Review: Rogue River Joggers

This is an independent review of the Rogue River Joggers by Toby K Patterns. I paid for the pattern myself & Toby K Patterns did not ask me to write this review.

Several months ago I purchased the very reasonably-priced Rogue River Joggers pattern by Toby K Patterns; it seemed very versatile with lots of options. My 20 year old son loved the knee patches and their general style. I decided to buy some cheap sweatshirt fabric to make a test pair in his size without making any alterations.

I bought the fabric from Abakhan a couple of months ago and made an enthusiastic start, then other projects got in the way until lockdown was declared in the UK last Monday evening. I’m still working full time, albeit from home now, but the current restrictions meant a lot more time on my hands this weekend so no more excuses!

As you can see above, the experiment was a success! They’re not perfect but that’s the fault of the maker, not the pattern. I found the instructions to be very thorough although there are so many options that I did sometimes get confused over the terminology, particularly when it came to the different types of waistbands (again, my fault). I had intended to make slat pockets but realised they would only work with certain types of waistbands so had to change to inseam pockets.

My son loves the joggers, despite the fact that I (ahem) stitched one of the knee patches in the wrong direction. In fact that quirkiness is one of the things he loves most about them! The joggers are true to size, both in width & length. For him, I feel the lower legs need shortening & the upper leg needs lengthening so the knee patches would land in the right place. There are markings on the pattern for adjusting both the lower & upper leg, but my son is happy with them as they are. Here’s a blurry photo of the back view:

Would I make them again? Yes, absolutely, although I would be more careful to mark the direction of the knee pieces next time. I would also make a better job of the waistband but in my defence, I had to make do with my 35 year old Toyota sewing machine (which doesn’t have a lightning stitch) to roughly put the pattern pieces together before overlocking. Sadly, I sent my Janome away for repair a couple of weeks ago & it will now be away for several weeks due to the current restrictions, but that’s a trivial problem compared to what else is going on in the world right now.