Black Ninjas

I have mixed feelings about this title, to be honest. It does describe what this blog post is about though: 5 out of 4 Ninja Pants in a black fabric, so I'm going to leave it. I have been meaning to sew myself a pair of dress black tights for ages, and I finally went out and bought 3m of fabric to do it. It's a good thing I did, because the fabric had less stretch than I thought it would, so my first pair went to my mother, who has smaller legs than I do. The second pair is nearly perfect. You might be able to tell in the pictures that the crotch curve isn't perfect, but in this case it's not a big deal because I mostly wear them under dresses.

As someone who lives in Nova Scotia, bare legs during the winter is just not feasible. I have fleece-lined tights in black and blue to wear under dresses and sometimes even jeans, but they are no good for wearing with tunics or dresses that are a little too short to be appropriate for the office. Opaque black leggings are the perfect fix. I had already sewn up the P4P Peg Legs and wanted to give the 5oo4 Ninja leggings a try as well. Both patterns are free if you join their Facebook groups, so all it required was some extra taping and tracing. I made up a quick pair of shorts to check the fit, which I now sometimes wear for Frisbee under my shorts.

I did the usual grading between 3 sizes to properly accommodate my derriere, added 2 inches of length so they were long enough (my first pair of leggings that are long enough!) and omitted the pocket because I was lazy (I added one in to the pair mom got). There is a bit of extra fabric around the knees, but that doesn't bother me too much. I assembled everything on my serger, and it came together like a dream. I still love my serger, and am definitely putting some miles on it.

When I sew my next pair I'm going to see if I can fix the extra fabric at the front, but it's better than a camel toe, #realtalk. I love having leggings that are long enough and stay up. I added a 1-inch elastic at the waist to double-ensure they stay up, and while it is sometimes a bit uncomfortable at large dinners (maybe I should take that as a hint not to over-eat), I really like the extra support. I also like that there is enough fabric around my calves so they are not suffocating, which is a common occurrence with store-bought pants for me.

Overall, these leggings are a success (after a failure), and I've already gotten a lot of wear out of them. I love the gusset and optional pocket, and the simple waistband. I'm tempted to see if I can squeeze one more pair out of the fabric I bought, but it's appealing to me to make a skirt or dress out of it.

Details

Pattern: 5 out of 4 Ninja Pants
Material: A black circular knit, I think
Modifications: Graded between sized, sized up to accommodate less stretch, added length
Learning: Be more careful when checking stretch of fabrics, and I finally did a nice gusset!