How to photograph them was a bit of a dilemma until I had the bright idea of hanging them all on the washing line.
From left to right: DKNY Navy & Milk Dot; Warm Black; Mint Shibori; Dotty Black; Grey Jacquard; and Black Embossed Leggings |
For the two-way stretch fabric I needed to add more length to the pattern both at the hem and the waistband. This is because the stretch only goes around my body. There is no up and down stretch, as you would get in a four-way stretch fabric.
Left: addition to the waistband; Right: at the hem The coaster illustrates how different in scale these two pictures are |
The difference a fabric makes
It was interesting to see the difference the fabric made to the look of the leggings. It can clearly be seen in the photos of the two-way versus four-way stretch fabric, that stretch in both directions improves the look of the finished product. A dark colour also makes a difference to how they look with the light grey looking much worse than the black two-way stretch. The patterned four-way stretch fabric is also better at hiding the lumpy bits.Grey jacquard leggings - two-way stretch fabric; the camel toe and a saggy bum Luckily these leggings will never be worn without a full coverage top/tunic |
Warm black leggings - two way nearly stretch fabric |
Mint Shibori leggings - four-way stretch fabric and a much better fitting garment |
Grey jacquard stretch suiting fabric
This is a two-way stretch woven fabric from Fabric Vision in Christchurch. Not a favourite place to fabric shop but somewhere I go on occasion. The fabric has a cross-wise direction of stretch. These leggings look good with something over them but could never go out in public on their own!!Style Arc Sunny Top (made pre blog) and Kate Spade Go Taxi flats Look I can almost stand on one leg |
Camilla and Mark Rosamonde Dress and United Nude Fold Hi Liquorice booties A much complimented ensemble when worn to work recently |
Mint Shibori Leggings
A four-way stretch knit fabric from either Stonemountain and Daughter or Marcy Tilton. I actually have two pieces of this fabric so it could be that I bought it from both places not realising it was the same, which is why I decided to make one of the pieces into leggings.Moochi top, United Nude Fold Mid Mint booties and Untouched World merino wrap Relaxing on the sofa with a nice cup of tea after a hard day photographing Christchurch |
Marcy Tilton Venice Panel Digital Print as used by Marcy for Vogue 9057 |
DKNY Navy & Milk Dot
A four-way stretch DKNY interlock twist yarn (ITY) knit fabric very recently purchased from Silhouette Patterns. I even bought it to make these leggings so it didn't get any time to rest in the stash. The top may be treated to a rearrangement of its sleeves, shortened to ¾ length, as they are just right for scooping up the water when you are washing your hands.
Black Embossed Leggings
This is a poly/cotton two-way stretch fabric from Fabric Vision. This fabric had a length-wise direction of stretch. There is some give in the fabric cross-grain but not enough to consider this a four-way stretch fabric.The fabric makes these leggings a bit different and I just love them. They have been worn quite a bit since they were made. This is how I wore them to work this week.
Untouched World Ecopossum graphite coat cardi, Moochi dress and United Nude Zink Patch Mid Pop mix booties |
Aren't the shoes just magical - had to add these to the collection |
Dotty Black Leggings
I was given this four-way stretch fabric in the class I took to make the self-drafted leggings pattern and I made them up in class minus the elastic for the waistband. However they were never finished as they just didn't fit properly due to the pattern drafting error. Once I had sorted out my pattern I made the Tessuti leggings and put the dotty black pair in a dark corner. Whilst having my fit of leggings making these were unearthed from the unsuccessful projects pile. I unmade them then re-cut the fabric.The fabric stretch is ideal, they are even comfortable enough to sit curled up on the floor without cutting off the circulation.
Apologies for the blurry feet my phone camera has a feature which automatically focuses on your face, obviously to facilitate selfies. Not releasing this feature existed and managing to accidentally turn it on there are quite a few photos where the extremities are blurry. Eventually I realised it was a feature that could be turned on or off.
Untouched World Ecopossum graphite coat cardi, Moochi orange Enclose Tabard and Kate Spade Go Taxi flats |
Warm Black Leggings
These are so cosy, with the feel of sweatshirting minus the fluffy inside. Originally I thought it was the black merino blend fabric I bought last year to make leggings but I was disabused of this idea when I did a burn test. This fabric (I only used a scrap and did the burn test over the stainless steel kitchen sink) is hugely man-made it really caught alight when I put the flame to it and reduced to a plastic bobble. I have absolutely no idea where I bought it.This pair are the first ones I made with two-way (minimal) stretch fabric and I didn't add any length to compensate for the lack of stretch. As a result they are not hemmed and the elastic is overlocked to the fabric but not turned under or they would have been too short.
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