This month’s challenge over at The Monthly Stitch (just about sneaked it in) is ‘sew hot right now’. Yikes, a scary challenge indeed! But actually if I can sew jumpsuits (see here, eek) then I should be able to tackle this head-on. I couldn’t help but notice the abundance of shoulders in fashion magazines of late. Now this is something even those slightly (ahem…) older can manage. But lovely though those Bardot-style off-the-shoulder tops look, they’d be totally unpractical for the North West climate of late. My husband actually got snowed on on his way to work (Bolton way) yesterday!
But idly flicking through my sewing patterns the other day I came upon this Simple Sew pattern (free some time back with Love Sewing magazine). I’d already attempted the Cross-Over Back Blouse, see here, but the Jersey Top I’d previously looked straight past. Blouson-style anything is generally a pretty unflattering look for me, but maybe it could work for active wear? Mmm… Worth a shot!
This was a doddle to make up and took practically no time at all. I chose to omit the neck band as I wanted to retain the off-the-shoulder look. I’m so pleasantly surprised with this and it’s almost perfect for wearing to yoga. The banded waist is perfect for doing inverted positions and preventing any unwanted tummy-show! 😉 I say ‘almost’ perfect though because I’m not fully confident of braving my bum in Lycra (though some leggings are more corset-like than others), so ideally this would need to be adjusted to make the length a good four or five inches longer. I’ve also used some fabric I had in (a beautifully, soft jersey I bought on our Yorkshire Spolette trip to FabWorks) which would be great for a slower-paced yoga class, but I think I’d need a more sweat-wicking, technical fabric for a more demanding clas. But I’m being pretty picky here I know, it’s a great, first attempt at activewear to tick of my to-sew list this year 🙂
And for your Thursday night entertainment here’s a shot of a Northener sighting a rare bit of Manchester sunshine…
So shocking it bought out the vampire in me!
Pattern: Simple Sew Jersey Top
Size: UK 10
Adjustments: omission of neck-band to retain off-the-shoulder look
So
navybluethreads 