buy it or make it

Buy It Or Make It: Yellow Tights

By in buy it or make it, sewing

Outdoor Voices has some new options in their “expensive fancy tights in weird colors” lineup, including this bright yellow mix. They have great quality but we’re looking at $95 gym tights here:

You could make nearly the same thing–including a back pocket!–for about $50 with three colors of “Dryline Wicking Spandex” from Seattle Fabrics and the Jalie Cora Tights pattern

I’m not sure I will, because I, um, have even more fabric for tights to sew up, but I could. (Doc did point out that the yellow would be a call out to Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, which is a GIANT DRAW.)

Buy It Or Make It? Gym Leggings

By in buy it or make it, Tuesday Project Roundup

Now that I have embraced leggings, I have decided I need more leggings. (This is partly because yes, I always want more, but mostly because I have three pairs and I’m at the gym four days a week, which makes Laundry Math tricky.)

My eternal struggle is finding things that are ethically made that I can also afford. Take, for instance, these from Athleta, which are sold out but were $89:

Or these, from Teeki, which are amazing and recycled and made in the USA, but probably sheer and $72:

The solution is to become my own sweatshop and try my hand at making leggings. It seems daunting, because they have to fit so tightly–but really, I think the fabric will be doing most of that fitting. And the Super G tights pattern from Greenstyle looks pretty promising.

When I was sick again over the weekend, I didn’t get any sewing in but I trawled every online spandex source and found a couple matches for the tights above:

Stripes from Stonemountain

Clouds from Spandex House

I think I know what I need to do.

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