Yes, you have seen this picture before. And yes, my feet were freezing; my photographer was on a mission and I decided cold feet were preferable to old slippers
I quite like wearing leggings. I wear them for cycling, for flights and when I want an extra layer of warmth under a dress. I have several pairs from Sweaty Betty including some fleece lined ones for winter. I also have a pair of Winser London Miracle leggings which are surprisingly flattering. The Miracle fabric Winser uses is a thick Ponte made with a lot of viscose which is easy to care for and very comfortable ( I can also recommend the dresses made out of the same fabric).
As a fun quick project I thought I would try Cake Espresso Leggings. These intrigued me because you essentially draft your own leggings using their dot to dot guide.
The whole project should be very easy and quick, however I was a bit perplexed by some of the drafting instructions Do you add the seam allowances or are they already included? There seemed to be mixed views on this when I googled it. Also how do you go about measuring your front and back rise? I though I knew but as I ended up with leggings which were too long on the front and too short on the back I think Cake may have used a different method. Bizarrely the URL provided doesn’t work so there doesn’t seem to be anyway you can get assistance from Cake themselves.
After a quick trip to Fiona’s Fabrics I made up my first pair in black cotton jersey and the second in a mad black and grey rose print viscose. I managed to get both to fit reasonably well after a bit of tweaking. So my advice to anyone trying to make these – seam allowances do seem to be built into the pattern but allow a bit extra around the waist band so you can fiddle around with the rise.
Now I just need to find some decent viscose ponte……
Jane's Sew & Tell 