Athletic Knit Avery Leggings

More than a year ago, I made my first pair of Avery leggings. I was a really big fan of the pattern, and you can see my previous version here. Last time I went for the high waist and the shorter leg option, and they were so high on me that they touched the bottom of my bra. I wanted to try out the more narrow waistband option before I committed to my nice fabric, so when I had a snow day a couple days ago, I knew it was time to do my second muslin! I had another piece of very sparkly $3 fabric to use, and I liked the lower rise when I made it, so I cut into the good stuff. I had two cuts of heathered athletic knit from Blackbird and used this grey piece to make the leggings you see here.

When I made the first pair of these in my sparkly fabric, I knew from the last pair that the fabric wasn’t ACTUALLY stretchy enough, but that it served well as a test. If you follow me on Instagram, I was posting on stories about the process with those, and when I tried them on for the first time a couple stitches popped in the front crotch area. I wasn’t going to bother fixing it, but I ended up fixing it just in case I want to wear them later. I figured that the stitch popping was due to the lesser stretch of the fabric, and where this athletic knit was 97% polyester and 3% spandex, I figured it would be fine to do the same size because of the increased stretch. I made a size M and shortened the legs by 3″ at the hem from the shorter hem length included in the pattern. My measurements are 37.5″/30″/39.5″ last time I checked. And YET as you can see a few photos down, I still had stitch laddering along the inseam. I didn’t have any threads break, but it makes me wonder if I should try making a size L for my next pair just to see if it goes away, since I don’t think it would be WAY too big if I did that so would still get use out of them. Has anyone else had this issue? How did you fix it? Did you go up a size? Did you find it was fine?

The other thing I think I might change for my next pair is to go for a waistband height somewhere in between the high one and this one, because I don’t mind this one but would appreciate it being a bit higher (not just as high as my bra!). I also, like last time, left out the waistband elastic. I just felt like it would cut into my belly and haven’t found that I needed it in the previous pair. The fabrics I’ve used have also had good recovery, so I think that helps.

I want to say that I highly recommend this pattern and this fabric! The pattern is a super quick sew – I cut and sewed two pairs during my snow day and there was EXCESSIVE dawdling in the form of phone browsing and X-Files-watching, so I probably could’ve banged out a third if I felt production-y. For my size/length adjustments, I measured and could fit the pieces in 1m of 58″ wide fabric, which is nice to know for future. I had a bit of this fabric left over that I think I might use to try out the Sophie Hines Axis tank. I also want to try out the pocket hack for the Avery leggings that Helen has up on her blog. The fabric is really soft and dreamy and so stretchy, and I ordered two more cuts of it for future leggings based on how lovely these feel. This is one of the two colours I ordered – I’m gonna be flashy! My next project on deck is a Sirocco jumpsuit in a turquoise velvet for my sister who requested one after becoming obsessed with my version the instant she laid eyes on it. Then my next For Me project is a pair of navy blue corduroy Yanta overalls. I’ve been craving a pair of overalls and I think these are the exact silhouette I want. I also found some great black and white striped knit in my stash when I pulled out the fabric for these leggings, so I might make a top out of it to go with my overalls. My sewjo is running rampant!