My Sewing Momiform Favorite: Greenstyle Brassie Joggers + A Giveaway!!

This week at Greenstyle is Favorite’s Week, and today is my turn to gush all about my favorite Greenstyle pattern! For me, this was a no-brainer! The Brassie joggers of course!! It was the first pattern I tried from Greenstyle, and I still can’t get enough of this pattern!

My style as a mom revolves around one word: COMFORT. If I am not comfortable in something, no matter how much I love the fabric or love the look. I just won’t wear it. About 2 years ago, when I made my first pair of Brassie joggers in a French terry, I made another pair, and then another, and now I am in the double digits and have lost count. I am totally hooked.

I have since used so many fabrics: cotton lycra, double brushed poly, athletic brushed poly, jacquard distressed knit, and sweatshirt fabric. I think the key to picking the right fabric for me is making sure it has some spandex content. Fabrics without spandex in them tend to sag in the bottom after a full day of wear. That is never flattering!

The Brassie joggers are at the top of my list of momiform items in my closet. I have Brassies that I wear at home all day with the kids, out and about when busting through my list of errands, working out at the gym, or for sleeping. They are my favorite lounge pants and my favorite put together pants. In the words of my mother-in-law: “You can dress them up, and you can dress them down!”

I wear Brassie joggers year-round. I make a stack of shorts using the shorts cutline in the summer and then wear my pants version from Fall to Spring. I blogged about the Brassie joggers a year and a half ago when I was pregnant and making shorts for the summer (you can read that here). You can also see some distressed knit Brassies that I made here.

Another awesome thing about Brassies are that they fit me in all my diverse stages: pregnant, not pregnant, postpartum, too much cake. They are just forgiving and loving. And after too much wear, they still hug me just right for pajamas. If I have been out wearing jeans or something structured, I immediately go find a pair of Brassies to wear when I get home.

For this blogpost, I made two new pairs. This olive pair is from a distressed denim COTTON LYCRA from Jumping June Textiles. I was so excited that I got this pair out of one yard! I had to cut my waistband and cuffs against the grain to make it work (which was fine because this fabric is just as stretchy against the grain as with it). This is my 4th pair in cotton lycra. As long as you aren’t using thin cotton lycra, it works just fine for brassie joggers. If you live where it is really cold, though, you may want a thicker fabric like sweatshirt fleece or a heavier French terry.

The next pair that I made for this blogpost is out of a French Terry. This is a poly based one that I picked up at Wherehouse Dallas. It only has about 35% horizontal stretch and no vertical stretch so I did not use it for the cuffs and waistband. For those, I used a heathered blue cotton lycra from Made Whimsy.

On the Brassie size chart, my waist measures a XS and my hips measure a Small. I only make a Small if I am pregnant, or if I am my regular size, I make a small if I am using fabric with only 25% stretch like sweatshirt fleece and some French terries. If my fabric has any decent stretch, I make an XS with the S crotch curve. Both of the pairs that I made for this blogpost are an XS with the S crotch curve.

I use the low rise option in the pattern. It also comes with a midrise option.

I cut at the 30 inch inseam cutline and remove 3 inches of length for my 27 inch inseam. I remove 1 inch at the lengthen/shorten line, a second inch 7 inches below that, and another inch 7 inches below that. I like to spread my height removal out rather than in one drastic place.

Adjustments

I grade my calves down to the XXS, and then, starting at the capri cut line (which lands right at where the thick part of my calf ends), I draw in the next size down and grade to that. I like the calves to be a little slimmer and not baggie after I attach the cuffs. I don’t grade my calves down at all if making the non-cuffed version.

I also usually don’t use the waistband included in the pattern because I don’t like enclosed elastic firm against my tummy (but if I make it too loose my pants fall down!). So instead, I use a cotton lycra with a higher spandex content, supplex, or an athletic knit that has great recovery for the waistbad and cut mine at 24 inches long times 6.5 inches tall. If I really want a lounge look, I will put two buttonholes and string a drawstring through it, but the drawstring is not really functional since the waistband is doing the work of keeping my pants up. My natural waist is 26.5 and my actual waist where I wear my pants is 30 inches. I always try my waistband on first, too, because every fabric feels different and may need to be smaller or bigger.

Lastly, I make my pockets into a pocket bag style. To do this, I print two pocket pattern pieces. On the second pocket pattern piece, I lay my pants pattern piece on top of it, and draw a line where the pants pattern piece meets, cut off the excess top, and use this pattern piece as my pocket lining/bag. Sometimes I attach that with a band f I want contrast to show at the pocket edge, or I just put the lining right sides together with the pant, stitch, and turn right side out.

Resources

• The Greenstyle Brassie Joggers pattern can be found HERE.
• The green distressed denim cotton lycra is from Jumping June Textiles and can be found HERE.
• The French Terry floral was from Wherehouse Fabric Dallas.
• The heathered blue cotton lycra was from Made Whimsy.
• The top I am wearing is the Sew Over It Molly Top from their Capsule Wardrobe eBook

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