Oompah Loompah Fleece Pants

My first pants!  Well, except for all those 'hippie pants' made from Indian bedspreads way back when....& a few others I've forgotten....  


I am calling these my Oompah Loompah Pants.  They're fleece, (the brown is Polartec 200 Fleece & the black is Polartec Windpro - thick, warm, & super luscious feeling next to the skin!) and the pattern is Marcy Tilton - you aren't getting sleek & sexy out of that combination! These are Marcy's  latest Vogue offering - Vogue 8712, View A.

Belted, & possibly even suitable for going out & about:

Based on sizing comments from other reviews, I bought the smaller size grouping (8-14) & cut a 12, & still graded down in areas.  A 29" waist & 39" hips  placed me between a 14 & 16 on their chart. WAY off!!!!! - I actually think a 10 might be better.  I'm still getting used to the Big 4 sizing, but it seems that overall, you need to ignore the measurement charts & figure out the sizing on your own.  Marcy is, of course, known for excess volume in her sizing.


I have a small pile of Marcy patterns in my stash - this is #1 for me, and I can hardly wait to get started on some others!  Her funky, creative style just calls out to me...I even have a few fabrics on order from her (including 2 pontes for other versions of this pant!)  www.marcytilton.com  


Some notes on pattern changes & working with fleece: 
I shortened the area between waist & crotch by about 1/2", and lengthened the legs by 2". These are, essentially, glorified sweat pants, and the object was warmth, so I wanted my ankles covered! At 5"4" (almost), my ankles are covered & toasty with that extra 1-1/2".   I also ended up taking the back waist seam in by about another inch, tapering to nothing about 5" down. This worked well enough, although, as mentioned above, I'm just going to try a 10 next time.

 A few changes I made based solely on the thickness of the fleece. The inner casing of the waistband is supposed to have raw edges top & bottom. The last thing I needed was another layer of this fleece at my waist! After playing with a few options, I ended up using a stretch cotton for the elastic casing. I folded over the edges & sewed them, then sewed it in place, & trimmed the top of the fleece to be just a touch higher than the casing.

The casing is a stretch cotton - it has the same amount of stretch as the fleece, & MUCH thinner, of course!

I like the contrast of the fabric, even though no one sees it.

I used a 90/14 stretch needle, and a long straight stitch for everything other than the serged areas. I serged the pocket edges, and the crotch seam. Other seams were all left raw.


I trimmed seams back before topstitching wherever there was going to be more than two layers of the fleece.   

The pocket edge was serged, as well as the crotch seam.  All other edges I just left raw (Ahhhh the joys of fleece!)

The hemline is the only edge that's actually turned under!  I added stay tape for stability.

Here's the cute pocket detail (NOTE:  I used the Pocket pattern piece for the contrast fabric.  The pattern calls for using the Pocket FACING piece for contrast, but this piece is not visible).  I used lining fabric for the facing.  Decreasing that Oompah Loompah bulk, you know....

Bottom of leg, & topstitching detail.   And cat hair. *sigh*   A note on topstitching fleece:   do NOT sweat thread color details!  It pretty much just disappears into the fabric, & all you see is the line.

Love love love this pattern!   I definitely see more Marcy Pants in my future....

I'm possibly on the verge of addiction - to fleece.  It is SO easy to work with, and the concept of not needing to finish edges speeds things along so nicely...not to mention all of the creative possibilities with such a flexible fabric!   I whipped out a little hat in 30 minutes before I went to bed last night (pictures will follow) & I can see tons of possibilities there....