Sew Your Own Activewear

Sewing clothes to exercise in is not something I ever thought I’d really do, but seeing as RTW sportswear always disappoints me in one way or another – fit, quality, price – I decided to give it a whirl.  I was reluctant to splash out on sportswear patterns, so Melissa’s book seemed perfect because it contains lots of different patterns, making it good value.  I’ve also been following Melissa on social media for some time, admiring both her running and her sewing, so I knew that any sportswear designed and worn by her was bound to be well designed, as she will definitely have put it through more rigorous training than I’ll probably ever do!

I started with the simplest leggings in the book – the ‘yoga bottoms’.  I made these with fabric and notions kindly provided by Minerva, for the Minerva Crafts Blogger Network.  You can read about the making of the leggings here.  I had a few scraps of that fabric left over, so I bought some plain navy 4-way stretch to make the vest top from the book, and used the scraps for the waistband and the side panels, which I had to cut on the crosswise grain.  Stupidly, I only ordered 2m of FOE, which was not enough, so the neckline is bound with a slightly lighter shade, but probably no one else would notice!

When I made the leggings, they ended up too big and I had to take them in a few inches.  I cut the top in the same size, and it’s quite loose, but I like it for yoga.  If I wanted compression, I would definitely need a size or even two smaller.  I quite fancy the idea of making the crop top with some power mesh lining – maybe I’ll get around to that one day – stranger things have happened.

The only problem I have with the top currently is that I need a racer back sports bra to wear under it.  I’m wearing a racer back crop top here, which is fine for yoga, but there’s no way I’d want to run in it for fear of causing an earthquake!!!

The back of the top

Overall I’m pleased with my new matching set of activewear, and keen to make more in the future.  I’d really like to make a swimming costume at some point, and once I’ve got a good mix of scraps, I’d like to make more jazzy designs of mix and match scraps, for a truly unique sportswear wardrobe!