After a couple weeks of just not so great sewing motivation, I took Friday off and decided to spend the whole day sewing whatever jumped out at me! I ended up sewing a few things and one of them were the Tierras Joggers by Itch to Stitch.
I have loved this pattern since it came out, but it is totally not a style I would pick up at a store if buying clothes for myself. Friday evening the motivation hit me to just give them a go, what did I have to lose? (PS does anyone else sew patterns they would NEVER buy in stores too? It was one of my lessons I learned about myself in my first year of sewing.)
I used some dreamy Tencel Twill from Stitch Sew Shop and it was like the fabric was created for this pattern. It is super drapey and lightweight but a stable enough fabric to work for pants. As much as I love rayon, I sometimes like to not sew with super slippery fabrics. Tencel has a lot of the qualities of rayon in that it’s drapey and flowy, but I think it’s a lot easier to cut and handle as it’s not as slippery.
As we move into Fall, I want to sew a lot more in Tencel. I have this tencel in a couple more colors and will be scouting for more!
I chose to sew up the version without the elastic at the ankles so that I could “fake” them as dress pants [so many of you agreed they totally work as dress pants!] I did sew in the buttonholes for the drawstring but I don’t think I’ll put a drawstring in them. I plan to wear a shirt untucked sometimes to hide the elastic waist and having the ties wouldn’t make that very easy.
The only thing I’m not sure about is what to pair them with. I wore this JCrew tank top with them for the photos we took and it kinda works but not really. So I still need to figure out the perfect pairing. I think a plain t-shirt actually might work well.
I really like the way they fit, but I will warn that the rise is very low on these. I’m a bit low rise Jean fan but I was surprised how low rise these were. Probably a little higher than the Ginger low rise, but not much. Included in the pattern is details on how to raise the rise if you wanted something a little higher rise.
Tierras Joggers Summary:
Size Made: 4
View: There’s only one view but with two hem options – I sewed up the version without the elastic hem.
Fabric Used: Tencel Twill from Stitch Sew Shop
Notions Used: 1/2″ Elastic
Ease of Construction: I love the level of detail in Itch to Stitch Patterns. These pants were a breeze to put together.
Fit: I think the only thing I would change is not putting button holes on the drawstring and possibly raising the rise a little bit.
Repeatable? Yes Yes Yes! Many more in my future
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I read so often people saying they love tencel twill for just those qualities you mention here but I’ve never used it – it’s 100% cotton? I prefer cotton to rayon and if I could get cotton with more drape I’m in! Love your pants – Jalie has a similar style pant that I’ve been toying with trying out as well and yes you’re absolutely right there are several garments I’ve made that I wouldn’t consider buying in RTW!
I thought tencel was a type of rayon but I’m not 100% sure. I once bought a pair of Levis jeans and they were a mix of cotton and tencel and I liked them very much.
You’re totally right – it’s a form of rayon. Jeans with a tencel blend sound dreamy!
I love tencel – I wasn’t sure about its fabric content so I did some research. This article from Indiesew (https://indiesew.com/blog/fabric-files-tencel#post) is super helpful and I read it and referenced it while sewing with the fabric. It is a form of rayon so you were totally correct!