Hello Lounge Lizard!

 I finally succumbed!  I have been trying desperately to hold onto some semblance of publicly acceptable clothing, maybe thinking that I might suddenly need to go somewhere!? 😆 But when I saw the latest pattern introduction from Closet Core I dove straight into the "loungewear" pool.  Who was I kidding anyway!  I have been wearing the same yoga pants and tank top  everyday and frankly, could use some newer, nicer versions.  So when I saw they were available, AND in a sale bundle, I ordered them up!  I had also ordered a few yards of a really nice light weight fleece from Emma One Sock a few weeks ago with nothing planned for it, and thought it would be perfect for the hoodie and joggers.  (Joggers is the new name for what I wore in high school and called "sweatpants," much cuter name and allows an old lady to feel cool and with it! or 'dope'?!)

Since most patterns that I have used need quite a bit of manipulating to get the fit right for my body, my usual first step is to make a 'trial balloon' hoping it will be a wearable muslin.  More often it becomes a chopped up mess of alterations.  I didn't have another piece of fleece to play around with so I decided I would just go for it and if I needed to get more fabric, well, I knew where it had come from!  

I checked out the pattern measurements and figured I would make a size 10 for the joggers and, because the sweatshirt was pretty generously sized, a size 8 for the top.  I did add my normal 3" to the length of the sleeves and the pants, but other than that I cut them straight out of the envelop, with my fingers tightly crossed.  

I realized as I was laying out the pattern pieces that, if I was very miserly, I might just be able to get the shorts cut out as well.  Challenge accepted!  I think I spent longer wiggling pieces around than I did sewing them up!  But, with a few other adjustments, I managed to get the hoodie, the joggers AND the shorts!  How...?

I had already decided I wanted to add a ribbing to the edge of the hood.  The pattern suggests turning the edge under, but I thought a ribbing would give it a bit of tension to keep it from falling too open.  I was thinking I would just use a strip of the fleece, but now that I was in conservation mode, I went looking around for something else to use.  The only thing I had on hand was a slate gray knit, but it looked great with the fleece.  Once I introduced the second fabric I used it for the waistband of the shorts and trimmed the pockets of the hoodie and the shorts so it became a "design detail." (if you do something 3 times it's a design detail not a mistake!)  I also cut the pocket bags out of a light weight linen.  It actually worked really well.  It reduced the bulk of the pockets and stabilized them at the same time.  I reduced the pocket bulk some more on the shorts  by only making the back pocket bag and stitching it through the outside of the fronts.  And finally, I ended up piecing the back yoke of the hoodie.  I knew I would have to piece somewhere and figured the yoke would be under the hood most of the time.  I lined the yoke with a piece of an old T-shirt to keep all the seams from being too irritating across my shoulders.  As I was panning and making all these fussy maneuvers I kept thinking, "this is a lot of work for something that might end up a chopped up mess!"  

The piecing on the yoke is hard to see from the outside, which was kind of the point!

Well, you can see by the lack of in-progress pictures that I got carried away...again...and forgot to take one photo.  But, I did manage a few of the completed garments, which worked out to be amazing!  I am more than pleased and surprised at how well they fit and look.  I didn't even have to adjust the crotch curve!!!

Whoa!  Where'd those crazy yellow duck shoes come from?!

Now I am wondering why it took me so long to embrace the loungewear trend...but I think there will be more lounge lizarding in my future.   And some more Closet Core patterns as well. 😉