Espresso leggings: Drafting via connect-the-dots!

Yesterday was Day 2 of the Cake Patterns 30-minutes-a-day sewalong for the Red Velvet dress pattern. (More on the sewalong in upcoming posts.) Because the sewalong instructions for Day 2 weren't posted until after I had wound things down for the night, I decided to use my "30 minutes" for the day to get started on the Espresso Leggings pattern.

 

The Espresso leggings are part of the Red Velvet collection, which is a layering wardrobe built around the Red Velvet dress. The leggings are unique in that the pattern provides a template that you use to draft your own custom pattern. The results that I've seen online so far for this pattern have been very impressive.

If you're like me, you might be scratching your head a bit and wondering how complicated or difficult this would be.  I'm happy to report that drafting the leggings is pretty simple:

1. As instructed, take seven different lower body measurements (a mix of length and circumference) measurements using a tape measure.
2. Record your measurements on the chart provided in the instructions.
3. On the pattern drafting grid, find and mark the circles that correspond the intersection of your measurements. (e.g. an ankle circumference of 8" on a 26" inseam, a knee circumference of 14" located 11" below the crotch point, etc.)
   
   The following photo shows the grid, although the individual measurements are a bit difficult to make out in this pic:
   
   
4. Connect the dots between the filled in circles. Steph provides a crotch curve template for the front and back curves.
5. Trace off and cut out your finished pattern piece. (Yup, only one piece, since leggings have no side seam):
   
   

Here's the pattern piece placed on my test fabric to see the shape better:

Yes, my legs really are that short (I'm 5'2") and yes, my ankles really are that small compared to my thighs and the rest of my legs.

 

I love that these leggings only take one yard of jersey fabric (that's a 60-ish inch wide jersey folded in half in the pic above). There's also only 3 seams + waistband + ankle hems, so I should think that these should sew up in a snap. For the record, it took me 40 minutes to draft, trace, and cut these out, starting from the time that I opened the envelope.

I'll post again and comment on fit, etc, once I get them sewn up.