Crafting with Andie: Love Notions Men's Thomas Track Pants

I got to test the Love Notions Men's Thomas Track Pants. I made two pairs for the test. The darker pair is a kind of double sided knit with wool on the right side and a soft wicking material on the wrong side. Several years ago, I made a dress from a purple version of this fabric and absolutely loved it.

My husband tried these on and called them "Tuxedo sweatpants" because the fabric is so nice. They're meant as lounge pants or exercise pants, so a luxurious fabric can be a nice touch.

The pattern is very simple: front, back and pocket pieces. The waistband is not a separate piece - we just sew the elastic to the top of the pant and fold it down to cover the elastic. Easy peasy. Oh, and the pockets are amazing.

Perfect pants for lounging around or watching TV. Don't forget the beer.

I did mention lounging, right? Above is another "action" picture of napping on the couch. Yep. Perfect outfit for that, too.

Maybe a few minutes out in the sun?

Love the huge pockets.

Back side looks good.

Back inside again.

I tried to get a good shot of the pocket here. You can also sort of see the texture of the fabric.

This was the first version I made of the Thomas Track pants. I made this pair from sweatshirt material I had in my stash. This material is incredibly soft and since the Track pants fit me, I decided to keep this pair for myself. He gets the navy blue pair above, so he should not complain (even though he did complain, wanting both pairs).

Look at that! Told you the pockets were HUGE. Here's a beer placed on the pocket so you can see that you guy could hide a beer inside the pocket. The photograph of the beer in the pocket didn't really look like there was a beer in it, so I deleted that photo.

View of pocket and waistband. You have to stitch 3 rows of zig zag at the top to make the waistband.

Inside of the waistband. I added a ribbon center back so it would be easy to tell which side is the back. I forgot to change my serger thread from beige to gray, but no one is really going to see the stitches, so it doesn't matter that they don't match the fabric.

Hem of the pants. The outer seam is serged to finish the edges then sewn together so that the pocket construction can be done while the pants are flat. This also makes the waistband easier to sew because there are fewer layers when crossing the seams.

If your guy doesn't do beer, I also noted that a paperback book will fit nicely into the pockets. Again, photographing the pockets when something is in them doesn't really show how well the object fits into the pockets.