on the front and back at the top.  It’s a little mind bending, right?

Overall I am happy with this make and will use the pattern I drafted for future pants. They are pretty darned comfortable, and they actually go with quite a bit in my wardrobe thanks to my love of pattern mixing. The double knit is perfect for fall, since it is a little heavier than my usual leggings.

Do you like wearing leggings as pants? Do you sew many leggings for yourself?

Have a great weekend!

-Helen