Simplicity 8424: Fun leggings for yoga

March 8, 2020 by steelyseamstress 4 Comments

I have been wearing my Ruri sweatpants for yoga all winter, but I realise that they are going to be way too hot to wear in the summer. I took a look at my existing yoga leggings; there were sagging knees, wafer-thin backside fabric and holes in the in-seam areas. They were bought in the late eighties or early nineties, so they have lasted an extraordinary length of time, but it was now time to say goodbye to them.

I bought Simplicity 8424 in a sale. It seemed useful pattern, containing, not only a leggings pattern, but a wrap top, vest top and a long-sleeved pullover top too, a complete fitness wardrobe. I liked all the top designs. There were also three variations for the leggings. View A has a tie at the waist, view B has criss-cross leg ties and view C is just a pair of plain leggings. I probably won’t make all these variations; there’s too much potential for dangling fabric for my liking in views A and B. I stopped wearing hooded tops to yoga a while back, as the hood flapped away when I was doing down-face dog…so annoying. Obviously I chose the plain leggings.

SImplicity 8424

The fabric was bought a while ago from Stoff and Stil. It seems to feature surfing-style badges and logos. It doesn’t seem to be on the website anymore, but they still have a fantastic range of printed jerseys. It was a cotton-elastane blend.

SImplicity 8424 leggings

I selected size small (S). I cut the pattern out exactly as per the pattern, although I was slightly skeptical about how that would fit around the waist. The most challenging thing about cutting out was making sure that I placed the pieces so that the writing is the right way up on the finished leggings. I sewed most of it on the overlocker.

Nice fitting leggings

The instructions called for the use of 1cm clear elastic to be sewn to the inside of the upper edge of the waistband. I tried this and found that the clear elastic I had just simply didn’t have enough stretch (I couldn’t get the elastic over by backside when I tried this before inserting it into the waistband!) I found some swimwear elastic, which has greater stretch and used that instead. I didn’t use the elastic guide from the pattern either, I just went with what I knew would fit my waist (somewhat more than the measurement for the small (S) size). I suppose I could have sized up to a different size, but the S was perfect in all the other dimensions. I did shorten the front rise, otherwise the leggings would have reached my arm pits at the front, but this is more a reflection on my body shape, I think it would be mid-rise, as the pattern, describes on most people.

Action shot!

I was so pleased that I managed to make something within a week, from cutting out to hemming the bottom of the legs. That’s got to be a record! I still have some more of the fabric. I think I could manage a vest top from the same pattern; it only requires 0.7 metres.

I haven’t worn the leggings to yoga yet. I’ll have to wait until the end of the week, but I’m pleased with them so far, particularly the fit.