Happy fall!! Welcome to the season of comfy leggings, sweaters, cooler weather, football, hot drinks, and shorter days. What comes to your mind when you think of fall?
For today’s post, I have a new quick outfit that I made to show you. Fall is my favorite season to sew all the leggings, and I used my scraps to make a matching crop top to wear under some sweaters this fall. In addition to talking about the patterns I used and this fabric, I would like to chat about how to keep your leggings from sliding down and give you some tips for sewing with super stretchy knit fabric.
My Project
I used the beige camo yoga flex fabric from Greenstyle Fabric. This yoga fabric is super stretchy, smooth to the touch, and lightweight to wear. I used the Greenstyle Inspire Tights Pattern* for my leggings and used the no side seam modification. For my top, I used the Elevate Crop top* pattern in the racerback view. The Elevate crop is just a top, so I wore this Power Sports Bra underneath to give me support.
How to Keep Your Leggings from Sliding Down
I made this pair of leggings like normal, ran around in them, and quickly realized that this pair was sliding down every few steps. UGH. This fabric has a lot of stretch, and I was so disappointed in myself. I always make sure to tell everyone to try their waistband on before attaching it if you plan to leave out elastic. The Inspire Tights pattern calls for elastic in the top seam of the waistband to secure the leggings and keep them from sliding. I am not a fan of elastic in waistbands because it feels firm against my stomach all day, and it hits right in the most sensitive part.
So, out came the seam ripper. You would think I would have listened to my own advice, but I must have been in a hurry. Remember: being in a hurry doesn’t always pay off! I ended up taking the waistband in at least 1/2 an inch on each side and reattaching. My band is nice and firm now, and I ran all around without it budging. Whew!
If your waistband is firm enough, another culprit that can cause leggings to slide down is having fabric that has too little stretch and is being pulled down by your thighs or calves, OR if your fabric is stretchy enough, it can happen if your thighs or calves are much bigger than the size you are making.
Sewing with Super Stretchy Fabric
I sew all of my knit clothes using my serger to construct the main seams and use my sewing machine to do any hemming or topstitching. EVERY SINGLE TIME I make a new garment, rethread, or use a different fabric, I grab a scrap, sew a seam, check that the tension and differential looks balanced, and abuse the crap out of that seam.
This is one of the most important steps in my opinion because if you can make that seam pop in your hands, then your fabric is stretchier than your seam and can pop when you are jumping and squatting all about in your leggings. I was using regular Maxi-Lock thread that day, and I noticed on this fabric that I couldn’t get my settings correct on my serger, and I could pop every seam I was sewing. I switched both of my looper threads to Maxi-Lock Stretch Thread, and it worked!! My seam had plenty of stretch, and I couldn’t pop it. I am glad I didn’t skip this step!
I don’t have a fancy coverstitch (YET), so I use a twin needle on my sewing machine to topstitch my front and back rise and to topstitch the seam allowance of my bands on my top down.
Thanks for reading today. I would love to stay connected with you. You can find me on Instagram, or you may 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.
Resources
- Greenstyle Beige Camo Fabric
- Greenstyle Elevate Top and Inspire Tights
- Maxi-lock Nylon Thread for Loopers
*Disclosures
I received this fabric for free to show how it looks sewn up. Also, this post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small compensation when you purchase via my link. This does not cost you anything, and I genuinely appreciate the support. Any and all opinions expressed are still my own.
XO
Also, this is what half my photos looked like. Hair everywhere!!
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