Sew Your Own Activewear - Book Review

Lookie, lookie what I got in the mail yesterday!! I’ve helped Melissa over the years and she sent me a copy of her new book. Thank goodness I was home because I had to sign for it. I thought it was either this book or some crazy-scary court paperwork. I bit the bullet and signed for it. I thought I would do a little review for you guys so you can see what it’s all about.

It includes four block patterns; two tops and two bottoms. From these four blocks, Melissa takes you step-by-step through making your own pattern. It’s pretty cool. For me, I already have a block that I would use for the close-fitting top: Jalie 2805. For the close-fitting bottoms, I would use the Ottobre 05/2016 leggings. These are the most comfortable and basic leggings and the fit is great. I may pull out Melissa’s patterns because I’m always curious how things compare. She goes through a lot of common alterations like FBA, SBA, square/sloping shoulders, thick/thin thighs, broad/narrow back, long/shirt torso, swayback, etc. Once you have a block that fits you, then you modify it to make other versions of the same top or bottom.

Here are a couple of the pages that show the modifications of the block pattern. She starts off by showing you the finished pattern and then literally goes step by step through the modifications. It’s pretty cool. She also talks a lot about sewing knit fabrics, hem finishings, fabrics, useful knit sewing tools, etc.

For the blocks, there are two large, double-sided pages of overlapping designs (like Burda or Ottobre - but easier to trace!) but they are very easy to see because there are very few designs on the pages. She also puts lots of “landmarks” on the pattern like bust, waist, hips, etc.

So far, I’m enjoying going through it!!

New Capsule Wardrobe (Hint: I LOVE it!)

Okay, so remember how I’ve been working on this whole “wardrobe idea”? Well, I’m done and I freaking love it!

Here was my original idea. See this post for how I came up with the number of each item. I only ended up changing one thing. The plain blue tank was changed into the gray/silver tank. I actually did make the blue tank but the fabric and pattern didn’t work well together. The fabric was nice, but it was too thick for this pattern. It’s okay though, because I think just a blue tank would have bee too boring.

 

Here are all the pieces together. My key, I realized, was zany tops paired with very neutral bottoms and what Audrey calls “completer pieces”, my cardigans.

 

Look, you could easily pack for a two week trip with just this many clothes (well, and underwear – please pack underwear).

 

And here are a few of my favorite combinations. I pretty much like everything with the orange cardigan and blue eternity scarf. They make everything look luxe. I did make an orange scarf out of linen, but it didn’t call to me as much as the blue scarf. You can see it only once out of 24 sample outfits in the collage photo.

 

I love this scarf-collar top too. THE. BEST. colors in this top, really. And the cardigan just goes perfectly with it!! I also really love the orange/gray t-shirt. My least favorite pieces are probably the gray crop jeans (they seem just a tad too cropped) and the blue cardigan (too billowy??). I will still wear everything. I love it all!

 

These get bigger if you click on them. I didn’t want to kill you slowly with 800 large photos. Just because I’ve crazy excited doesn’t mean you have to endure that. Which is your favorite?

 

 

Oh, and thank you SO MUCH for all the fitting advice on my last post. I will have to work on her stuff next!

Capsule Wardrobe for Me

I’ve been really interested in this capsule wardrobe idea for a while now. Yes, I’ve done the SWAP on Pattern Review and even won it once. But for some reason, I never seem to wear those peices often or together. I hate, hate, hate having those pieces in your wardrobe that take up space and never really go with anything. I’ve been pinning capsule wardrobes for a while now (all my other boards on Pinterest) and I want to do one on my own just to see if I will actually wear everything together. Eventually I want to make a school appropriate capsule wardrobe for my kids. Especially the little one. She tends to either 1) wear the same items over and over again, or 2) wear all her crazy print pieces together. I think if I made a wardrobe and put up little pictures/drawings for her, she could pick and choose what goes together and actually look somewhat put together.

I have really fallen in love with the blog, PuttingMeTogether.com. She’s got great easy stuff and I like her laid back style. She’s got some great tips on how to make a mix and match wardrobe. She has a quick and easy formula and that’s what I’m using for this little experiement. I’ll be modifying this just a bit to include two scarves and as many damn pairs of shoes as I want. :) This is from my closet, not for a trip.

(from: PuttingMeTogether.com)

• 4 tops
• 3 different colored bottoms - skirts, pants, shorts, etc.  Each bottom needs to go with at least 3 out of 4 tops, but you'll maximize your outfits if they each go with all tops.
• 3 completer pieces - The more different they are from each other, the more varied your outfits will look.  For example, a vest looks and provides a much different feeling for an outfit than a cardigan while two cardigans of different colors might feel the same after a while.  Not always, though!  And if you don't care as much about outfit variety then it doesn't matter either.  This year I went with a pullover sweater instead of a third completer piece.  I like how it worked out!
• 2 pairs of shoes - I usually limit it to just 2, and in this case it's a pair of riding boots and a pair of ankle boots.  They're both neutrals so I can wear either of them with any outfit. 
• 1 scarf - Usually I've gone with 2 scarves, but this year I only felt the need for one and I think it worked out fine.  Plus, I realized scarves are actually kind of chunky and take up as much, if not more, packing space than adding another top.  I could have easily added a 5th top in the place of that 2nd scarf that I didn't pack.  
• A handful of necklaces - This year I think I only used 2 necklaces, whereas in the past I might have used more.  I think it's because I brought more patterned pieces this time. 

 

Here’s what I’ve come up with (shocking they are mostly Jalie, I know):

You can see I went with a blue/orange group of colors. If you followed along with my last SWAP from Pattern Review, you will know this is totally different than last time. I’ll give you guys updates along the way. I’m not planning on putting these pieces into rotation until the whole she-bang is done. Then I’ll take a billion pictures and you can let me know if you like the whole concept start to finish.

 

And because my dog is hairy, cute, and wet right now.

End of the Year Wrap-Up

I enjoy graphs (I’m a nerd like that). I made 78 garments this year and used a variety of pattern companies. No surprise to me is that I used Jalie and Burda magazine more than any other company. I used zero McButtKwikOgues and instead tried a few new (to me) companies. I did branch out this year and make a lot more kid’s clothing. I tallied up 11 Jalie leotards. Eleven. That’s a lot of leotards. I have several stand out garments that I love and a few that I don’t. Overall, I think it’s been a good sewing year. Some highlights: I won the Pattern Review Sewing Bee contest (sqqqquuueeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!), I successfully completed my Burda Challenge, I made a lot more clothes for my runner-girls, and I have come a long way in construction (in my opinion). Good sewing year indeed.  

Burda Challenge (each picture is linked to the blog post about the garment):

Overall, I’m really happy with my garments this year. I plan to continue on with the Burda Challenge and make at least one thing out of the current Burda magazine.

Do These Pants Make my Butt Look Loud? (Fehr Trade running pants)

I was so excited when Melissa (of Fehr Trade) asked me to test out her two workout patterns. If you’ve glanced at my blog, you know I’m an avid exerciser. What runner doesn’t love hideously bright running tights? It goes like this when you are running long distances:

Me (in my head): Oh, my gawd, this is so hard. Why do I sign up for these stupid races? Maybe I’ll walk after that water station? Maybe that’ll be okay? Oh gawd, this is hard. Maybe I’ll walk. It’ll be okay, right? Holy crap! Look at my pants! Those are funny! Har, har, har. I’m like a hideously bright fish in this race. Fish don’t WALK! Hee hee. Funny pants . . . .

I swear these types of conversations go through my brain when I’m racing and hitting a low point. Maybe I’m the only one.

But really, is this not a great pattern? Now I can make 100 bright tights.



These have a contrast “swoop” that goes from the back and circles the leg to the front. Perfect to add something bright. The main fabric is from San Diego.



Brrrrr.



I’m smaller than the XS but not by too much (Melissa added an XXS!!! AWESOME!). That just means I cut a little extra off the side seams. But, duh Dawn, that makes the swoops hard to match. Next time, I’ll pull the extra out of CB. Oh, and there is a hidden pocket I didn’t photograph. It’s as CB, and you can the topstitching lines on the rear picture in the middle. It’s large enough to hold an iPhone and some yummy Gu (Melissa likes Peanut Butter which I consider the Abomination of Gu).



I used mostly a 4-thread overlock for these pants. Can I tell you how much I LOVE having an overlocker and coverstitcher set up. I don’t have to switch over the machine each time. It’s nice. I used the 3-thread flatlock stitch for the CF, CB, and inside leg seams. This is the CF. I meant to have the ladder side of the stitch on the inside but did RST like normal. I used variegated thread because it blends into the tights so well.



I forgot you have to WST to get it to look like this. This CB.




Here’s the inside where the seams meet. This is probably TMI, but I hate the seams on running pants in this area. I’m hoping that these flat seams will be less annoying to me. I’ll keep you updated on how the stitches hold up and all that.



Fun!




For right now, I’ll be wearing these with warm pants underneath. Come summer though, watch out world! Oh, and I have the workout top too. I need to show you guys that one!