Resolution for a New Year

Pattern - Love Notions Resolution Bottoms
Skill Level - Confident Beginner
Fabric - Jegging from l'oiseau fabrics
Skills - Serging elastic

If you haven't yet made your New Year's resolution - well how about making this:  resolve to make more things for YOU!  And how about starting by making up one of the Love Notions Resolution Bottoms?

Joggers, leggings and yoga pants with options for a moto look on the leggings and straight leg or boot cut for the yoga pants.  There's even a choice of yoga or contour waistband!  And pockets! There's something here for everyone.  And talk about comfort!

I chose to make the straight leg yoga pants with a contour waistband.  They are pretty quick and simple to make up with the usual Love Notions tutorial that's easy to follow.  Tami makes her patterns so that if you just have a sewing machine, you can make any of her patterns.  If you happen to have a serger, though, I'll share a tip with you that makes putting in the elastic for the contour waistband a snap.

The pattern calls for 3/8" elastic but I could only find 1/4".  The width of your elastic doesn't really matter, though, as the tip works for all widths.

First, stitch the waistband ends and then serge them together at the top.  I butted the ends of elastic together and zig zagged across the join with my sewing machine.  Doing it without an overlap means that you have the least bulk possible and it's more comfortable.  The first thing to do is to quarter your elastic and quarter the top of the waistband.  Now pin the quarters together on the wrong side of the waistband and you're ready to take it to the serger.

Turn off the knife and put the waistband and elastic under the presser foot with the elastic on the top. Gently stretch the elastic so it's the same length as the quarter section of waistband and serge.

That's it!

Now turn the waistband right side out.  Quarter the waistband where it will join the pants and quarter the pants.  Don't assume that the seams are the quarter points of the pants - they aren't!  The back of the pants is a little wider for your caboose.

Pin the contoured waistband to the pants, matching the quarters, and serge them together.  Hey - you're done!  Now you just have to hem and you've got yourself a great pair of bottoms!

And if you don't already have the pattern, you can get it through my affiliate link.

Love Notions Resolution Bottoms