Sunday, December 5, 2021

A Little Ditty ‘Bout Jack and Diane

Man standing with sweatshirt and pants
I don’t make a lot of clothes for the man, for a bunch of reasons, but one is that I’m worried the fit will be harder to get than it is on myself.  And he is bigger, so playing around with fabric to get just the right fit can be pricey and not worth the effort.  He also is particular about colors, so I don’t have a lot of solid fabric at hand to fool around with.

Last winter, he found some rtw jogger type pants that are basically wind pants and not very warm for his morning outdoor exercise.  I kept telling him to get some fleece lined pants but time marched on and then it was shorts season.  For a while, I’ve been seeing everyone making men’s joggers that look a lot like the rtw pants he had and I kept thinking I should make some, but finding a fleece backed fabric with enough stretch has been a challenge.  Until now.

I found some Poly Spandex Brushed Back Jersey Knit Fabric from the Fabric Fairy that is stretchy enough that I might even be able to make myself some leggings, but I started to toy with the idea of the Jack Joggers by 5outof4 patterns (affiliate link) for the purpose he wants to wear them.  The recommended fabric is a medium to heavy knit and not super stretchy.  I knew I wanted to taper the legs to make them more like what he already has and it needed some stretch to really move with him.

Man wearing pants
I made myself the Diane Joggers, also by 5outof4 patterns (affiliate link)  and didn’t love the patch pockets. It’s not my style.  Neither of us like pockets on the outside like that.  I made him one pair of Jack Joggers with no pockets at all and that was intolerable, so I got to thinking about using the side seam pockets from the Ruby Peacoat.  Putting them in was a breeze.  I didn’t change the size of the pocket at all and he can get his hand and phone in and out just fine.  

When I made the muslin, his only complaint was the floppy legs from the knee down.  He didn’t want the cuffs and he really likes the tapered legs of the rtw pair.  I used them as a guide on the pattern and finagled the lines enough to get them tapered enough to make him happy.

Man standing with pants
Most of his rtw athletic shorts and pants have elastic in the waist and a drawstring, so I did this with these too.  I used two inch knit elastic and I always like to zigzag at the top to keep the waistband from flipping around, so I did that with these as well.  I made two buttonholes in the center to add the drawstring.

He really likes the fabric and says they are warm.  The stretch is fantastic and the waistband stays in place.  For him, the pockets are just right.  These are SUPER easy to put together.  For me, the most time consuming part is the waistband because I’m picky about them.  I made several fit adjustments that came together much easier than for myself!