Calm Under Tension by Gwen Gyldenege
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Art
    • Artwork
  • Sewing

Activewear Sewing Patterns: Fehr Trade XYT Workout Top and a Kwik Sew Leggings Mash-up K3988 + K3770

4/7/2014

Comments

 
Tired of searching for bra tops and leggings that will fit my combined hourglass and pear shape (smaller on top, with a waist, and larger on bottom), I began sewing my own active wear. In my experience, when I do find a RTW piece that fits, by the time I go back to buy a replacement, the styles, cuts, fits, etc. have completely changed and then I have to waste weeks of time shopping. BORING, disheartening, and self-defeating to find so little that fits well. Thank God I've spent so much time studying fashion design and sewing. 

When you search for activewear sewing patterns, you'll discover that the arena is quite empty.  Very few patterns exist. Very few designers even delve into active wear. Just go look at all the pattern catalogs at Joann's. How many activewear patterns do you find?  I can count them on 1 hand. Does that tell you something? 

Yet, look around you.  Do you see just how many people are wearing activewear? Majority of people probably own at least 1 piece of activewear (leggings, gortex jacket, convertable hiking pants, yoga pants, sports bra, or the beloved fleece).  I looked around me yesterday and within a 10 min span, I counted more than 10 people wearing their "running gear" for casual Sunday wear.    We want to be comfortable, yes? I do. I love this stuff. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Today's post is a review of 2 patterns from 2 different activewear pattern designers: Kwik Sew and Melissa Fehr of Fehr Trade.

Kwik Sew Leggings
Side Panel Leggings, a mash-up of K3988 and K3770

Kwik Sew K3988Kwik Sew K3988. Kwiksew.mccall.com
Kwik Sew has been selling a large selection of activewear for ages. Even their vintage patterns have great designs you can still use today.  They are pretty much the staple option for sewists who make their own workout wear. It's simple, clean and easy to style. Plus, their patterns are easy to understand. I like them because I usually only have to add in my curves. The patterns are pretty straight/blocky compared to my body shape, so they often are a great starting point.  The leggings I'm wearing below are a mash-up of K3988 and K3770 . 

You can't tell from the image above left, but K3988 has a gusset. I sewed these up entirely in the aqua fabric (no stripes) and included the gusset. I measured twice, but somehow, the gusset introduced weird gobs of fabric at the crotch. And I mean weird!  "Oh lordy lordy, what am I going to do?" I thought. I didn't want to waste the lovely aqua fabric I'd picked up at Billie's Designer Fabrics on the Portland Shopping Trip.  Crap!  

Kwik Sew K3770Kwik Sew K3770 Kwiksew.Mccall.com
Stumped, I brought my legging patterns, including K3770 to an Open Sewing Lab at Tacoma Sewing and Design School.  Ryliss helped measure me and we chose K3770 to fit to me. After the first mock-up, we saw weird pooling at the back and outside of my knee. So we shifted the pattern once. 2nd mock-up showed the same pooling so we shifted it again.  I left with a decent fitting pattern based on the side insert / side-panel leggings you see in K3770 A to the left.

We did not work on K3988 at all. It felt right to work with a simpler pattern, then work into the gusset.  

I ripped out all the work I did on K3988.  Then, I took the adjusted patterns and laid them against K3988 cut out and previously sewn pieces. You could say they were ever so slightly distored by the sewing process, but I didn't care because I was a) learning and b) making sure not to waste the fabric. 

I had to increase the size of the side panel a wee bit to accommodate the seams I had to rip out and some I had to cut off. No problem. I added a piece of white swimsuit material - a nylon lycra. Since I wanted something more funky, I took a small amount of black & white striped T-shirt knit (single knit) and stitched it to the white. Then added the panel to my aqua capri pieces.  Ooo exciting and shocking colors. Fun!  I finshed them off with a simple zig zag and a very tiny seam at the hem.  I really dig these and use them a lot for yoga. The aqua fabric is a bit revealing on the more bumpy and lumpy parts of my body, which I love but prefer to minimally advertise, so I choose to only wear them at home for the moment. But I'm ok with that. The only down side of these pants is that the black & white knit is ripping/tearing like a pair of nylons do when you pull a thread or catch them on your nail. Boo! But a good lesson, maybe not a good fit to use the t-shirt knit with such heavily stretched activewear.  

Fehr Trade XYT Workout Top
a Running or Yoga Top with a built-in Sports Bra

PictureFehrtrade.com XYT Workout Top
Melissa Fehr has been sewing her own running gear for the marathons she runs and blogging for ages and this year (2014) she released 2 workout gear patterns. Yay! Double Yay!!  


The first of her patterns I blogged about were the PB Jam Leggings.  Lovely pattern.  Today I'm sharing with you the XYT Workout Top. 


As you can see in the pattern cover to the left, the pattern has 3 back styles. An X, a Y, and a T.  Awesome, I have flexibility!  And, don't you love that Melissa modeled herself?  

Because I have a full bust, I chose to start with the X back.  I figured that would give me the most support and evenly distribute the weight of my bust across my shoulders.  Sometimes, I get headaches from sports bras because they pull on my neck muscles.  So I have to think about that.  I looked over Melissa's instructions for adjusting the pattern and even contacted her directly to as about adjusting for the "top heavy".  She was so helpful in her reply, even sent me a sketch to help illustrate!  For my first version, I chose to keep things simple and add a little to the sides and add to the length rather than do a full bust adjustment (FBA).  

If you notice the photo below left, you see multiple seam lines that run cross-body.  The reason is that I ran out of the aqua fabric. Thinking back, I would do it differently because as you can see in the bottom photos, the line shows up quite clearly across my bust. There's no hiding it. But, I'm glad I tried it because now I know what it does.  I hind sight, I would actually ditch the multiple pieces for the internal shelf bra and cut it entirely out of the sky blue (#0696) Italian Nylon Lycra from Seattle Fabrics.  Lesson learned.

I did shorten the straps, after trying it on, where the X attaches to the back.  I would have shortened at the shoulder seam, but the elastic is all one piece and I'd have to rip a TON.  So, I opted to just shorten at the mid-back seam. Worked out well, the top stays up and in place well and I don't get any major pulling on my neck & shoulder muscles to result in a headache.  

I do have a weird twist that occurs around the bust line and some drag linse at the shoulder, but I wonder if an FBA and a more slippery fabric underneath would have helped those disappear.  Next time I will likely run the bra all the way up to the shoulder seam even if it adds a little bulk, it may also eliminate some drag lines and add support.

What shocked me is that the anti-bounce, firm hold bra top gave me so much cleavage I could have knocked my eye out.  Oh good lord that is way too revealing for me. I took the photos though, so I'm not spilling out every which way.  My first thought was, "um, this is at home wear.".  I don't need any more attention on my bust than when I'm modestly covered. But... 

Speaking of support, I'm also pleasantly shocked by how little things wiggled while I pranced about on my walk.  Instead of letting myself worry about cleavage attention, I wore this as a base layer under my wicking t-shirt and fleece running shirt. It was amazing. I mean amazing. When I got home and was all sweaty from working out (yes, I sweat), I suddenly noticed that the bra and supporting elastic did not move and I did not once fuss with it while walking.  I have other bras that pinch, rub, or are too lose and move around on my body.  Not this one.  It held firmly and also was really, really comfy. I'm really happy!  So, that was the kicker for me. 

I will definitely make another XYT top.  Next time, I will: 

  • include a full bust adjustment (FBA)
  • Try the other style backs.  
  • Lengthening it so I don't show off my belly if I raise my arms. 


For having made only 1 other
sports bra and pair of leggings, I'm quite pleased with myself!

Comments
    Gwen Gyldenege

    Author: 
    Gwen Gyldenege

    I'm a one woman circus.  
    I'm curvy and athletic.
    ​I am a dancer.
    My last name translates 
    to "Golden Oak". 

    I'm an artist, intuitive, engineer, seamstress 
    and performer.

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Sewing in Seattle

    Archives

    December 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    August 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    April 2009
    December 2008

    Categories

    All
    Activewear
    Adventures
    Art
    Artists
    ArtOfThe20sDress
    Calligraphy
    Cartoons
    Clown
    Comedy
    Costumes
    Creativity
    Crochet
    Dance
    Dancewear
    Dingleballs
    DIY
    Fabric
    Fashion
    Fiber
    Fitting
    Food
    Funkifabrics
    Garden
    Handwriting
    Hiking Gear
    Holiday
    Humor
    Inspiration
    Interviews
    Jalie 2795
    Jalie 2795 Hoodie Sew Along
    Jalie Patterns
    Jewelry
    KiddieAdultsUnite
    Kitchen
    Kits
    Knits
    Knitting Patterns
    Lifted Gifted Higher
    Lingerie
    Littlealters2013
    Mad Men Dress Challenge III
    Marketing
    MMMay14
    Moulage
    Muslin
    Needle & Thread
    Nwcreativespirits
    Outdoor Gear
    Paint
    Paper
    Passthepaper2012
    Pattern Drafting
    Photoaday
    Photography
    Pmc
    Prayer
    Projects
    Sculpt
    Sew
    Sewforvictory
    Sewing Workout Wear
    Sew News
    Shows
    Shrinky Dink
    Sing
    Skillshare
    Social Media
    Spring
    Spring Race Challenge
    Stories
    Tutorials
    Video
    Vintage
    Voiceover
    Wardrobe Architect
    Watercolor
    Yarn

Except for sources otherwise stated beneath images or bottom of the page (Creative Commons), all images and works are copyright Gwen Gyldenege, all rights reserved.  Contact Gwen to request permission.
Photos used under Creative Commons from I Robertson, DoNotLick, Gustty, Jayson Emery, Nbepko, Gamma Man, I Robertson, Lars Plougmann, RowdyKittens, Richard Masoner / Cyclelicious, The Wandering Angel, VasenkaPhotography, quinn.anya, Léa Chvrl, Lost Albatross, Guttorm Flatabø, BEST PHOTO, RowdyKittens, allistair, BozDoz, tanakawho, Navicore, Bilal Kamoon, D-Stanley, Kris Krug, glasseyes view, essers, Richard Masoner / Cyclelicious, Alex Pepperhill, Found Animals, adactio, Office Now