Monday, November 10, 2008

If Kermit went golfing....

...these are the pants he'd wear.






I recently obtained the pattern for Crescent Moon Yoga Pants. I went to Walmart and bought the cheapest remnants of fleece I could find (naturally). I thought these two fabrics went together well and didn't give it a second thought. But the moment I pinned the "booty" into the main pant, I realized what I'd done. My daughter looks like a frog. (A cute and cuddly frog, but still.)


The pattern itself was, in general, a well-drafted, well-written pattern. I did (of course) have a one issue with it: the cutting instructions. The pattern piece for the main pant directs you to "Cut 2 - one with pattern up, one with pattern down." For the life of me, I cannot think of any reason why you would do this. I did what every other pattern directs you to do: fold the fabric right sides together and cut out two pieces at once. This has the added bonus of putting the fabric in position for the first step (sewing the front and back seams).

I would hesitate, though, to recommend this pattern to a beginner, not because of the pattern itself, but because the pattern is designed to be used with fleece. I'm sure there are those who will disagree with me, but I don't believe that fleece is a beginner fabric. First of all, it's shifty. I used a lot of pins to hold the yellow "booty" in place while I sewed it. Even then, I still had to go back and re-do part of it. Which brings me to the second reason: it's next to impossible to see your stitches. If you need to tear out a seam, you had better hope you have really good lighting. This is a pretty simple pattern, but let's face it: if you're just learning to sew, odds are you're going to screw up something. Ripping out a seam isn't fun any time, but ripping out a seam in fleece is enough to drive a girl to drink.

Overall though, I liked this pattern. As long as you have a little bit of sewing experience, it's an easy pattern. And the result is cute. Even if your daughter does look like a frog.