Today I am sharing my Cashmerette Belmont leggings. Earlier this week, I shared my Cedar Dolman top. Both the Cedar set and the Belmont set were released together and tested together. I haven’t tried the Cedar tank or the Belmont yoga pants, but both are on my list to try. As with the Cedar top, I tested the Belmont leggings and received the final pattern for free. But my opinions are my own and definitely not from a robot or created by predictive text. HA!
The Belmont leggings have side seams and inner seams as well as a separate waistband. I thought I would hate all those seams, but I actually don’t and it makes it easier to squeeze them into a small amount of fabric. My TNT leggings pattern has just one pattern piece. I took apart Old Navy leggings to make it. However, the inner seams on the legs twist about no matter the fabric type and the rise is always a bit off depending on the fabric. I was coming to the conclusion that I either needed to tweak it or finally find a good pattern for leggings when Jenny messaged me about the testing on the Belmont leggings.
I have tried Cake Patterns Espresso leggings and Patterns for Pirates Peg Legs and hated both. They were very tight, very long (hello 5’3″ here!), and just didn’t work out for me.
I’ll be honest, my tester version weren’t as good. Which is why I am so never sharing them here! I do have pictures of me with the waistband pulled up really high that are funny, but I’d prefer to keep them for private laughs.
My final version of these is so close to perfect! I made a size 24. The only adjustment I made was to cut off about 5 inches in length, my standard for pants/leggings. I also added a cuff to the bottom since hemming knits is the WORST (#lazytips).
The fabric I used is a fleece-back poly from Water Tower Textiles in Heather Navy. The texture of the right side of the fabric is smooth and soft to the touch with a bit of a “wind proof” feel to it. The wrong side is a super soft fleece. The fabric is thinner than I expected. My experience of fleece-back poly is that it is pretty thick. I don’t find the warmth is lost by the thinner fabric, though. If anything, it makes them a bit more breathable, but still keep the heat in when walking around.
I love the leggings. I squeezed this pair into 1 metre of the fleece-back poly (shortened by 5 inches) which makes them a great project for small amounts of fabric.
There are literally no adjustments I would make for future versions of these. They fit perfectly.
Of note, the top I am wearing is a lovely bamboo/viscose Concord tank top. It’s so soft and comfy. I usually throw it on as pjs, because it is like being wrapped in a blanket.
TL:DR Review
- Pattern: Cashmerette Belmont Leggings
- Pros: Everything! I adore this pattern!
- Cons: Um?
- Make again?: Absolutely! I have fabric for 4 more pairs in more fleece-back poly from Water Tower Textiles (they should start sponsoring me….ha!).
- Rating:
5/5 stars
Andie Wells Studio 
Hi Andie
These definitely going on my “to do” list, very cleverly drafted to allow for adjustment. Personally I’ve never been into leggings before but as I’ve now been in love with skinny stretch jeans for about 10 years and as comfort is king these days I think adding a few pairs to my wardrobe would certainly make a change from my festival pants or giant trackkies I wear all day every day! Plus there are so many lush stretch fabrics about now you don’t have to stick to the standard black lycra leggings we all had in the 80s and 90s. The absolute winner for me though is getting a pair out of a metre of fabric (we’re about the same size/height). I’m probably not the only one sewing on a budget so this is great.
Thanks for your review, it’s been really helpful, take care, stay warm and keep up the excellent work
Big stripey hugs,
T x
Thanks, T! Leggings are definitely an every day thing for me. I wear them with my skirts and dresses and tunics. I think we have far more choice for fabrics these days to really shine with leggings.
I’ve always avoided RTW leggings because they never have enough rise to avoid peek-a-booty when sitting. These look amazing and look like sitting in them is risk free.
Those look incredibly comfortable.
You seem to be buying a lot from WTT lately. What do you think of them? What’s the service like?
The service is wonderful. The quality is really good. I’ve gotten a variety of knits from there. They wash well and wear well and sew well. The only one that I wasn’t super please with was the inside of a cable knit textured heavyweight knit fabric. The outside is soft, but the inside has that spongey feel. I made one thing and am not super pleased with it, but it might be okay if I line it with a thin jersey. It’s in the naughty corner for now. I have it in a white colourway that I think would work better as pillow forms since the inside would be hidden.
The service is incredible. They ship asap. I receive orders in a couple of business days. And they respond to questions super quickly.
I got a bunch of swim fabric, swim lining, bamboo knit, double brushed poly (best quality of the stuff I have encountered), and a few other things. But yeah…. I’ve spent toooo much. hahaha.
I should become their cheerleader.
I think you already have. 😉
Maybe they’ll start sending you freebies?
Really nice! Fabric looks amazing! And I love the top too. I have to wear sleeveless everything from Feb/March to October. I overheat with MS. I’ve made the Springfield, going to have to try the Concord!
Thank you, Eliz! The fabric is amazing. 🙂 Making the Concord sleeveless was actually really easy. I just added sleeve bands and it doesn’t gap at the armsyce at all. 🙂
Looks great! I like your fabrics. I always make mistakes with my fabric choices when sewing active wear. You certainly picked right! Do you remember what the fabric content was?
Thanks, Linda! The fabric content on them is 86% Poly and 14% spandex. I think the key is to use very stretch fabric with good recovery.
Thank you. So really stretchy polyester/spandex.
Wow! Great job! They look more like skinny jeans than leggings.
I agree, Gail! The heathered look of the fabric makes them look like skinny jeans. 🙂