Greenstyle Warrior Pants

Sometimes I have projects that I am working on that I get so excited to share. It’s usually the projects where I learned something new or that challenged me in some way. I always struggle with how much I should share my “sewing fails” so that ya’ll could really appreciate how exciting my good projects are!! Well, anyways, today’s project is so good, and I hope I inspire you to keep challenging yourself to make things that you feel good in and confident to say that you made what you are wearing.

Greenstyle Creations has just released it’s latest pattern, the Warrior Pants. For today’s post, I will be reviewing the pattern and talking about the top that I made to go with my pants. I will also be chatting with you about my personal style.

The Pattern – The Warrior Pants

The Warrior pants come in 3 lengths – capri, ankle, or full length. The pattern has a comfortable knit waistband, an overlapping side seam, the most genius pockets you will ever construct, and a side slit that can go as high or low as you prefer. I have never seen pockets constructed this way, and the sewing nerd in me absolutely geeked out about how fun the pockets were to sew. You can watch me sew them here if you need any help along the way.

The pants also look so good in a variety of fabrics – double brushed poly, French terry, ITY, cotton spandex, rayon spandex, and the list goes on. You just need a knit fabric with at least 25% stretch. It took 2 yards of fabric for each of the pairs of pants that I made (3 total!) so these definitely take more fabric than my regular skinny pants or leggings.

This floral pair was made with double brushed polyester from Knitpop. I used the ankle length cutline on the pattern.

Here I am trying to be athletic in my pants. I think this pose makes it obvious that I no longer practice yoga, but I do remember this being one of my favorite poses when I did prenatal yoga many years ago. The Warrior Pants pattern is named after the Warrior Pose in Yoga. My mind does drift off into thoughts of what being a warrior means to me as a Christian. The Bible tells us that we do not fight against flesh and blood but against forces and authorities and rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world (Eph 6.12). Even if someone is different than me, my weapon is to love them and to be kind to them. You never know what battle other people are fighting in their own personal life, so I try to be slow to take offense or to take things personal.

One of my techniques with my children is that when I am at my most angry, I try to purposely lower my voice and use a soft voice. This one is so hard, but it is so effective. The Bible says that a soft or gentle answer turns away wrath (Prov 15:1). I notice that if I just start yelling (no matter how justified) that it just makes the situation worse, shuts my kids down, and I get no response. If I get down on my kids level, lower my voice, and speak in a kind way, I am usually able to get them to calm down and respond to me. I know my weapons may seem so weak and nothing to be proud of, but let me tell you, that I feel like God’s love and kindness is a force that has changed me and sets the tone for those around me. I always feel awful too if I let my emotions get the best of me and I yell. I think my weapons are also very fitting for my blog “Sweet Mama.”

I also snuck in a green top to see how it looked with a regular length top.

This next pair of Warrior pants is a capri pair made in a dark navy polyester blend fabric. I love the drape it has and how insanely comfortable these pants are. I took one inch out of the length of these pants at the lengthen/shorten line to account for my shortness (5″2′).

Let’s Warm Up

I am sure you are wondering by now what my challenge was with this project. Well, it was style! When Angelyn (the genius engineer and designer behind Greenstyle) started working on the Warrior Pants pattern, I couldn’t imagine myself in the style. I took to Pinterest and started looking for inspiration to warm myself up to the idea. You can see my Pinterest board here if you are curious about that.

In my head I had defined my personal style as always having a fitted bottom (leggings, skinny pants, etc.) with various types of tops. But, you guys, I started falling in love with these wide leg styles. I am probably so late to the party, but I am so glad to be here now. The biggest part of the challenge: I also REALLY loved the way crop tops looked with the wide leg pants. It changed the silhouette in a way that I just couldn’t achieve with any other top.

I knew the look I wanted now, but then, my thoughts wandered down the rabbit hole of – I have had 5 kids, my stomach has been stretched too crazy and no one wants to see that. Even if they did, I am 36. I am too old for that. You get the idea. So, in the middle of my thoughts, my little sister came over ROCKING a crop top. Guys, she looked good. So, all these words to say, I am EMBRACING the style. I made my first one (read on for pattern details), and I love it! I know I will totally be baring my tummy for date nights, but I also can see myself throwing this over my tight fitting tank tops that I wear to the gym and using it as a pullover as well. I am sure I will get curious looks with all 5 of my kids at the grocery store in a crop top. We will see how brave I really get.

The Top Pattern – The Open Back Pullover

The Pattern that I used to make my top is the Greenstyle Open Back Pullover. I chose this top because I love the loose fitting comfortable shape and that it works great with fabrics that I don’t have only 25% horizontal stretch and no spandex. I wanted to use my super soft organic bamboo fleece and knew it would work on this pattern. Even though the fun of the Open Back Pullover is the high or low scoop back, for this top, I wanted a plain solid back. I used the low front scoop neckline, and I cut the front and back pieces at a straight line 7.5 inches below where the armscye ends. The result was a super quick top that I am so excited about.

The last pair of Warrior Pants I have to show you is a double brushed polyester pair that I made in pretesting with arrow fabric. I thought the fabric was very fitting for the pants and plan to wear these as lounge pants at home.

Resources

1. The Warrior Pants pattern can be found here.
2. The Open Back Pullover pattern can be found here.
3. Pants Fabric – The Floral DBP came from Knitpop. The other two came from the local DFW Fabric District.
4. Top Fabric – The organic bamboo fleece came from Simplifi Fabric.

Thanks so much for reading my blog! I hope I have inspired you. You may follow me on Instagram or receive updates by liking my page on Facebook. If you want to take a look into the things that inspire me, you can follow me on Pinterest. You may also follow my blog with Bloglovin.

Disclosures: I received this pattern for free as part of the testing process to give the designer feedback about the instructions and fit of the pattern. This post also may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small compensation when you purchase via my link. There is no cost to you.  Any and all opinions expressed are my own.

Photo Credit: My sweet 9 year old daughter, Abigail. Do you see the rain in the background?! It had rained for almost a week when she took these photos so we took them in a parking garage. The lighting was so hard from a photography perspective.