Ponte pants and another Briar t-shirt

Ponte pants. Ponte pants, ponte pants!

With quilting and knee patches.

Up until a week ago I didn't even know I needed these and now I can't get enough of them.

I liked them so much, I made another pair in black (a bit looser fitting). 

I've lightened these pictures to show the detail.

So comfortable.

And then my sister saw them and requested a pair....with back pockets.

So, here's what happened. I was chatting with my sister and she mentioned that she'd seen someone wearing ponte pants and how great they were and how she'd asked where this person had bought them from and this person said she'd bought them three years ago and they were no longer available. She chatted on a bit more but I wasn't really listening. My mind latched on to the words 'ponte pants' and careered off imagining what such things might look like and, more importantly, how I could make some. I knew immediately that mine would have a slight biker look. When I got home I googled some images and found my inspiration:

My inspiration was this ebay listing

I decided to use the Megan Nielsen Virginia leggings pattern as the basis for these and draw up some pattern pieces for the quilted area and knee patches. I created a side seam (this leggings pattern doesn't have a side seam) and widened the legs a bit to account for the limited stretch of the ponte.

And THEN, I drew up these pattern pieces all proper like so I could make a tutorial and include a download so anyone who also feels that they must have ponte pants can have them tooooo!

But you will have to wait until tomorrow for the tutorial and download. Also, the download will only be my quilted piece and knee piece. The Virginia leggings pattern is copyright, but you can get your own from here or use a different leggings pattern or even trace some of your own leggings and make your own pattern. 

So let's get that leggings pattern ready and tomorrow we'll make some ponte pants!

Oh yeah, and I made this t-shirt with the Megan Nielsen Briar pattern. Stretchy at the front and sleeves, woven at the back with a pleat for movement (described here).

 Oh and one more very exciting thing. Burdastyle recently asked for nominations so they could compile a list of the 50 best bloggers for sewing enthusiasts. AND I MADE THE LIST!!!! I can't believe it. Thank you so very, very, very much to whoever liked my blog enough to nominate me. I'm just happy that anyone wants to read about what I've made. Burdastyle now wants people to vote for their favourite blogs from the Top 50. There are some really great blogs on the list, so it's worth a look.

Until tomorrow xxx