Yes, we’ve carried on with our regular updates and now the Men’s edition of our ever-popular Surf to Summit Top pattern joins the Ladies edition in being layered! Woop! The Ladies edition has been layered for a while, and our Lightspeed Leggings pattern was the first to be layered from launch, so it was a great opportunity to update this one, too, so it’s even easier to sew some great winter activewear for the men in your life.
Men’s Surf to Summit Top pattern – now layered!
A painterly lingerie set
“ANOTHER lingerie set??” I hear you exclaim!! Well, when you’re onto a good thing, why not make more??
Tessellate Tee pattern – now layered!
Hot on the heels of our MEGA-update of our PB Jam Leggings pattern, we’ve now made a minor but significant update to our versatile Tessellate Tee pattern!
A mesh-top Sweat Luxe tank
Earlier this summer, I sewed myself two workout tanks – a Sweat Luxe tank (modified to scoop out the back a little) in a vibrant print, and a tank from a German activewear book using pink and orange fabrics.
When I was making these, I marvelled at how well the print from one tank coordinated with the pink mesh from the other, even though one was from a shop in Canada and the other from Germany! Since I had some leftover fabric from both, I thought it would’ve been a crime not to pair them together, so I did a little bit of hacking and now I’ve got a THIRD activewear tank for all my sweaty treadmill and turbo sessions.
Two pairs of updated PB Jams!
Thanks so much for all your support (and patience!) with the relaunch of our PB Jam Leggings pattern! I’ve had a lot of requests for the updated files for those of you who bought via my Etsy Shop but I should be up to date now. There’s no time limit for requesting the new versions, though, so if you haven’t gotten yours yet, please fill out the form in this post.
PB Jam Leggings – update out now!
Back in 2013, when I started FehrTrade Patterns, there were a lot of things I didn’t know! Seven years on, I’ve learned so much from my mistakes, experiences, and from the generosity of others. The PB Jam Leggings (along with the XYT Workout Top) were the first pattern we ever released, and they were in need of a bit of modernising to bring up to the standards of the rest of our patterns.
I’m proud to say that the updated version of the PB Jam Leggings is finally out now! The list of changes here is quite extensive but here goes…
A mesh black lingerie set
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Yes, this is a very similar set to the dotty one I shared on Friday, but I liked that one so much I wanted more in my lingerie drawer.
Earlier, I’d made the plain View 1 of the Sophie Hines Axis Tank pattern but this time around I wanted to make View 2 which has the seamed sides and back. I’ve seen loads of great examples of this pattern using different fabrics and it was the real reason I bought it!
A dotty lingerie set
I seem to go in waves with lingerie sewing – I won’t sew anything for months on end, and then BAM! the feeling takes me and I sew a bunch all at once. Well, the feeling has definitely taken hold!
I’ve actually been trialling a bunch of soft bra patterns on and off over lockdown (which I might delve into at some point) but I’ve finally found one that I really like – the Sophie Hines Axis Tank pattern. This is a cropped, racerback top for stretch fabrics in two neckline heights that ends a few inches below the underbust. It has no illusions about offering any support, but I wanted a lightweight lounge bra since I’m mostly sat around at home all day anyway and don’t really need support unless I’m exercising (at which point I wear a sports bra anyway)
Tutorial: Add a full-length zip to your Surf to Summit Top
As promised, and after many requests, I’ve created a tutorial for changing the half zip in your Surf to Summit Top pattern to be a fully-opening zipper! This is a pretty straightforward change but I like to be very thorough in my explanations so don’t be scared by the amount of steps – half of them are me just adding clarification.
This tutorial not only works for the Ladies version of our Surf to Summit Top pattern, but also the men’s version, too! I did this same change for our athlete model, Jason, when he wore the Surf to Summit Top with our men’s Lightspeed Leggings pattern.
A Tokyo-inspired cycling jersey
Annnnd rounding out the final garment in my Tokyo-inspired three piece cycling set, it’s the jersey! For this one I used our FehrTrade Surf to Summit Top, which has been one of our bestsellers since it came out at the end of 2014. It’s super versatile, and can be used as a winter running top, classic cycling jersey, or swimming rashguard and has a bunch of interchangeable options. But some people just aren’t happy with a zillion options (err, me!) and had to go and do more tweaks, too!