Mermaid Leggings!
Activewear using Simplicity 8561

I have had this pattern in my stash for a while, and yet have never made a pair. The main reason was always that of finding some interesting and suitable activewear fabric, it’s not commonly stocked as its quite a specialist fabric… and then I found it. Oh my goodness this fabric is as magical as it looks on screen, and my daughter could not be more pleased that I had enough scraps left to make her a pair, (she’s worn them nonstop since she was given them, even asking to wear them to bed!)

So, let’s start by discussing this fabric… because its utterly beautiful but sewing it is absolutely not for the feint hearted. Normal needles wouldn’t sew it, stretch needles wouldn’t sew it… I even tried a sharps needle but still no dice… now I would like to add that my overlocker has never struggled with it, consistently happy sewing it over and over and never skipping a stitch, this was purely a sewing machine challenge. I knew when I started having trouble, I was going to need a microtex or purple tip needle. These needles are my absolute go to for any challenging fabric and I’m often found recommending them when I’m teaching to students whose machines aren’t happy with the fabric going through it (often a particularly bouncy stretch but it can happen on other types too). But, the game came when even the microtex was struggling, and this is when I will always say to try a high quality thread, as soon as the polyester Gutermann thread was combined with the microtex needle it happily began sewing away (I will add it still skipped the odd stitch when it was over a substantial thickness of layers but this was nothing that going over it again didn’t fix and it wasn’t a large number of stitches this happened with).

For anyone wondering why the stitch skipping occurs, a sewing machine is all about the timing of the needle being right with when the bobbin thread passes. So, if your needle comes under too much tension from the fabric it can be slowed down enough to miss the bobbin and as such the stitch is skipped… the specialist needles are there to help this but if the thread is too thick it can continue to be slowed down so using a high-quality thread will more often than not fix this, and it’s always worth trying before throwing in the towel.

Once I’d nailed getting the machine to sew this fabric these leggings went together so fast. The cutting out was nice and easy and it wasn’t slippery at all to handle under the machine, the fabric has a lovely thickness to it. I sewed the majority of them on my overlocker, using a stretch stitch on the machine when I used it as given the amount of stretch in this fabric any stitch that didn’t have any give was just going to pop the minute they were moved in.

Simplicity 8561 is an incredible pattern; I would thoroughly recommend it however I would like to pass on a note about the sizing… I made a size Large, my body measurements had me sitting at the top of this size bracket but given it’s a stretchy fabric I figured it would be ok. I did take a look at the finished garment measurements (something I always do to help guide me on size choice) but there is definitely a typing error on this info, so I’d recommend disregarding it. If you understand wearing ease I would suggest these have neutral ease, for an activewear garment I’d normally expect reverse ease as even at the top of the sizing bracket I found these came up a little roomier than I’d normally wear leggings. Having looked online at photos of others who’d made them this looks to be consistently the situation so if you like them tight or have a particularly stretchy fabric you may want size down. After I had finished mine I took them in on the front seam over the knees (can’t stand leggings that bag at the knees), they could definitely still be tighter but I’m happy with them like they are now but will reconsider the size I do with my next pair… there will absolutely be another pair these leggings are amazing!



Some other notes about this pattern…

2 of the views have pockets!!! I bloody love a pocket, and these pockets are deliciously deep and were so simple to do. I will admit I took rather a deep intake of breath when I saw I had binding to attach in lycra but actually it was really easy to do.

The pattern doesn’t really refer to stretch stitches as you’re following the instructions through (there’s a bit of chat about it at the beginning but that’s it), so for example there is a horizontal top stitch across the bottom of the pocket to seal it up and it just says to sew this showing an image of a straight stitch. I felt this was likely to pop if done this way so I used either a lightning bolt or zigzag throughout all the sewing to ensure the stitching held up. This is going to be particularly important on the hem, I overlocked the raw edge then turned this up and secured with the lightning bolt stitch… you have to be able to get a legging hem over a foot and no one wants to feel like they can't get them off at the end of the day.

The pattern suggests a reasonably narrow elastic for the waist, as I didn’t have any of their specified width in my stash I used a wider one (2” wide) and it works really well so whatever width you prefer to wear I’d suggest using it is fine. It’s secured to the yoke on the inside so it doesn’t show at all when they’re worn and it doesn’t float around in the yoke either which is fab. I will always recommend ignoring the elastic guide on a pattern, pull the elastic round you and mark where it feels comfortably tight and use that as your guide.

I was worried about the rise on these as I have a long torso between my waist and hips so often find rises aren’t high enough… I needn’t have been worried. They are fantastic, come right up to my waist providing a wonderful bit of hold on the mumtum. They don’t even seem to be slipping down at all during wear which is frankly amazing.


The colours on this fabric is where the magic really is though, they are so vibrant and the light just reflects off the metallic. I genuinely do feel like a mermaid in these and who doesn’t want to feel like a mermaid. But don’t hear metallic and think scratchy, not at all… this fabric is somehow soft. The reverse of the fabric doesn’t have any of the metallic on it but actually running your hand across the surface is lovely and smooth too.


I’m not a hugely matchy matchy kinda person with my kids but I hate wastage and am forever scrapbusting. Leggings for the children is my go-to use of any decent sized scraps of a stretch fabric as they don’t require a lot of fabric, they’re really quick to sew up and always well loved. If I don’t have a big enough scrap for my children I make them in a smaller size and they make fab gifts too. The pattern I use is from Brindle and Twig but there are loads of patterns around for this kind of thing and you can even just lay an existing pair onto some paper to make your own.


I’ve photographed these showing the idea that I’d use these as an activewear item but quite honestly it's just not how I spend the majority of my time these days (unless you count running around after 3 children as a sport) so I’ve given you the reality of how they’ll be used too… paired up with a jumper for a comfy sewing option in my studio!

So my summary on this make… test your stitches on a scrap before you begin sewing and expect to need a specialist needle. Consider your sizing and get ready to want to make a second pair!



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