When I saw Simplicity 1501, I could visualize myself wearing during my cupcake ritual. 

You have little rituals don’t you? Two of my favorite are my cupcake and wine rituals.  In all honesty … sometimes I have these rituals together.  Ha!  When I’ve had an especially rough day, I will stop at one of my favorite bakeries and get a cupcake.  Once I get home, I’ll slip into comfy clothes and head straight to the kitchen.  I pull out my favorite cupcake saucer and put my sweet treasure on it.  I head upstairs to the bedroom … pull back my comforter and place my sequined pillow right in the center of the bed.  I put my cupcake on the center of that pillow and for a moment I just relax.  And then, I dive into all of that sugar!  Life is grand.  No matter what hurt, frustration, and anger has occurred that day … it goes away with every bite of that suggary goodness.

Note:  I wholeheartedly admit that this ritual is in no way healthy, and does not help my waistline.  But it makes me feel especially good.  So I will continue to do it.

That ritual was my first thought when I ran into Simplicity 1501 on sale.  I’ve held on to the  pattern since the beginning of the year because of my fear of knits.  Having conquered that sewing the Linda Lee Liberty Tunic, I decided to give this pattern a try.  And seriously … can you ever have too many clothes to lounge around in?

All of the fabric for this project came out of my stash.  The knit was picked up at one of the ASG fabric sales.  I don’t have the fabric details, but a soft …. perfect to lounge in … knit.  The cotton I used for the shorts was left over from one of my first sewing projects … PJ pants. 

Full disclosure … I fit the bottoms, but I did not fit the top.  I measured the pattern pieces … bodice front, bodice back and sleeve length.  Everything worked with my measurements so I THOUGHT I was cool.  I did not … measure the neckline.  My bad!  If I would have been paying careful attention of the pattern envelope I would have seen the neckline is is pretty broad.  Though the neckline is pretty wide … it’s not a deal breaker on this pattern for me.  It’s loungewear, it’s okay if it falls of a shoulder every now and again.

The top is pretty straight forward.  Knit with raglan sleeves.  For me when constructing the top …  it was more about continuing to apply what I learned in my knits class.  Cutting the fabric in a single layer.  Playing with stitch types and tension before putting the garment together.  Using the walking foot.  The more I continue to use these principles, the better I’ll get.  Where I need to practice more … serging on the curves and in the round.

I’ve been sewing for almost 3 years and this is my 2nd pair of bottoms … outside of sewing a skirt.  One of my goals this year is to make more bottoms.  Why not start with a comfy pair?  One thing that attracted me to this pattern was the six different options for the bottoms. 

I opted for version H which uses bias tape for the trim.  The shorts are three pieces.  Front.  Back.  Waistband.  Again, pretty easy … but the bias tape adds an interesting contrast.

 I did have to adjust the crouch depth on the pattern.  I’m 5 feet tall and very short-waisted.  With that I’ll be making this adjustment more often than not.  I didn’t have to make any adjustments in the hips and thighs.  I find the pattern sizing generous in those areas.  Overall this is a great pattern.  Quick to sew up, with a ton of room for creativity and options.  If you’re a beginner like me, it’s a great pattern to try.

Night, Night for now.  And see you on my next adventure!