Self Drafted Sports Top

I'm dedicated to the things I enjoy. When lockdown was announced I felt sheer panic at the thought of not being able to get into the gym for who knows how long. That panic lasted about 10 minutes as I soon realised change didn't have to be a bad thing. The day my gym shut its doors I set off on my first run of lockdown and I haven't skipped a session yet.

My workouts have become more varied and thankfully the weather has been kind. I have surprised myself at how much I have enjoyed adapting, how much less self conscious I am doing leg raises in public than I thought I would be, perhaps because we are all in this weirdo boat together doing what we can to not get fat.


I panicked at first wondering what effect lockdown would have on my sewing. I have stash of odd bits of fabric, rapidly depleting. I miss going to browse for buttons at the market. And for the first few weeks my creativity was definitely 'off', feeling like we shouldn't really be allowed to do things we enjoy when everything is so upside down. Dedication though. I can't turn it off, my heart still says sew sew sew...... But I felt so miserable putting on my LBD and thinking no one will ever see it. If the only thing we're allowed to do is stay in in our PJs and go for one run a day then it was clear I was going to have to make some sports gear to keep my creative heart happy.



"Sports Top" was on my make-9 grid for 2020, and although I may not have been able to play around with all the Airtex fabrics I'd envisaged, I did have some of this pretty natty lightweight, stretch houndstooth leftover from a sports vest I made a few years ago.


I can't really pass the pattern off as self-drafted. I was inspired by the simple design of a sports shirt I own from primark, made up of just three pieces and a neckband. The design features an open back, tied at the bottom, which is pretty neat bearing in mind pulling the ties nice and tight creates a fitted look at the front, but the open back keeps the shirt loose enough to be comfortable for sports. The sleeves are part of the front/back, attached with an overarm seam, meaning again there is a good amount of room available for arm movement.


Making the pattern was really really easy. There are no darts included in the shirt at all, so all I had to do was lay it flat on top of my pattern paper and draw round it. I added 1.5cm seam allowance to all the edges. The front and back pieces are really similar, just with the ties added to the back and a slightly lower neckline at the front. The Primark design includes this cute little mesh panel in the front. I thought I owed it to myself to attempt one in mine too, as the rest of the top was so simple! I'm not sure I've ever inserted a triangle panel into something that needs to sit flat before, so it was a bit trial and error.

I cut the panel piece to be an extra 1cm than the cut-away around the long sides and then snipped directly downwards from the point of the cut-away for about 1.5cm. I then matched right side of the panel to right side of the cut away and stitched with a 1cm seam allowance. I did the same on the other side and then just tried to flatten the smushy bit at the panel point without any of the edges peeking through. It took me a couple of attempts, as as you can read from the last sentence, it maybe wasn't the most professional of panel insertions.


The most satisfying part it topstitching that panel though. A row of sweet lil stitches down the sides of the triangle really scores the professional points.

The back opening, tie edges and bottom of the front and back are all overlocked and turned over 1.5cm, and the sleeve openings overlocked and narrowly turned up by about 6mm. I should probably have stitched down with twin needle but instead I used a single row of stitching and it looks fine! The ends of the ties are then folded over twice by 1cm and stitched down so no edges are peeking out.


Side seams are super easy, just whizz up the sides and the overarm seams, with the slight curve at the armpit to make the sleeve shape. There's a kind of relaxed bagginess that is created at the chest which I think accentuates that sporty look.


Creating the right neckband length was also trial and error, and lots of pins around my neck haha! to start with I measured the circumference of the head hole and cut a strip of fabric that length by 5cm. I knew the neckband would have to be shorter than this, but would figure out how much by pinning ans stretching and trying on as I went along.


The two back panels are attached together by the neckband. On my Primark version they just meet at the top, but for mine I crossed them over ever so slightly. I placed the neckband seam at the shoulder seam so that there was less rogue fabric and loose ends and (hopefully) less margin for error, and then overlocked the neckband right side to right side.


My tips would be.... Make sure you have your overlocker on the correct settings!!!! I failed to change the settings from overlocking single layer fabric to attaching folded over neckband to the head hole. I almost almost knackered the whole thing, machine and all, right when I thought I was on the home straight too!! I stopped pretty promptly and unpicked the neck. I changed the settings on my looper stitches, held my breath and went in for a second attempt.

Phew! This time we scorched around the neckband with no issues, and I don't think you can even tell the area where the accident happened! Pretend you didn't read the above and no one will ever need to find out.

Lastly, just to make extra sure that no one was going to be inspecting that neckband, I narrowly topstitched around, flattening out the overlocked edges to the underside of the head hole.

I'm pretty stoked! The Primark version is a little more stretchy in all directions, but lengthway stretch isn't really a necessity so my fabric suits the design fine.

It didn't take long to wizz this little top up and I didn't require too much fabric. Deffo a leftovers project if you find yourself with the right fabric.... Now, does anyone want to mail me some Airtex?

x

Location: Crookes Sports and Football Centre, Sheffield
Currently listening to: Street Fighting Man, Rolling Stones