Recently I was approached by Organic Cotton Plus to try some of their fabric. I remembered the cute knit Ginger jeans Lauren made awhile back with their stretch knit denim and wanted to try a similar version for myself. I had the ultimate mom jean in mind, Pull On Jeggings! I so deserve a pair of mom jeggings. There are five reasons for that.
The Organic black knit denim fabric is 65 inches wide so I only needed a little over a yard to make the jeggings. This fabric did not disappoint. It was so nice! It’s thick, like a ponte knit, and really soft with great stretch. It really does just look like stretch denim, and totally fooled me until I stretched it realized it was a knit. I was excited to make my own Pajama jeans! I’ve been wearing my jeggings all day and they have great recovery! They haven’t stretched or bagged out at all.
What I did was use my Ginger pattern, but I changed it to a jegging pattern like my Jalie Eleanore jeans. I had worked hard to get a good fit on that pattern and wanted to try it again in the stretchy fabric. A little experiment, if you will. Since the fabric is a stretchy knit, and much stretchier than an actual stretch woven denim, I traced my pattern and shaved off a few inches from my size 8 in the hips, and a little down the legs to make them smaller to allow for more negative ease. I really just eyeballed it and used a pair of leggings I have in my closet for reference. Luckily, they fit well! I had to make the yoke smaller and make the front pocket facing smaller too, since it’s a faux pocket, like on my Eleanore’s. I also followed the instructions from the Eleanore pattern to make the waistband. The fly is also faux, and just stitched closed and topstitched. So easy!
I did have some issues because I went ahead and top stitched the seams as suggested in both patterns which are designed for wovens. My stitches did pop, so what I did was stretch the fabric gently as I top stitched, giving it some give. If I made these again, I would try putting the top stitch thread in my cover stitch machine to get a stretchy double stitched look.
It really looks like denim, not that typical thin jegging fabric I see at places like Target. This knit denim fabric is super cool. And I’m not just saying that because I got it for free!
I used my serger for everything except the top stitching.
Now onto the top. You’re probably getting bored seeing all my leopard and cheetah creations lately. This is the fifth leopard/cheeteh garment I’ve sewn this month! I’m officially over it now. The fabric was bought in downtown LA and feels like a rayon tissue knit. It’s nice and soft and most likely won’t hold up too long. That’s a risk I take I get for buying el cheapo fabric in the two and three dollar shops. A total impulse buy.
I used McCall’s 6964
It’s a Palmer Pletch pattern and I’ll admit to feeling totally overwhelmed by all the fitting info included in this envelope. I decided to just go ahead and cut a size 12 and take my chances with no tissue fitting . It fits fine. At least I haven’t noticed any problems yet. I cut a size 12.
This top took me under an hour to cut and sew with my serger and coverstitch machine. A quick and easy project!
This outfit is super cute on you! I need to get my hands on some of that denim. 🙂
Those look super comfy. I agree with Shirley (above): I need to get some of that denim, too!!!
Shoot! I just went to look at that fabric and possibly order some. Man, that’s expensive at $23.70 per yard. And you can only order in one yard increments. Someone wrote a review for the indigo denim knit that after 3 washings, it’s still bleeding. Did you have the same issue? And tell me that this fabric is so incredible and worth the price. I’m so torn . . . .
I only washed it once so haven’t noticed any bleeding yet, but are you sure you can only get it in one yard increments? I ordered 1.5 yards. You could probably send the company an email and they can get you the amount you want. Also, this is the black denim knit. And it I is expensive but just like organic food, it costs a lot more to grow. I’ll write a follow up here after I wash it again.
Okay, thanks for the info, Justine. I will try sending them an email. I typed “1.5” in the yardage box but when I went to check out, it reverted back to “1” yard. The bleeding doesn’t bother me so much; it was more curiosity. I don’t know why I balked at the price, I certainly have paid a lot of money for fabric before (you should have seen one of my totals at Britex in San Fran — it would have fed a family of four for . . . . . well, let’s just say A REALLY LONG TIME). I was more “mad” about having to order (more aptly: PAY FOR) full yards when I really wanted 1.5 yards. Again, thanks for your response