Self-Drafted Sports Top

I started boxing in May last year when I was sick to death of feeling so angry all the time. 8 months later I'm still at it having only missed a handful of sessions. I'm still angry, but I'm also a little tougher, so I guess that's something. #Sassy, #spooky and #sexy were last year's buzzwords, so maybe for 2018 I'll throw #Sporty and #Safe into the mix as I try and continue to learn how to look after myself.

Self-made gym gear is something I've been seeing a lot of on Insta recently. I didn't want to miss out so I tried my hand at my first gym top.


If self-drafted is code for rip off then we'll go with that. This top was an example of having a ready to wear garment that you love so much you just gotta have another. I found this light stretchy houndstooth fabric downstairs in Abakhan. To touch it reminded me very much of my Adidas vest that I wear boxing. Obviously as it was houndstooth I couldn't say no. The plan was to trace my Adidas top and make another.

Drawing round the top was easy. It's a very loose fit vest with no darts or shaping. In fact even the side seams are just straight lines. The back is longer than the front by a couple of cms and there are slits in the side, about 10cm up from the bottom. The head hole is close around the neck and the arm holes are just bound. After drawing round the top I added 1.5cm for any seam allowances and folded the shoulders of the pattern paper round to make sure the seams would match up.

The only real difference between the front and back pieces were the back being longer and the neckline being a little higher. I scooped a little more out of the back armholes too because it felt like a good idea.

Instead of turning in binding on the arm holes like the ready to wear version I cut some strips of fabric to add as bands. The hardest part was getting these the right length so then didn't either pucker or sag. After playing about for a bit I worked out they needed to be about 5cm shorter than the armhole. The fabric is very stretchy, if it had less stretch they would maybe only have needed to be a couple of cms shorter.


The neckband was put on in a similar fashion, then overlocked round, matching up the mid-points on neckline and neckband by stretching out the neckband a little to fit.

The hem was overlocked then turned up 1.5cm and stitched down with twin needle.

The top is exactly what I wanted, light and loose and perfect for sports. Hope Adidas don't come and sue!

x

Location: Mount Pleasant Ball Courts*, Sheffield
Currently listening to: Faces, The Wands


*Ps, Great paint job on the ballcourts by the Brick Gallery crew! ❤