Grey Joggers for Alex

The second piece of precut fabric I bought recently, was light double-thread sweatshirt knit. I bought it with joggers for Alex in mind and these have now been made. The fabric, unfortunately, seems not of high quality (perhaps too much polyester content?) and pills lightly, so we'll see how well they'll favour in the long run.

The pattern is an old Schkatulka pattern I had made for him before and of all the jogger patterns I've made for him, he chose this one as the most comfortable.

Pattern: Simple Joggers by Shkatulka

Size: 46 for height 178-183 cm

Fabric: Cotton-polyester double-thread sweatshirt Knit 

Time to make: 1 day

I made the joggers almost identical to his previous Schkatulka joggers, I only changed the pockets to be with slanted entrance opening and not in the side seems. I find such pockets more comfortable, better looking and at the same time easier to sew. Intentionally I added a strip of dark grey to the opening of the pockets, both for interest and to make them a set with the T-shirt i made for him recently.

It was a very easy make, which took me only a day, with the paper pattern already cut and the fit tried and tested. However, for future makes, I think I might make them just a tad shorter, perhaps by 1.5 - 2 cm.

Light Jack Joggers

I made another pair of Jack Joggers by Viki Sews, my fourth of this pattern and second for husband. 

When I bought the pattern some time ago, my husband was about 12-13 kg heavier and I bought the 44 size. However, he's been on the path to getting in shape and now he needs a smaller size joggers. I didn't feel like buying the next size, printing and gluing lots of pages, so I simply took off 2 cm width-wise from the front and the back pattern pieces and it worked like a charm.

Pattern: Jack by Vikisews

Size: 42 (M) Height: 178-184 cm

Fabric: cotton French terry

Time to make: 3 days 

The pattern is simple to follow and produces nicely proportioned joggers, which husband liked. The only frivolity I added is the yellow stripe at the pockets. I bought quite a piece of this light grey French terry and I plan a hoodie to go with it as well, with some yellow interest, added to the pockets and the hood there too.

Husband is such a sport for posing for my blog! Here he's trying to be funny :)

Jack Joggers for Alex

Apart from secret (and not so secret :) Christmas presents, this year I decided to sew something for my husband and two children. These hand-made presents are not meant to be secret, in fact I insist on the recipient trying them on and giving me feed back, as I would rather prefer them to have something comfortable and fitting to their liking, than a useless surprise.

I'm ready with the first of these presents - a pair of joggers for my son. The pattern is classic joggers called Jack by Vikisews, a Russian sewing company, with deep pockets and elastics at the waist and the ankles. I already tested it last month, when I made a pair of short joggers for Alex.

This time I decided to add just a touch of red, so I sewed red piping to the opening of the pockets.

Most of the seams were done on the overlocker, but I did additional strengthening seams on the straight machine at the sides and at the waist. And of course, I added my customized label at the back.

What I would change next time - I would make the waistband shorter, as Alex is one of those very sleek slim young men with broad shoulders and ridiculously tiny waists. And I also find the rise of the joggers a bit low, so probably 1.5 cm addition to the overall rise at the waist would be more comfortable. 

Although Alex did try them on (several times) during the sewing process, he hasn't received them yet, so no modeled pictures. Maybe I'll manage to persuade him to take a few photos after Christmas.

Pattern: Jack by Vikisews

Size: 42 (M) Height: 178-184 cm

Fabric: cotton/polyester  double knit

Time to make: 2 days 

Simple Men's Lounge Pants

Here's the pair of lounge pants I made for my son at the beginning of the month. These have been worn and washed twice and are holding pretty well. The fabric is cotton knit, very easy to work with.

The pattern I cut is from Shkatulka, their simple men's lounge pants, size 46 for height 178-183 cm. The size fit Alex perfectly, I don't remember making any corrections to the length or width of the pattern, I only moved the placement of the pockets to the side seams. Here are a few youtube tutorials on the sewing of the pockets, which I wish I had found before I started sewing the pants :) I spent probably an hour racking my brain over the pockets, watching useless in my case tutorials for inseam pockets in skirts and dresses, until I somehow figured it out. And on the next day, probably based on my previous searches, youtube offered me these Russian videos  for inseam pockets in men's pants - just what I had been looking for.

Pattern: Simple Lounge Pants by Shkatulka

Size: 46 for height 178-183 cm

Fabric: Cotton Knit 

Thread: grey and light blue, polyesther

Time to make: 2 days

I made the waist band separate, sewing it double over a 3.5 cm wide elastic band. Next time I should make the band a bit looser, as Alex noted that what he considered comfortable after a brief testing turned too tight after a day's wear.