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Neon summery Tessellate Tee

Ok, I promise this is the last Tessellate Tee sample I’ll show you for a good long time, but I’ve haven’t shown off the short sleeve option yet and I didn’t want some of you thinking this pattern is only good for cooler temps!

I made this one using two different colourways of the same neon, heathered, “cotton-touch” tech fabric that a Sweaty Betty-insider friend gave me a year or two ago. I used most of the neon orange fabric for a sleeveless Kimono Sweat top but I wanted to make another Tessellate Tee version that just used the side triangle as the contrast fabric – I made an early version for my niece using purple Supplex everywhere but the side pieces and I loved the look so much I wanted something like this of my own!

Megan's purple Tessellate

So I pulled out the mint green fabric and what was left of the orange, and managed to squeeze in the Side Front and Neckband, but when it came to the Side Back there was no way I could fit it into what was left. So I made the option to piece the fabric and introduce a seam in the least conspicuous place – right near the armpit in the back:

neon summer Tessellate - 2

I think it’s hardly noticeable at all, and it allowed me to still keep to my original vision.

neon summer Tessellate - 1

As I mentioned earlier, this uses the short sleeve length included in the digital version of the pattern, but there are no Add-Ons used here. I was tempted to include the back pocket, as I’m likely to use this for cycle commuting, but I wanted a quick sew and I didn’t have a suitable invisible zipper on hand so I just left this as a basic summery teeshirt.

neon summer Tessellate - 6

I’ve worn this quite a bit, both with jeans and also for running and cycling – it’s a great bike-to-desk make if your commute is as short and un-strenuous as mine (and your office is okay with teeshirts and jeans!). I really love wearing neons in summer and this muted, pastel neon trend is right up my alley!

neon summer Tessellate - 5

I love wearing interesting cuts of teeshirts in the warm weather, and this one is already finding itself at home in my wardrobe – it doesn’t hurt that it pairs with so many different bottoms!

neon summer Tessellate - 7

You can make one yourself with the Tessellate Tee pattern from my shop, or it’s also now available for purchase from Pattern Review or Kollabora now, too.

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2 Comments

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  1. 1
    Rae Wagner-White
    Reply

    I like your pattern styles. Just curious why they stop at xl? Many active people are ‘plus size’ and would like to see our own activewear.

    • 2
      melissa
      Reply

      Hi Rae.

      First of all, let me apologise if my patterns don’t fit you – when I started running 14 years ago I was Plus sized, too, and I can still remember how little was out there for anyone above a size 14, and my Plus sized running friends now tell me that sadly, not much has changed in the elapsed time.

      So when I started developing my own patterns, I felt very strongly that I should provide a large enough size for Plus sized women to feel great about exercising, too – and as it turned out, my size range ended up being too large and I got a lot of complaints from the “teenie weenie” ladies and I had to go back and add size XXS later. I posted about this at the time, but there’s a lot that goes into the development of each pattern, so even though they’re digital, there’s a limited amount of sizes I can offer.

      For each size, there’s extra time in grading and checking the seams of each pattern piece, as well as time calculating the elastic and trim lengths. With grading, you can really only grade up or down a few sizes from your standard that you’ve drafted before things get distorted, and I’m really already at my limit from my base size Small (my size, which means I can test and tweak before grading). Other patternmakers like Lolita Patterns do two totally separate drafts for regular and Plus sizes in order to provide a better fit for Plus customers, but I’m not quite at the point that I can offer that yet.

      Then there’s the number of pages for everyone to print – while technically there’s no limit to how many pages that can be printed, in reality, once you get up to the 20 page mark, a lot of people drop off as they don’t want to tape and cut that many pages. My patterns are really tightly wedged into the pages as it is, so even adding one more size (larger or smaller) will add to the number of pages that everyone has to print). Another issue is finding testers – while there are plenty of Plus-sized sewists out there, there aren’t very many who are also comfortable with sewing activewear AND can commit to sewing and exercising in my patterns in the time frames I need. Each and everyone one of my patterns is road-tested by myself and my testers before release, and it’s difficult enough to find ones who fit into L and XL (and my testers keep getting smaller with all this exercising!).

      If you want to read more, I’ve spoken about these issues here:
      https://blog.fehrtrade.com/in-progress/819/a-note-on-sizing/
      https://blog.fehrtrade.com/inspiration/939/why-pdf-patterns/
      https://blog.fehrtrade.com/inspiration/840/diary-of-an-indie-patternmaker-part-one/
      https://blog.fehrtrade.com/inspiration/841/diary-of-an-indie-patternmaker-part-two/

      So I guess I don’t really have much to suggest for you, other than what you probably already know (that you could grade up from the existing XL sizes, which is a PITA, I know!). But I wanted to give you a proper response and let you know all the aspects that go into the choices I’ve had to make in developing my patterns, and that I really do care. I’ve had so many amazing and wonderful comments from Plus-sized sewists making my patterns, and I guess it’s human nature that I don’t hear from as many that don’t fit into my size range. Thank you for making your voice heard, and again, I’m sorry if my patterns don’t cover your measurements.

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