Wow, thank you all so so much for your enthusiasm on the launch of my latest patterns! More than one person went and bought all seven of my patterns in one go, too, which is just crazy wonderful! Can you imagine the fun weekends of sewing them all up?? I’ve been totally bowled over by your comments, encouragement, and enthusiasm, and I haven’t even shown you all the great versions I’ve been busily sewing over the past few months yet, either.
I’m going to start with one of the more basic versions, but one that should particularly appeal to those of you experiencing a North American winter right now, as it’s perfect for winter base layers. I sewed this one up in a freaking fantastic merino jersey which has a wicking backing fused onto it. It came from Mill Yardage in America, and I also bought the mustard colourway, too, which I actually love even more than the teal! I highly recommend grabbing 2yds of this if you’d like your own version (I have no affiliation whatsoever!).
Let me first take a minute to introduce Emily, my athlete-model for the ladies’ version of the pattern. Emily runs with me every week at Run Dem Crew, but we also ran the Copenhagen marathon together a few years ago, too. But Emily is a truly talented, multisport athlete – she’s not just a runner, but an avid Cornish surfer, snowboarder, and skateboarder, too. She also cycles just about everywhere in London, so she was the perfect choice to show the versatility of the Surf to Summit Top pattern!
You’ll see the cycling and surfing versions (and Men’s versions!) soon enough, but here I used the basic, no frills version of the body, going for the long sleeve length, and (because this is actually going to be my winter running top!) I added on the optional sleeve mitts because I just can’t go back to wearing gloves again! Now, you wouldn’t normally need sleeve mitts for skiing or snowboarding, as you’re probably going to be wearing more heavy-duty gloves like Emily is here, but the mitts don’t get in the way when they’re not in use, so it’s really not a problem. The body of this pattern is drafted to be a tad looser fitting than the XYT Workout Top (which had 10% negative ease), with 2cm negative ease in the Bust, 8cm positive ease at the Waist, and 1cm negative ease at the Hips. I did this specifically so you can use fabrics with a little less stretch in them, like merino jersey!
Top: Sleeve mitt engaged (hand covered), under side. Bottom: Sleeve mitt open (hand exposed), upper side.
Note that the wrong side of your fabric (and twin stitching) will show when the mitts are engaged and over your hands, but I’ve found that I usually end up only having the mitts over my hands for the first few minutes at the beginning of a run. And even with a fabric which has two distinct sides, it doesn’t really look bad. The hem is on the under side of your hand when it’s engaged (ie: against your palm) so it’s not very obvious, either, but you could choose to finish the edge with FOE instead if you have an objection to the underside of the stitching showing.
I also wanted to highlight the high neck on this pattern, which works well for winter coverage as well as rashguard coverage. It’s an integrated funnel neck, and uses a facing to finish the neckline. I know, right – eating my words about facings on knits!! But this facing is a) un-interfaced, so it stretches along with your fabric, and b) tacked down by machine along all four seams so it really does stay put without flipping out everywhere. If you’re making this up in a stretchy fleece or sweatshirting, though, you’ll want to use a thinner jersey for the neck facing to reduce bulk.
Also, a few people asked about whether this top has side seams – there are no side seams – the Side panel wraps around to join the Front and Back at the princess seams. This means you can get some great colourblocking opportunities, which I’ll show you in some later versions I made…
Remember you can save 10% off if you buy two or more patterns by using the code “10OVER20” before 26 December! The Surf to Summit Top pattern comes in men’s and ladies’ editions, too!
$10.99
