How to Sew Your Own Lululemon Leggings
Most people I know, love a good pair of leggings. But did you know you can easily make your own? Here’s how to sew your own lululemon leggings.
Here on the West Coast, lululemon was born and things have never been the same. Athleisure wear has become the norm and leggings are now a wardrobe staple.
Lululemon started out as yoga wear and has definitely contributed to the whole athleisure wear look – wearing workout wear as casual wear. I have been known to wear leggings as casual on numerous occasions.
Fabric Recommendations
When it comes to fabric for leggings or tights, there are 3 important characteristics:
- good stretch
- good recovery
- opaqueness – also known as squat proof
Fabrics can be labelled as “yoga fabric” or “performance fabric”, but not all athletic fabrics are created equally. I tried some cheaper fabrics called “yoga fabrics” but they did not have good recovery, nor were they opaque. As with most things – you get what you pay for. Sure the good fabric may be at least $15-$20 a yard or metre, but considering lululemon leggings are over $100 – it’s still a bargain. Lucky for me, being petite, I can easily get a full-length pair of leggings out of 1 meter of fabric.
Here are the fabrics that I made my leggings from. They met all the criteria that I mentioned above.
- supplex from Boho Fabrics or So Sew English
- yoga stretch from Discovery Fabrics
- chintosante extreme from Discovery Fabrics
There are 3 lululemon tights or leggings that I have tried to emulate. This gives you a few options to sew your own lululemon leggings.
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Lululemon Wunder Unders
I think that these leggings may be part of the original line when lululemon first came out.
The characteristics of the Wunder Unders include:
- wide, contoured waistband that is high rise
- no side seam
- triangular shaped gusset
- made out of their signature luon fabric which has a lot of stretch and has some compresison; also comes in luxtreme fabric or organic cotton
- great for yoga
I love the clean look of these leggings. They are a definite wardrobe staple for me as I have several pairs.
For my version of the lululemon Wunder Unders I used a FREE sewing pattern – Pegs by Pattern for Pirates. There is an additional add-on pack that includes a contour waistband which is also free.
So to recreate my Wunder Unders, I used the peg leg pattern with the added contour waistband. The only thing missing was the gusset.
There is an optional gusset but I found that it didn’t help in the overall look of the leggings. In fact, it made it worse so I didn’t use it. Comments on the Patterns for Pirates Facebook page indicate that others did not like the look of the gusset either.
Fabric: Chitosante Extreme from Discovery Fabrics
I was fortunate enough to feel that I don’t need the gusset, but if you do, there is another pattern recommendation – GreenStyle Creation Inspire Tights. While there is colour blocking, you can simply omit that. You can create a no side seam look by combining the front and back pieces together (overlap the seam allowance and tape). There is also a free add-on contour waistband that works with this pattern.
I do not have the Inspire pattern and so have not made them since the Peg Pattern works for me. However, upon analysis of the pattern and reading feedback, it is quite similar.
Lululemon Align Pants
While the Wunder Unders are a wardrobe staple, the Align Pants have quickly become a favourite of mine.
The characteristics of the Align pants include:
- no side seam
- contoured waistband
- elongated gusset
- made out of nulu fabric which is buttery soft but not as compressive as luon
The sewing pattern that best emulates the Align pants is Greenstyle Creations – Super G Tights. The key to this pattern is the elongated gusset. Other options in this pattern include an optional colour-blocked side panel and pockets. Greenstyle offers a separate free pattern for the contoured waistband.
I have yet to find a fabric that best mimics the buttery soft nulu fabric, so I made mine out of Yoga Stretch from Discovery Fabrics.
Fabric: Yoga Stretch from Discovery Fabrics
Lululemon Fast and Free Tights
Lululemon designed the Fast and Free Tights to be used for running and other activities.
Characteristics of the Fast and Free Tights include:
- high rise waistband
- side pockets
- triangle shaped gusset
- flattering back seaming
- comes in a variety of inseams, as well as shorts
The sewing pattern that best mimics the Fast and Free tights is the Greenstyle Stride Athletic Tights. This pattern has options for a high-rise waistband, pocket options, as well as an oval-shaped gusset.
Lululemon makes these tights out of their trademarked Nulu fabric. I made mine out of yoga stretch from Discovery Fabrics, which I found to be a fabric that works for any tights.
Fabric: Yoga Stretch by Discovery Fabrics
An Honourable Mention
I’m not sure what lululemon tights this is close to, but I feel that I must give an honourable mention to the latest tight pattern from Greenstyle, the Tempo Tights.
The Tempo Tights has a flattering v-back and as you can see from the design, an opportunity for some neat colour blocking. I don’t believe that there is a gusset in this pattern. The pattern contains different inseam lengths for petite, standard and tall.
I don’t have this pattern so I haven’t tried it as I feel that I have a lot of legging patterns already but from what I’ve seen this is another really well thought out and designed pattern for tights from Greenstyle.
Other Sewing Pattern Reviews
Here are some other sewing pattern reviews that I have done that you may be interested in.
Lovely post, thank you, super helpful as a beginner. Do you think it’d be possible to combine the last two, the Greenstyle Creations – Super G Tights, with the Fast and Free Tights? I like the idea of the long gusset, and love the lines on the back of the Super fast and free. Many thanks!
Yes! You can mash the 2 patterns together. You would have to take off part of the inseam on the Strides (Fast & Free) in order to accommodate the long gusset. Great question!
Hi Wescoastmom… Thank you! I’m curious as to what the type of stitching is on the Fast and Free pants, and if that could be done with a simple sewing machine, I ‘panic bought’ a Singer Heavy Duty 4411 machine, it has only basic stitches. Perhaps there’s a foot that would help? Thank you.
The stitching that I did on mine is reverse coverstitching. It is done using a cover stitch machine. You could achieve a similar effect using any wide decorative stitch that is on your machine – like one of your zig zag stitches. I would experiment on scrap fabric first and see if it is the look that you like.