Greenstyle Sunday Cardigan + Yoga Pants = LOVE

After the holidays this year, I have to tell you… I lost my sewjo! I just walked by my sewing room and kept walking. I also went to bed early a lot of nights. It didn’t help that my sewing room looked like a disaster from multiple pattern tests + present wrapping + Christmas sewing.

I did a lot of cleaning and worked on some quilting projects during the day instead. This past weekend, my husband took all of the kids to an Obstacle Warrior place and gave me sometime to myself. I am very much an introvert so I was looking forward to the time to finish cleaning my sewing room and enjoy the quiet. While I was folding fabric to put it back on the shelf, I found some that I just had to sew up right away. The fabric just spoke to me about what it should become. My sewjo was back!!!

The Fabric

The fabric I found in my sewing room was a cozy soft striped sweater knit and some French terry that I picked up in the Dallas Fabric District on one of my last trips. The weather has been hovering around the 30s and rainy lately so I have been wanting some more cozy lounge clothes for the dreary winter days. I loved how cozy this fabric felt and just kept petting it. I just knew the sweater knit needed to be a cozy cardigan and that the French Terry needed to be lounge pants.

The Cardigan

For my cardigan, I used the Greenstyle Sunday Cardigan pattern. I LOVE this pattern. The options included in the pattern are knee length or duster length, high or low side slit or closed side, vest or long sleeves, sleeve cuffs or hemmed, hood or no hood, regular or large patch pockets or no pockets.

I made the knee length, hemmed the sleeves, used the large pocket, and did the high side slit. I made this pattern for the first time this summer as a duster length swim cover up (You can see that blogpost here). I enjoyed wearing my cover up so much this summer that I wanted to make the cardigan version ever since. I was so glad that this fabric finally spoke to me that it needed to be a cardigan!

The hood on the Sunday Cardigan is just perfect and so easy to do. I love a cardigan with a hood!

My tip for getting patch pockets to look good is to use wondertape to tape them where you want them before sewing. Then, I give them a big press after I sew them down. Mine aren’t perfect, but with this squishy sweater knit I was really happy with how they turned out.

The Lounge Pants

For my pants, I wanted cozy but not frumpy cozy. I looked through my patterns and thought “Do I need my umpteenth pair of Brassie joggers, or should I try something new?” I chose to branch out and used the Greenstyle Women’s Everyday Yoga Pants pattern. This is going to be another staple pattern for me. I already see myself wanting to wear these everyday!

I had not made this pattern before so I printed off the XS (based on my hip measurement) and made my usual height adjustment (took off 3 inches). I was so excited at how well they fit right off the printer!! They also seem to have booty lifting properties that I am pretty excited about.

The Yoga Pants pattern includes a fold over waistband. I took forever to decide which scrap of cotton lycra would look best as a waistband and eventually found a small scrap of a darker tan fabric that looked like it worked. Since it was small, I didn’t have enough for a fold over waistband so I used the midrise Stride tights waistband. The Stride’s waistband is so comfortable since it is contoured at the top. These pants stay on great, and I don’t have any elastic pushing on my stomach.

Pockets!!

Pockets are really a must for me. Since the pattern does not include pockets, I borrowed the pocket piece from the Brassie joggers. The side seam, however, is different on the yoga pants so I changed the pocket pattern piece to work. Here is what my pocket piece looks like for the Yoga Pants.

You can see the outline of the original Brassie pocket that I traced and where I drew the new pocket so that it matched the side seam of the yoga pants. I cut 2 mirror images of the main pocket out of my main fabric.

To make the pocket lining, I traced the main pocket and cut out the part above the pocket opening. Here is my pattern piece for the lining:

I then cut mirror images out of a thin cotton fabric for the lining and cut out the pocket opening on the front of my pants. I always make sure to mark on the wrong side of the fabric which one is the pocket opening and which one is the crotch because I have accidentally put a pocket on the wrong one before!

To sew the pocket, I put the pocket lining right sides together on top of the front of the pants, sewed it at the pocket opening, and then, I pressed, understitched and topstitched the pocket opening. Finally, I sewed the main pocket to the lining and basted it to the pants.

The pocket seam shows a little on the side of my pants that doesn’t have the floral over the pocket. I am really ok with that because I would much rather have pockets than no pocket seam showing!

I love how they turned out!

Thanks for reading, and I hope I have inspired you!!

Resources

1. The Greenstyle Sunday Cardigan can be found HERE.
2. The Greenstyle Everyday Yoga Pants for Women can be found HERE.
3. The fabric I used came from Wherehouse Fabric Dallas, TX. If you ever find yourself in the DFW area, you need to visit this place.