Too Big For My Britches (Leggings)

Hello Readers. How are you? This post is not really about britches. It's about leggings. You know, those comfy, stretchy pants that women wear for exercise, lounging, pajamas, casual wear ....and I hear, air travel. The United Airlines legging incident of this past weekend, made this post even more timely. 

 I am a stay at home mom so I dress casually. I try to push myself to exercise but it doesn't always happen. I want to be comfortable but also prepared to drag myself out for a walk. I also want to be able to take a nap if I was up the night before with the little guy. Leggings (or yoga pants) fit the bill. But the waistband of some of my leggings was too tight. They were not comfortable enough for my tummy. (This could be due to any number of factors; middle aged belly, large amounts of Chinese take-out, third baby at age 42, cupcakes, winter weight, cookies....) You get the idea. 

These leggings were also really long, or I am really short. It depends how you look at it. Whatever the cause I had extra fabric to play with. I cut a few inches off the legs of the leggings. (Tongue twister!) 

I cut two small triangles from the cut off pieces. I used the hem at the bottom of each leg as the base of the triangle. The finished edge will become part of the waist.

I matched up the height/length of the triangles to the height/length of the cuts I made in the sides of the leggings waistband. You can see where this is going right? The hips have enough stretch to fit comfortably, I just need some extra in the waist. I used my machine to attach the triangle to the cut I made in the waist.

I put the leggings to the test to make sure I could lounge comfortably. They worked perfectly. (Note the complete disaster my toddler has made while I did this legging lounge test.)

I used the same fix for these light blue leggings. They have a denim look but they are just plain leggings/jeggings. You can see the difference in the waistband and the inserted triangle piece really well in this fabric. I always wear long shirts with leggings so I don't think anyone is going to see the details of my refashion. The edge is finished, the stitching is just different in the newly added piece. 

Here is a picture of the blue leggings in action. They had plenty of tummy room but didn't fall down. Perfect! Any stretchy knit fabric would have worked if I hadn't had extra fabric from the legs to work with.

*****      BONUS TRACK     *****

I saw this scarf trick on Pinterest and thought I would try it and share it. I took a light weight scarf and made it into a kimono/wrap/jacket/thing. It was cuter than it sounds in this description. 

I borrowed this zebra scarf from my daughter. It was a long rectangle and it had nice drape. A stiff scarf isn't going to work for this. I spread it out longways and matched the corners. The idea is to tie those corners together to make a sleeve of sorts.

Here is my corner tying demo. 

Here I am putting my arm through the armhole I made by tying the corners together.

Here is the back view. It looks like a loose jacket. You can always untie the corners and use it as a scarf again. Versatile, huh?

Well, that's it for today. Thanks for reading, now go make something fun for yourself.