I don’t stop running just because it’s cold. Last winter I tended to run in jackets over top of my sleeveless vest tops, but my weight loss over the summer means that my running jackets are all a bit baggy and stuff in my pockets tends to bounce as a result. I’m also too cheap to spend £60+ each on several new jackets!
So I’ve been favouring running in the only two long sleeved running tops in my stash – the purple one I made last December, and also the one I won at Bacchus in September. Two tops is clearly not enough for the 5-6 times a week I’m running now in preparation for London Marathon in April, so I decided to make a clone of my purple running top, this time in mocha.
Again I used the Christine Jonson Travel Trio Three raglan top pattern, altered to have a half-height collar and my own addition of hand mitts on the sleeves. This now makes the fourth garment I’ve made from this pattern across three of the four views (I don’t really need the “Ruana” wrap shawl!) so I consider it to be very good value!
The fabric here is special Under Armor “Cold Gear” fabric Cidell very kindly picked up for me from a shop in Baltimore last year. This UACG fabric is a totally different weight and hand-feel to the green ones with a brushed black reverse I’ve used for leggings, though, even though both bear the “Cold Gear” name. At first I wasn’t sure what to do with it but now I see it’s pretty much perfect for tops as it’s lightweight, warm, silky, and just generally really high quality stuff. It figures I have no way of ever getting more! (Said shop closed down, too)
The design is really just a basic raglan long sleeve teeshirt with a few extra details, but I really like the way it fits nice and close through the shoulders and chest, but fits looser through the waist and hips. I’ve run a lot in my previous version and it goes to show how much I like it that I made zero changes in this one!
The hand mitts are something I added to my purple version last year and something I use so much I’ve decided I want them on all my long sleeved running tops. They’re really easy to add to any pattern – The mitts themselves are just two rectangles – each the width of half your sleeve hem. The shorter is the length between your wrist and your knuckles, and the longer is twice that distance so when it’s folded back out of the way they’re of equal length. (You can see my pattern pieces in my previous post!)
Then you just need to remember to orient the seams so they’re at your thumb and pinky rather than the underside of your wrist (where the sleeve seam is), and serge them on instead of a sleeve hem!
I have no problems flipping these on and off while I’m running, even at Tempo pace, and it means I don’t have to worry about stashing (or dropping!) gloves.
In fact, I’m wearing these two tops so much that I’ve actually cut out a third to (hopefully!) see me through the bulk of this winter’s running – it’s partially cut in the same fabric of the leggings I’m wearing in these photos (much, much more of these later this week!), and partially in a different purple fabric for something different. And, err, totally not because I didn’t have enough of the printed lycra left, no…!