New Active Wear

It's been about 2 years now since I've done exercise for any solid length of time.  I've tried getting back into running a couple of times and whilst it felt good at the time it never seemed to last more than 2 weeks or so.  I cancelled my gym membership a while ago as I just wasn't feeling it and I just didn't know what I wanted to do.

Then, whilst looking up activities for my kids to do I found a local ninja warrior gym which offered beginner adult classes and decided I was just going to go for it.

I went to my first session 3 weeks ago and I love it!  I've managed to get up the 10 foot warped wall and whilst my upper body strength is still really lacking I can feel it getting a bit better.

But the main problem that I have is what to wear.  Most of my good workout clothes were bought when I was actually working out and smaller than I am now....so obviously it was time to get onto making again.

I've attempted to make active wear a couple of times in the past.  I've made a couple of plain cotton T-shirts that are just so blah that I couldn't bring myself to blog them.  One really great T-shirt in a cityscape fabric that I love

And a pair of knee length leggings with gusset that are a smidge too small but now I wanted to try and get a couple of patterns that would really work.

I started with leggings.  After researching leggings patterns I found Jalie's Clara leggings.  I really liked the idea of no front seam and so I started drafting.  I created a pattern that had a no front seam, no outer seam, a large gusset and a wide waistband.  It took quite a few iterations to get all the pieces sitting correctly and it's still not perfect but it's pretty good.

I made this pair of leggings out of a piece of navy blue, heavy weight jersey I had in my stash.  I only had 1 yard of this material and I used just about all of it - especially after having to recut the gusset at least 3 times.  I had a lot of other plans for these pants  a double layer waistband with a pocket in the back -  but in the end I decided to take a few shortcuts so I could get them finished and try them out.  I kept the waistband single layer and just serged a piece of 1.5"wide elastic to the top of the waistband and turned it to the inside.

After wearing these once I realised that the gusset didn't sit quite right - it needed to be stretched a little further.  The waistband wasn't quite tight enough so they still fell down a bit.  There is also a bit of extra length along where the outside seam should be, which results in some wrinkles under the bum.  But otherwise they were not bad.

For my second attempt I wanted to use a piece of active wear fabric in black with a diamond pattern on it that I had in stash but I had forgotten that I had already used a lot of it and there wasn't a full yard left so instead I decided to modify the pattern to include a contrasting strip down the outside of the leg.  I first modified the gusset placement extending it further down the inseam so it's a bit more stretched.  I then cut along the outside seam and used the slash and overlap technique to take about 3/4"out of the length of the outer seam at about crotch level.  I then took 2"off  of both the back and front pieces to create a 4"wide strip down the outside of the leg.

I cut the front and back pieces out of the black diamond pattern fabric.  I had to add a yoke on the back due to fabric limitations. I then used some heavy weight purple active wear fabric for the side strips.  I managed to eek the waistband out of the black fabric scraps.  I added pockets into the side stripes by cutting a second layer of the strip and a pocket bag out of lightweight spandex fabric.  I cut off the top layer at the height of the pocket opening and sewed on the pocket bag then cut the bottom layer off at the bottom of the pocket bag.  The resulting three layer piece was then inserted into the side seams together.

 Somehow - due to the stretch of the fabrics - these pants ended up really tight.  I also cut less height off the waistband on these and cut the top elastic tight so these actually stay where they are supposed it - even if they are very hard to get on.

For both these pair of pants, once I was happy with each seam I ran it through the overlocker (serger) then top stitched it down with a zig zag stitch.

Now that I was sort of happy with my pants pattern  - Though I think I still need one ore iteratino before its perfect....I decided to turn to the top half.  I really liked the look of the Jalie Pika top and wanted to try my hand at a top that worked as a crop top as well as normal tank top.

I started with my latest bra pattern.  The back is exactly the same but I extended the straps up about an inch. 

For the front I decided to get rid of the bridge and added that onto the two bra cup pieces, the final modification was to create the rounded front strap. I  cut a trial pattern out of the purple activewear fabric I used on the pants, basted it all together and loved it.  It was the perfect crop top.

I was however hoping I could get away with wearing it without any bra underneath it. To try ang give it the support it would need I used my original bra pattern from last year to create a new woven cotton bra and basted it underneath the crop top, but try as I might I couldn't get them to sit nicely so after an afternoon of trying to get it to work I gave up and just made the top as a crop top to go over another bra. I finished the neckline and arm holes with 3/8 wide elastic basted on the inside and then turned under and top stitched.  The bottom was finished with 1.5"wide elastic.

Now that I was happy with the crop top portion I wanted to try and make it into a top.   

 I used the same purple fabric for the basis of the crop top then cut a second layer out of a light weight teal poly/lycra fabric as a lining.  After basting it together I cut a front and back tank piece out of the teal fabric.  This was pretty much a draping exercise.  I cut two rectangles and then trimmed them down to the shape I wanted front and back.   I attached the front teal piece between the rounded strap  and bra cups .

And the back piece at a single point at the back V. Once I was happy I took it apart to make a pattern out of then sewed it all back together finishing the edges by simply turning it twice and stitching using a zig zag stitch.  The biggest issue was getting the gathering right at the center front.  I'm not totally happy with it but it's as good as I could get it.

The final piece was to add a 5"wide band of the heavyweight purple to the bottom of the crop top and a folded 2.5" band to the bottom of the teal.

After wearing it once I've found that the lower band needs to be longer - at the length it is now it just rolls up and is annoying.  Other than that this top works great.  I probably still need at least one more top and I'd like to try one more time on the pants but this is a good start.

Paneled jumpsuit

I bought this fabric on a whim.  It was on the $1.99/yard table and I loved the bright colours and paisley patterns. The fabric is a panel print with each panel being a rectangle approximately 23"wide x 29"long surrounded in black.  The fabric itself is a relatively thin poly lycra fabric.

When I bought the fabric I had no idea what I was going to do with it!  However if I've learned one this this year it's that I actually really like wearing jumpsuits so I decided that I should make another. 

I already have three Sirrocco jumpsuits in high rotation in my wardrobe so this time I went back to the Sallie jumpsuit as I wanted something a bit more flowy.  I originally made this pattern back in May 2016.

As you can see in these photos I needed a bit more length in the pattern  so I went back and modified it by adding a wide waistband in a different colour.  Better! 

For my latest version I included this waistband from the start this time.  I cut the top out of the center of one of the panels and the back out of another.  The waistband I cut out of the black between the panels.  For the pants I laid out my pattern pieces out one at a time so that the top of the pants was at the top of one of the panels and the black border hit at about the calf level with another couple of inches of a second panel at the bottom of the leg.  I was then able to get the lining for the top out of what was left over so at least on the outside everything is balanced and symmetrical.

The black stripe around the leg is different but I don't mind it too much.

I used all the exact same pattern modificaions as I did last time cutting a straight size 16 with 1" taken out of the rise and 1"off the length, but then took a little more off the length as I didn't want the big hem this time.

This time however I found the neckline gapes a lot more than the last one and seems to be a lot lower cut - maybe I didn't get the elastic tight enough.

I think I need to do a few modifications to the pattern before I make this again.

I need to cut the top at a smaller size across the shoulder and do a full bust adjustment as I need the extra length at the front of the top.  I can then either eliminate the extra waistband or cut the length off the top pattern piece to make the waistband, cause at the moment the waistband works at the front but then disappears in the back.

Hopefully by cutting the shoulders smaller this will also raise the V in the back a little too as my new bras show underneath it as is!

Overall, whilst I love this jumpsuit it definitely has a few minor issues.  I feel like I want to try it again but we are rapidly running out of weather to wear it so I might have to wait till next year!

Butterfly Bat wing Top

I'm still not entirely sure where the idea for this top came from.  It's really not my usual style but I really love the way it turned out.

This top is based on a ready to wear going out top that I bought approximately 20 years ago that I still have lying around even though I've probably only worn it  3 times.  The problem is that the fabric in that top - whilst beautiful - is quite see through so I need to wear it over something and I can never figure out what.  But what I do know is I love the way that top feels on.

I was trying to come up with ideas for a new piece of rayon that I picked up on my last trip to the fabric store.  I was thinking of something along the lines of a jump suit with a flowy long sleeve top, fitted waistband and the pants from the sirocco jumpsuit but wasn't sure about a pattern for the top half.

So I thought I'd make a wearable muslin of the top out of another piece of fabric that I've had lying around for ages.

I love this fabric.  I bought the first lot in May 2017 and used it as a lining for a pair of nice pants plus a little woven T shirt.  I then went back and bought more because I loved it so much and used some of it to line my suit refashioning coat and kept the last little bit planning on making something that wasn't a lining - something that would showcase the fabric better and I decided that this should work nicely.

To make the pattern I pulled out the old shirt and traced the pattern onto white paper.  It's basically an oversized shirt with a cut on bat wing sleeve.  I then extended the length of the sleeve so that they were full length.  I made the front and back exactly the same except for the neckline which is cut deeper at the front than at the back.

I actually cut the shirt in one piece.  I took my fabric and folded it cross wise so that I didn't need a seam down the top of my arm, and folded it in half lengthwise to make it symmetrical down the centerline.  I then just had to cut it off to length and then a curve up the side seam and around to the sleeve length.

I sewed and serged the side seams and then cut out the hole for the head.  This I finished with a strip of rayon bias binding I had in stash.

To finish the bottom of the shirt and pull in all the extra fullness I used another piece of leftover fabric a rib knit fabric in a deep teal blue colour.  I cut the waistband 12 "wide and folded it in half for a 6"wide waistband  but decided that was a bit too wide and cut it off to about 10" or a 5"waistband.  The waistband was sewn onto the bottom of the shirt by simply stretching the ribbing to match and then letting it spring back.

I finished the sleeves in a similar way making cuffs 3"wide x 8"around.  However these were to small to fully gather the amount of fabric in the sleeve so I made 4 small evenly spaced darts in the sleeve fabric first and then gathered the rest of the fabric into the knit.

This was quite a quick make and I really love the way it turned out.  As I said it's not something I would normally choose but I think it's going to get a lot of wear.

And even better it works perfectly with my peacock jeans allowing me to show off my peacocks!

Shoes and Shoes

It's been about a year since my last round of shoe making so it must be time to start again.  My last shoes are actually still doing ok - Since I missed most of this summer I haven't had much of a chance to wear the last lot so they are still in OK condition - but I decided I wanted a new pair anyway.

In fact I decided I wanted to make two pairs.  The first was going to be soft soled and the second have a solid sole.

I used the same pattern that I used to make my last pair of grey shoes as these are definitely my favourites.  This time I used some of the batik fabric left over from my zipper dress.  I used the same fabric for the top and the lining but interfaced the tops with heavy weight interfacing.  The bottom was then made from the soft soling material that I still have in stash.

I used three layers of the craft foam inside the soles for comfort - this is possibly a bit much as they do get a bit scrunched up inside the shoe - two would probably be better.

I love these shoes and have worn them numerous times already in the last week since I finished them - and since they have so many colours in them they seem to go with everything!

The second pair have taken a bit longer to finish.  They are made from a black fabric with colourful music notes all over them.  The lining material I used for these was a bright green with small circles.  I should really have just used the same material as I did for the batik shoes as the green is a bit glaring against the black.

These I made the bottom sole out of the green lining fabric and then glued it onto the solid sole material using concrete cement.  This was a really bad idea as when the sole didn't sit perfectly against the shoe the green shows and looks really bad.

So I went around with a sharpie and coloured it in, but next time I will remember to make the sole black so it doesn't stand out.

Still a few tweaks needed on this pattern if I'm to use it with the solid sole - maybe next time.  However the soft soled version is as close to perfect as I feel the need to get.

5 pieces of swimwear

These swimmers were started over a year ago now, but they've been evolving so I didn't want to post them until they were done. 

It all started at the end of last summer (2018) when I decided I needed new swimmers and found some really cool poly lycra fabric at the store.  It's multi coloured, geometric patterned - all the things I love in a print - so I had to have it.

At that time I had been playing around with a new bra pattern and wanted to try a swimsuit with that bra.

The bottoms I made using the same pattern as I used on my last swimmers.  They are fully lined in yellow swimsuit fabric - it's probably a bit thick for lining material but on the plus side it keeps all the jiggly bits in place.  The legs are finished with a small casing with  3/8"elastic threaded through it and the top has a waistband with 1.5"elastic in it.

To make the top I used the pattern that I created for these bras with the exception that I left off the top piece of the cup and instead just used a thin rouleau strap to replace this place - I was just looking for a bit more of a strappy look for the swimsuit.

I then decided to try and use foam in the cups.  I didn't have any bra foam, but what I did have was a whole bunch of ready to wear bras that I could cut up and use the foam from.  The only issue with doing this was that the foam was not of even thickness.  I tried to use just the parts with the same thickness and it worked quite well but if I were to try making a foam bra again I would buy proper foam.

Again the top is fully lined.  The cups in self fabric, the bridge in tricot and the back band in powermesh.  For the bottom band I used 1.5"wide elastic and I crossed the straps over at the back.  Three snaps close the bottom band and 3/8"elastic was used to finish the underarm and around the back.

The swimsuit then sat over the winter - it got used a couple of times in hotel pools etc and it worked quite well but I did have a few issues with the top.  The main one being that with the foam in the cups takes forever to dry.  I also found that the wide band just keeps rolling up.

Then in March of this year (2019) I was headed out to an outdoor pool for the first swim of the season and wanted a rash vest to go over my swim suit - it's just so much easier to wear a rash vest than it is to put on sunscreen and so at the last minute I made a rash vest out of the same material (I had always planned on doing this so had plenty of fabric left over).

I used the same pattern that I've used for all my rash vest - it fits nicely so why change what ain't broke.

However, as I was making this at the last minute, I did not have an appropriate zipper and no time to go buy one - so I used what I had.  A zipper that was perfect in colour and length and weight, but that wasn't an opening zipper so I can't open the front of this shirt all the way.

But that's OK.  It works fine as it is.  I had planned to change it out when I had the chance but now I can't be bothered I'm going to keep it as is.

I now had  full swimsuit but I wasn't 100% happy.  The bra just had a few too many niggling issues and after my last round of bra making I decided I wanted to try the top again.

So I made a new top using the new pattern.  The only changes I made to the bra pattern was to use two small rouleau straps on each shoulder rather than the big shoulder strap from the bra and I covered the bottom elastic in fabric.  I fully lined this top in the same yellow swimsuit fabric I used on the bottoms.  This top is definitely more comfortable than the original.

And I think now I am happy (Plus I'm all out of this fabric).