Coastal Inspired French Terry Sweatsuit With JOANN

This post is sponsored by JOANN. It may contain affiliate links but all words, reviews and opinions are my own.

As we head into summer months, I’ve been getting excited for all of the beach days that lie ahead, especially given that we live in Southern California now. JOANN recently launched this cozy + coastal white and navy stripe french terry fabric. It’s a summer dream! One thing I always like to have in the summer is a great pair of cozy joggers, or an easy sweatshirt to throw on for all of those late summer nights when the temperature cools down near the coastline.

I ordered four yards of this new JOANN fabric addition and pictured a cozy sweatsuit with coastal vibes. Think Free People! To achieve this look I decided to use the wrong side of my french terry fabric, and you guys, it looks so cool!! I love both pieces paired together and apart. Picture a pair of high waisted jeans and this cozy sweatshirt or an easy t-shirt tucked into the pants.

This french terry fabric is sooo good. It’s thick (without being too thick), washes up great, and gives you two look options depending on which side of the fabric you use. I love playing with stripes and had a lot of fun planning how I would use them in this project. I used the stripe horizontally for the sweatshirt with a vertical neckband to match the vertical stripe on the pants.

I used Grainline Studio’s Linden Sweatshirt for the top (with some light pattern hacked pleats I added to give it some flare), and True Bias’ Hudson Pants jogger pattern with the bottom cuffs left off for my pants. I’m going to go in full detail for both plus I have a step by step tutorial to show you how I added the pleats. Let’s jump right in!

First up, let’s talk about the sweatshirt.

I saw a really cool sweatshirt in Nordstrom that had little pleats in it and I loved it so much that I incorporated it into the design of this sweatshirt. I added two pleats on the front of the sweatshirt and one on the back. This is how I added the pleats:

1. Cut the front sweatshirt bodice in half, I used the line that goes through the center of the pattern.

2. Tape the left side of the front bodice to some tracing paper. Measure 3/4″ from the edge using a ruler and draw a line.

3. Tape the right side of the bodice along the line just drawn.

4. Connect the two pieces along the top and bottom by drawing a line. Cut out the front sweatshirt piece. Fold the pleat in half so original edges match to create center fold of the pleat. Open the pleat up again.

5. Cut the pattern piece out of your fabric. Clip into the three ends/marks of the pleat along the bottom edge of your sweatshirt before unpinning the pattern piece from the fabric. Repeat for the other front pleat.

6. To sew the pleats, fold the pleat in half towards the side seam, matching the notches and iron in place. If you are using horizontal stripes, make sure to match them up.

7. Pin the pleat in place 5 1/2″ from the bottom of the sweatshirt.

8. Using an edgestitch foot, sew along the pleat starting at the bottom pivoting around the top of the pleat (backstitch a few times along the top) and go back down the bottom along the other side of the pleat. Repeat for the other front pleat.

9. Now for the back piece. I added one pleat that starts at the top of the center back and goes down to about the middle of the sweatshirt. Add 3/4″ along the foldline of your pattern piece using tracing paper. Cut out the sweatshirt back piece on the fold. Iron the pleat to the right side, and pin in place 10 1/2″ in length. Sew just as we did the front bodice pleats.

10. Continue to follow the pattern instructions as directed. Have fun playing around with the direction of the stripes! Here’s what mine looked like once I decided on the placement I wanted.

The top is all done!

For the pants, I used the Hudson Pants jogger pattern by True Bias. I added 1″ to the rise of the front and back pant pieces because I wanted a slightly higher waisted fit. If you wish to do this too, make sure to add 1″ to the two pocket pieces as well. This is what my pattern pieces looked like:

I cut all of the pant pieces against the grain line of the fabric so the stripes on my pants would be vertical directionally.

I sewed up the pants according to the pattern instructions. I didn’t add on the bottom cuff pieces and instead hemmed the bottom of the pants up at 1/2″ using a double needle. I’m about 5′ 5″, and the length was perfect for a slightly cropped pant. I also made the drawstring piece out of the same french terry fabric.

I love this cozy look so much! It’s great for pajamas or throw on some cute slides and its equally acceptable for wearing out. I threw the sweatshirt on with my jeans this past weekend (it was a little chilly out) and it was so comfortable and warm. I know this outfit is going to get a lot of use in my wardrobe!!

French terry in a nautical stripe has so much potential for a great summer garment, and this is my take on it! Thanks so much for reading along, and stay tuned for lots more summer sewing inspo coming your way over here at The Sara Project!

This fabric also comes in a navy with white stripes color way, check it out here!