Briar and Espresso - A match made in heaven

Sometimes a fabric tells you what it wants to be. Sometimes it also yells and screams "Just sew me already!!!" Here's the mouthy fabric in question, a 2 layer knit from Waechter's. The color is a tad off here as the top layer is a true black. Everything else is just as awesome in person.

I really shouldn't have been surprise that it wouldn't sit mutely in the corner.  It's all "Let's party with the young folks." It also told me to ignore my misgivings about giant butts in high/low hems and download that Megan Nielsen Briar pattern.  You want be to buy a new pattern? Well you don't have to twist my arm casue I got to keep my rep as "All the patterns Heather" to keep.

Upon completion of the Briar I released that it's the kind of shirt that allows one to commit the "sin" of wearing leggings as pants. But I had no leggings.....so I bought the Sewing Cake Espresso pattern. MOAR PATTERNS! The serger and coverstitch were both threaded to black anyway. One must take advantage of that and sew more black clothing. I can feel Katie nodding her head in agreement.

This time I could have the superior feeling of using stash neoprene fabric bought from Gorgeous Fabrics last year.  Confession time.....I like buying new types of fabric just to see what they're like. When GF started stocking neoprene some HAD to be purchased even though I wasn't sure it would result in a wearable garment. This stuff is about the weight of a ponte but has a lot more recovery both in the horizontal and vertical stretch.  One side is matte rib and the other has a shiny satin look.  The greatest amount of stretch was in the vertical direction and I was lucky the fabric was 58" wide, my drafted leggings pattern just barely fit. The plan was to go with the conservative matte side but I said, "Screw it, let's make shiny leggings."

I sewed the neoprene with my serger and used the coverstitch for the hems/casting just as I would any other knit. The satiny side was a little slippery but since the fabric is so stable I had little trouble sewing it together.

Patterns

Megan Nielson Briar and Sewing Cake Espresso Leggings.  I bought PDF versions of both these patterns and found them easy to assemble.

Fabrics used
For Briar a Polyster/lycra knit, still available.
For Espresso a thin neoprene knit, sold out.

Pattern changes/alterations
I made zero alterations to either of these patterns.  For the Briar I combined the med and large sizes as is my habit. Since it's a loose fitting style it needed no other tweaks.

The espresso is drafted to your measurements so they fit well right out of the gate.  I did add extra to the back rise and then found that it wasn't needed. Better to be safe than sorry!  I might add some extra length to the leg, just for personal preference, on any future versions.

Confessions/Advice
No advice per say, just a note that I used a plain black jersey for the neckband of my briar.  That worked a whole lot better than trying to serge a thin strip of the self fabric to the neckline.

Husband Comment
"Do you make those shiny pants! Cool!"  He made no comment about the shirt which probably means he doesn't care for it.  Or maybe it's awesomeness rendered him speechless.

My Final Thoughts
Briar - I still think the high/low hem looks best on women with regular/small sized backsides where is drapes in a pleasing manner. My backside just fills the available space but I like the complete coverage that the style provides. There are plans to make more, the first in some stashed sweater knit.  Hey I'm still "Stashbusting."

Espresso - Never thought I'd like leggings but my fellow sewcialists seemed to have changed my mind about them. This pattern is excellent for us ladies with more junk in the trunk, since the self drafting means you don't have to worry about short back rises and bending over. *Shudder* We've all had that problem with RTW, am I right? Never again I say!  Now let's rock out in our leggings as pants. WOOO HOOO!