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Inspiration

Kimono Sweat pattern – on sale now!

My Kimono Sweat pattern is out now and ready for you to sew! Yay!

How fantastic is the cover illustration from Lauren Cox? You all loved her illustration on my Steeplechase Leggings pattern so much that I just knew she had to be involved again this time! It gives a great feel for how the pattern can be worn that you just don’t get from the official tech drawing (seen below).

View A

Two tops from one pattern! View A is a top with a deep armscye and kimono-inspired short sleeves with a faced V-neck and dipped hem, designed to wear for your warmup or cool-down, or even just with jeans.

And because I know how much you all love my weird-shaped pattern pieces, I couldn’t resist a special “Fehr Trade touch” on the sleeve of View A, which wraps around and gives nice shoulder coverage while being a bit more interesting than the average cap or short sleeve.

I must say, I’ve surprised even myself with how much I’ve been wearing my own short sleeved samples! I’ve literally worn my grey version after every workout that’s not ended at home – it’s perfect to roll up in a bag and not have the whole world looking at your sweaty bod on the way home (or leaving sweat marks all over the bus seats, eww).My green sweatshirt version I wore out to the cinema a few Fridays ago, and then to work, to a family lunch…

View B

View B is a sleeveless tank/vest top with a banded, scooped neckline and straight hem. Deep armholes, and loose, draped sides make this a perfect warm weather workout top for those who prefer a looser fit (and showing off a fancy sports bra!).

Inspiration

Funkifabrics tech lycra is HERE! (And 20% discount)

Remember back in April when I helped Funkifabrics road-test some new technical lycra fabric bases? I had two bases to choose from (onto which they printed my choice of designs), so I went off on some intense runs in warm weather, and ultimately decided on one, which I then went and ran London marathon in!


Post London marathon in my experimental Funkifabric Steeplechase Leggings shorts!

Well, the same tech fabric I ran the marathon in is now available, and in a collection of twelve limited edition prints!

You can read more about their selection process (which involved feedback from their customers) as well as links to buy each pattern in their blog post here (and no, they’re not planning on offering the tech base in solids yet so ignore the sports bras).

They’ve also got a rare 20% off everything sale running until tomorrow night (midnight BST, 10 June) which includes these new bases! I’ve been buying Funki’s regular Flexcite lycra for nearly two years now and this is only the second time I’ve ever seen them do a sale, so if you’ve been waiting, I’d buy now!

Inspiration

More of your makes!

It’s that time again! I can barely keep up with all your amazing, inspiring, and beautiful versions of my patterns these days, and before I know it, I’ve got an overflowing heap to share with you! I know how helpful many of you find these – it’s all well and good that I make nice versions of my patterns, but so much more helpful when you see how good they look on other bodies, too!

Be sure to click through to read the details and see more photos on each of these entries, too. With a long weekend coming up both here in the UK and in the US, there’s no excuse not to whip up something sporty!

Winnie’s Steeplechase Leggings with exterior rolled seams & zebra Surf to Summit


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Karen’s 5(!) Steeplechase Capris for herself and her daughters


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Maria’s three pairs of Steeplechase Capris, with great reflective accents


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Sally’s wintry Surf to Summit for the ski slopes!


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Maria’s “Hunger Games” inspired Duathlon leggings


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mixtilli’s red Lacey Thong lingerie set


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StyleArc Lalitha Leggings

I’ve been on the Aussie pattern company StyleArc‘s mailing list for a while now, and I always like to keep an eye on their new patterns, but their fabric options have never really appealed to me, to be honest (I’ve got to really like a fabric to pay for it to be shipped halfway around the world!).

Until March, that is, when they sent round details of their new range of “cut & sew” leggings, printed directly onto activewear knits:


They’ve since removed these from their site due to demand, so I’m reposting the original ad here so you can see the other colourways.

I’ll be honest – I was as intrigued by the concept as I was the prints, and for $60AU (£30) shipped, plus the freebie March pattern (knit top Melinda), I was sold. Quality leggings in great prints go for the £80-90 range in London, so for me, £30 was worth a gamble in the name of research. StyleArc had teamed up with a company called Fifth Element for these leggings, which you can also buy ready-made for about £45.

I ordered the “Lalitha” colourway the very next day, and then waited over 6 weeks for delivery (maybe they printed on demand?), but the kit finally arrived in mid-April. I was kinda hoping that the fabric would be printed all over, or in zones, like my collaboration with Laurie King, but you really only get the outline of the legging, with the rest in plain white.

Before I get into my complaints, let me just say that the fabric quality is fabulous – it’s soft, and stretchy, with great recovery and super vibrant colours, and from handling enough activewear fabrics in my day, I believe the that this is proper wicking fabric. I pre-washed it before cutting out, and everything remained vibrant, too.

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London Marathon – Steeplechase Shorts in action!

Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm and good luck wishes for my special marathon FunkiFabrics Steeplechase shorts! I’m extremely pleased to report that the shorts performed spectacularly well during Sunday’s race, and I honestly didn’t give them a second thought – except when I got compliments from other runners or people in the crowd!! The lack of inseams on my Steeplechase Leggings pattern totally did the trick!

If you recall, even though this was my fifth marathon (and fifth wearing me-made leggings or shorts), it was the first marathon wearing a me-made sports bra. I’d worn it on loads of long runs and a 20 miler with no issues, but I could feel it starting to chafe a little at the neckline as I approached home at Mile 12, so I took the opportunity to grab some BodyGlide off my husband, smear it on the offending area, and it totally stopped the rubbing! So after that, no issues and no thoughts about the bra whatsoever, which was great.


Photo credit: Michael Adeyeye

I’ve written a full race report over on my running site, RiverRunner, but I’ll copy the take-home, “short version” here:

In Progress

My secret Funkifabrics marathon mission

Intrigued by the title yet? Well, it didn’t start out as a marathon mission, I just decided to add that part in.

But let’s start at the beginning – I’ve long said that I love FunkiFabrics’ lycra (the standard “Flexcite” stuff), but that I personally wouldn’t wear it to run anything longer than a half marathon, and only then in cool conditions, as it isn’t wicking. I’ve made loads of leggings and shorts out of their digitally printed lycra over the years, and it really is fantastic quality – never fading, or pilling, or bagging out. But I still wouldn’t wear it to run a marathon.

I finally just up and asked Funki if they had any plans to ever print onto a wicking lycra base, since they sell supplex and now compression fabrics, but only in plain black or white. Cue a bit of technical discussion on their end, and then about a month ago they asked if I wouldn’t mind testing out two different new base fabrics and giving them my opinion as both a sewist and a runner. Umm, would I???

So just before we left for NYC, my two experimental Funki flavours arrived, one with the Beam Two Bright print and the other with Checker Magic Multi, plus some really geeky technical specs of each base fabric, plus their regular Flexcite data sheet for comparison.

I read the data sheets, picked the one I thought would probably be best, the went away to NYC and promptly forgot which was printed on which base. Which was good, as it’s better for testing purposes if you’ve not already formed an opinion! After a quick prewash, I sewed the Beam Two into a pair of Duathlon Shorts and the Checker Magic into my Steeplechase Leggings, both biker short length, and with scraps of wicking lycra for the sides and yoke.

I ended up testing both by running (I had planned to cycle in one, but plans fell through), and in warm weather, too – so the tests were under as similar conditions as I was able to get!

I wore the “Checker Magic” / Steeplechase pair to run the second half of the London marathon route with friends (about 14mi at steady pace, for 2hrs) a few Sundays ago. It was a sunny day, and feeling pretty warm in general – my Garmin data says it was 10C and sunny, but I’d estimate that by the end it was certainly closer to 15-17C. In any case, this pair felt great, no issues at all in terms of feeling cloying or rubbing, or anything. Pretty boring, with nothing to report.

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A charcoal and lime Jasper sweatshirt

For some reason, Paprika Patterns wasn’t entirely on my radar. I remember liking their skirt pattern when it was released, but I was super busy with my own patterns, and somehow I missed the release of their Jasper sweater/dress pattern entirely, until I stumbled upon it on my Twitter timeline, and thought WOW! And then immediately went and bought it.

As luck would have it, shortly after I bought the pattern I was gifted some amaaaaaaazing technical fabric from my friend with activewear industry connections – it’s charcoal jersey on one side, bonded with navy wicking fleece on the reverse. It’s super high quality with nice stretch and a great weight for keeping warm post-workout. I have also seen nothing like it on sale anywhere, sorry!

So I thought it’d be the perfect fabric and pattern combo to be my post-workout cooldown coverup. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I’ve been wearing the same ratty old red jacket after long runs and hard workouts, which I’d bought 10 years ago from a discount chain! Not really a great look when I wear all the crazy, wonderful workout gear underneath, so it was high time I upped my post-workout wardrobe game.


Seen here with my mesh-insertion leggings which I still love, but are too baggy for running in these days. Still great for cycling and casualwear though!

I thought an all-grey sweatshirt would be too boring for me, though, so I added a bunch of accents in lime green wicking jersey – I’d found some deep discounted gym tops in Pennsylvania in January so I bought the biggest I could find to get the most fabric possible, and paid only $5! The hems and bindings were particularly useful for inserting into seams, but for the large colourblocked areas I overlaid the green onto the thicker jersey/fleece first, since the green was considerably thinner.

I made a size 6 (B cup) of the Sweater length and the fit is great – I did narrow the sleeves by about 1.5cm further (and adjusted the cuff to match) but that was the only fit change I made. The length of everything is perfect for me.

The lower back colourblocking wasn’t originally intended – it’s not included in the pattern and only came about because I realised I did “a stupid” and accidentally cut the Back piece along the Lengthen/Shorten Line instead of the Sweater cut line, guh! So instead of cutting a whole new piece, I decided to play with the lower back and make it look intentional instead!

Inspiration

Ask Melissa – activewear fabric and larger busts

Like anyone who’s had a site for a while (nearly 10 years, in my case!), I get an astounding amount of random email questions sent to me each day. Answering every single one of them takes up a considerable amount of my time, and sadly, I never get to reply to as many as I’d like. And frankly, sometimes I just get sick of telling people over and over that just because I posted about X magazine five years ago doesn’t mean I know where you can buy it! Or telling people that no, I don’t work for Burda/Patrones/Manequim/Lekala/whatever and I really can’t help you with your customer service issue.

For some reason, though, I received an unusually large amount of random questions while I was on holiday in NYC. I was moaning about it on Twitter, and Stacy suggested I compile them into an “Ask Melissa” column, which I thought was an excellent idea. I’ve spared you the truly random, boring ones, or the ones too specific to be applicable to anyone else, and instead just included a few here which others may be interested in.

Activewear Fabric Suppliers

I came across your website today and wanted to find out where you source the fabric for the sports clothes you make. Would you be able to tell me?

I’ve compiled a big ol’ list of suppliers (which I do my best to keep maintained!) over here!

Support for Large Busts

I’ve been admiring your work for several years now, having discovered you through your many rave reviews at patternreview.com. I’m not the best with knits, but I am about to try this summer, starting with your workout wear. I do CrossFit and high intensity classes, and am just giving up on finding clothes that will support my busty bust but fit my small rib cage. I am 32 DDD to G; can you recommend any of your patterns over the others for supporting large breasts? We spend a lot of time bouncing, upside down, etc. and form-fitting and supportive would be dreamy. And I see you even do bras; another reason I admire you!

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Steeplechase Shorts for an active tween

On Friday I showed you the full-length version of the Steeplechase Leggings pattern I made for my niece, Megan, but as soon as I finished making those, I decided to throw in a shorts version, too, so she can wear them in the warmer Virginia summers.

I’d measured her in person when I had to return to the States briefly in January, and I made and posted them over in time for the pattern launch. Since I’d already cut out her size (XS) for the longer leggings, the only difference I had to make for these was just to cut along the Biker Shorts hem line instead!

All together now, the pattern description is:
These leggings have no inseams! Instead, a curved, outer seam runs from the back of the ankle up to the centre front, where it joins a separate yoke piece. There’s an optional, hidden back pocket, elasticated waistband, and your choice of three lengths: biker short, capri, or full length leggings.

These were a little bonus gift, but I still wanted to make them stylish for her so she could wear them for play, sports, or school if she wanted, so the main fabric is the very last of my adored Eclipse “Hint of Mint” supplex (which you may remember from my Mint X Back Workout Top or my Multi-Print VNA Top), but I made the yoke from offcuts from my Animal Magic Steeplechase Leggings, which I was cutting out for myself at the same time. Like the afore-mentioned VNA Top, I really like the mix of the prints here even though they weren’t designed to go together.

I love how well these shorts stand up to all the movements a 12 year old can throw at them – running, jumping, diving at the football (soccer ball) – they aren’t shifting for anything!

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Steeplechase Leggings – in the saddle!

I hope you’re not sick of seeing all my versions of my latest Steeplechase Leggings pattern yet, because these are the pair I’ve been most itching to show you!

Ever since I started designing something special for equestrians, I knew I wanted my niece, Megan, to be my athlete-model. I’ve sewn for her on and off as she’s grown up, but living so far away, it’s difficult to get accurate measurements before she goes and grows again! But my impromptu trip to the States in January meant I could measure her in person, and post them over in time for the pattern launch.

To refresh your memory, here’s the description:
These leggings have no inseams! Instead, a curved, outer seam runs from the back of the ankle up to the centre front, where it joins a separate yoke piece. There’s an optional, hidden back pocket, elasticated waistband, and your choice of three lengths: biker short, capri, or full length leggings.

Once I was back in London, I sent her the Funkifabrics url, let her pick whatever she wanted, and she chose the black and white Solar System print, which I think is a pretty mature choice for a tween!

I made her the full length leggings, and used the same fabric for the yoke and the body, though you can only barely see the yoke in these photos as she’s wearing a teeshirt over top. I thought that we’d be able to arrange photos much earlier so I could show you how these work in the saddle before the pattern release, but alas, there was another death in the family and the horrible East Coast weather also severely disrupted her Saddle Time.

But the upside is that you get to see photos of Megan riding her horse at the local stables in gorgeous sunshine, and in only a teeshirt on top, too! Since I made and posted these before I had any feedback from my pattern testers, though, you can see that the knees are a little baggy on her – this was a common issue with my testers and was adjusted for the final release version.

One of my pattern testers, Kelli, is a keen rider and gave me so much amazing feedback on the 5 (? or was it 6?) pairs she made during the 2 week testing period, that I really wish I could’ve applied those lessons to Megan’s pair, which was made before I knew!