Made By A Fabricista: Valentine’s Day Cozy Lounge Set

What comes first: the pattern or the fabric? How do you make your sewing plans?

Throughout the month of January, my social media feeds were flooded by fabulous sewists sharing sewing resolutions and goals, and designing thoughtful plans for their 2025 makes. 

While I am a big planner in my day-to-day life, when it comes to my creative hobby, I am much more spontaneous. I find that fabric design and texture often inspires me most so I typically look for fabulous prints or bold colors and let the fabric tell me what it wants to become.

As I turned my attention to my first-ever (!) Fabricista make, I wanted something to get my creative juices flowing. One evening, Fabric Mart shared an Instagram story that highlighted their Dusty Mauve Sweatshirt Fleece. It had a nice stretch, was fleece-backed, and was a muted baby pink that spoke to me. It was soft and feminine, perfect for a cozy day or night by the fire. I immediately knew I wanted to make a cute pair of sweatpants for a fun Valentine’s Day set.

Once the idea for the sweatpants was cemented, I started thinking about what to pair them with. While sewing for holidays or special occasions can be fun, I wanted to make sure that each piece I made could be worn as part of my regular wardrobe. When I saw Fabric Mart’s Daisy White Abstract Meandering Waves Design Jacquard Double Knit, I knew that the silky, gorgeously textured fabric with a slight sheen would make for a perfect elevated basic top.

Once both fabrics arrived, I was thrilled. The sweatshirt fleece is SO soft. For the sweatpant pattern, I decided I wanted to make the True Bias Hudson Pants (two size bands, up to 59.5” hip), a jogger with a skinny leg fit, ideal for warm fleece to hug my legs during these cold New Jersey months. 

For the shirt, the white double knit was drapey and felt luxurious against my skin, and I wanted to have something that let the fabric shine. The True Bias Jesse Tee (two size bands, up to 59.5” chest), a free pattern if you subscribe to the True Bias newsletter, offers a relaxed t-shirt fit with short sleeves that fall to the elbow. I felt this would be the perfect pattern to create a four seasons top.

Sewing the joggers

I have made the True Bias Hudson Pants two times before and neither time did I get the fit or the stretch percentage perfect. This time I was determined to make sure these pants were the best they could be. I cut out a size 10 (39.5” hip) because that was the closest to my measurements (40.5” hip) and the stretch of the fabric was enough that I felt comfortable with the slight “sizing down”. I am 5’ 3” and the pattern is drafted for someone who is 5’ 5”. I have learned that if I subtract the number of inches from the model and myself (2”) and divide by 2, that is the number of inches I need to remove from the pattern pieces. So I removed 1” from the front and back leg pattern pieces. Sewing up the joggers was quite therapeutic. I love the pocket design. But I hit a snag when I got to the cuffs: the fabric technically had enough stretch percentage to be used as the cuffs but when I basted the cuff to the bottom of the pant leg, I was having a hard time stretching the cuff to fit the bottom leg. Luckily, I had a bit of fabric still remaining so I recut the cuff with 1” more width and removed 1” of height (they felt a bit tall to me!). On the second go-around, the cuffs fit perfectly. As I was finishing up the joggers, I realized I needed cording for the waistband ties. I looked in my stash and discovered a VERY long white shoelace that fit my waistline. Satisfied, I threaded the shoelace into the waistband with a safety pin and the pants were complete.

Sewing the t-shirt

Now, onto the tee: while I have several years of sewing under my belt, I don’t sew much with knits but hope to do more in the future. Even though this t-shirt pattern is marked as a beginner pattern and comes with a great sewalong video on YouTube, I was nervous about embarking on this journey. I cut out a size 10 (37.5” chest), which is one size bigger than my measurement (36”). I didn’t want to feel restricted in my hip or waist region so I went one size up to be safe. Sewing the top was quick and easy, I sewed the seams with the stretch/lightning bolt stitch my regular sewing machine but finished them with my serger. Everything was looking great until I got to the final step: hemming the bottom of the shirt. I decided to attempt to use fusible hem tape to help keep my seams even. However, the hem tape kept maneuvering away from my hem fold and sticking to my iron. Because of this, the hem was becoming misshapen and bubbling. I stopped and ripped the hem tape out and cut ⅝” off the bottom to even the hem out again and this time I serged the bottom edge and folded the hem by ½” and sewed it down. This fabric held a great press and this worked perfectly. I did the same for the sleeves. 

This outfit makes me so happy. The pants are fabulous: the fleece hugs my legs and they are the perfect cozy lounge pants for a snow day on the couch with a hot cup of tea. The t-shirt feels elegant and I have already worn it a few times. I know that it will become a staple in my wardrobe for seasons to come. 

I hope you enjoy my Valentine’s Day set as much as I do, and I’d love to know how you approach your sewing projects: do you plan them out? If so, how long in advance? Do you let patterns or fabric inspire you? 

Happy sewing!

MARIA  | @whelanmaria