Working out the New Year

A couple of months ago, my husband and I decided to re-join our local gym. I quit going after I had my first kid about 6 years ago, and since this gym has swimming lessons, it worked out better for us to move our kids lessons to the gym and get family membership. The thing about having not been working out in 6 years, and having purchased all my workout gear 12 years ago, is that my workout wardrobe is *totally* out of date.

Simply By Ti to the rescue!!

A couple of months ago, I became a Brand Ambassador for Simply By Ti, and part of that deal is that I get to try out their fabrics and then tell YOU about them! I knew I wanted to update my gym attire and since Ti has a good selection of high quality performance fabric (including Under Armour and Nike!), I decided to work with that.

About the Tank

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For my top I decided to use the FREE Itch to Stitch Lago Tank* since it’s a pretty loose fit and the Jade Under Armour Wickaway Jersey isn’t super stretchy (50% horizontal, 35% vertical). Other than my height adjustment and blending the sizes between bust and hip, I didn’t make any changes to this pattern. The armscye does come up a little high though, so for my next one, I plan to drop that armscye down a little since I think that would be more comfy for working out.

For construction, I used my coverstitch to sew the side seams flat (I did this after doing the bands, but should have done this before the bands were added). I also coverstitched the armbands and neckband.

In my serger, I used a sharp needle because I was too lazy to switch to a ball point (and with most knits I have had no trouble using sharps in my serger), but for this one, I regretted not having a ballpoint in there as the sharps did make holes in this fabric.

Fabric verdict: This Under Armour Wickaway Jersey is perfect for tops, and I think it could work well for loose shorts too. There’s not enough stretch in it for leggings or anything particularly tight. Simply By Ti carries it in four different colorways: jade, purple, royal blue, and gray.

About the Leggings

The leggings were my first completed portion of my outfit, and I finished them about an hour before heading to my personal training session on Thursday. The conversation with my personal trainer went like this:

Her: oooh are those new pants?
Me: yeah! I just finished making them! And they have pockets!!
Her: omg! Can I touch them?!

(Pockets on leggings, people! I was getting so frustrated carting my phone around while I listened to podcasts and music at the gym, so having a pocket is a total must!)

For the leggings, I used Simply By Ti’s Black Under Armour Wickaway Jersey. This one is different to the Jersey used in the top. It has a waffle texture on the underside, is thicker, and is super stretchy (100% horizontal, 125% vertical). It’s on the warmer side, so it’s perfect for these cold winter days.  Compared to cotton-lycra or brushed poly, it is a little rough on the inside and has a very smooth texture on the outside.

I knew I didn’t want to make plain black basic leggings, so I used the Lisette for Butterick B6295. This pattern includes a sports bra and leggings in two styles. The longer version has ruching down the side and the cropped pair does not. Both styles include a big pocket on each side. Big 4 patterns are notorious for tons of ease, so while I measured into the size 14 for my hip and 12 for waist, I knew I would probably need to go down a size or two. I ended up measuring the waistband pieces (minus seam allowances) and then stretching my fabric around my waist so it would be the same size as the measurement. Based on that, I decided to go with a size 10, and I found the size to be pretty much spot on. I possibly could have gone another size down, but I think these will be fine.

I love the detail on the side of this pattern! And of course, as I mentioned before, I LOVE having those pockets!!

The pattern calls for 3/4″ elastic in the waistband. I nixed the instructions on this one and measured the elastic against myself until it was comfortable. Then I stitched the ends together and evenly clipped it to the inside top edge of the waistband. From here, I used my coverstitch to top stitch the elastic on.

The pattern instructions suggest a lapped seam, which to me seemed like a whole lot of extra work for not much return. So I serged each seam instead, and then coverstitched each one (with the exception of the inside leg seam – I did a second row of stitching with my sewing machine instead), using woolly nylon in the looper.

UPDATE: Here’s some close ups on the top stitching and underside (clicking on them will take you to full size pictures). As I mentioned, the pattern instructions call for a lapped seam, which would result on the seams being raised on the outside rather than inside. This reduces chaffing and makes them more comfortable. But speed won out and I knew it would take more time than I had to use that construction method!

Fabric verdict: The Simply By Ti Black Under Armour Wickaway Jersey is perfect for workout leggings and could also work well for hoodies and maybe even sports bras (I have a little leftover that I’m considering for a sports bra).

Now…. go sew yourself some workout gear!