Snazzy New Workout Set!
Hey friends! See, I promised I’d be back shortly, and here I am!
I’ve got another fun outfit to share today, one that involved a bit of struggle and some new techniques for me, and I”m excited to share it!
When this “Secret Forest” print arrived in my mailbox from Sew Dynamic Fabrics, I fell hard for it and knew I wanted to make something that was different from my usual pattern stash. As much as I love my tried and true patterns, sometimes it’s fun to go out of your comfort zone and trying something different. Despite some of the struggle along the way, I’m really glad I did. I learned alot, solidified some techniques I was familiar with but not good at, and had a few good laughs as well!
Pattern Details: Roxie Bralette
The top pattern is the Roxie Bralette from Madalynne, one of her newer releases. I’ve had my eye on it for a bit, but haven’t had the time or energy to dive into a new pattern designer, so I waited until this moment to give it a shot. Assembling the pattern was where I ran into my first snag- its not formatted the same way as other PDF patterns I’ve used, and the edges were challenging to line up since they only included a single match point in the middle of each page (rather than match points in all four corners, or lines on the page). I also didn’t see any specific instructions for how to assemble the pattern in the instructions, so I had to kind of figure it out on my own based on the pieces that came off the printer.
Knowing that Madalynne also has paper patterns as well as collaborations with Simplicity, I would imagine that PDFs may not be her main focus, which might explain the lack of instruction/detail here, but I soldiered on, convinced that the finished bra would be worth it.
Cutting Mistakes…
She does have a well-produced tutorial for this pattern on her YouTube channel, so I felt confident that if I got past the initial cutting phase, I’d be okay. Unfortunately, cutting is where I made another error. The pattern pieces instruct you to cut out the bra pieces from main and lining fabrics. However, to end up mirrored, the lining must be cut wrong side up, if you’re using different fabrics for main and lining.
In her tutorial, she uses the same fabrics for both, so it’s easy to make sure you get mirrored pieces, but thats not the case if you’re using different fabrics, which I was. I discovered this error after I had sewn the bra pieces together at the shoulder and to the lining, so I had to unpick and recut one pair. Someone else might have spotted this error right away, but for some reason it took me getting to this step to realize that I had done it wrong.
I will give her video tutorial credit for having a really great explanation of how to sew on foldover elastic, which is a technique that has been challenging in the past. I practiced on a few pieces of scraps, and ended up figuring out *just the right amount of tension to use (practically none, I think I always did too much before) so that the curves would lay flat without getting gathered. I also really like the way the under-bust elastic is cut and sewn at an angle- her pattern offers several of these nifty drafting little details that let you achieve a better looking finish with minimal extra effort.
In the end, I think this bra came out amazing, and I’d happily make it again, knowing what I know now. The mesh fabric for the overlay the laser cut endurance is from the Fabric Fairy (that colorway is sold out, but others are still available), as is the navy fold over elastic. I put the shiny side out for this flashy top, but you could sew it the other way around if you wanted something more understated.
Leggings #1 and #2:
After spending all my mental energy constructing the bra, I knew I needed something simple for the leggings, so I turned to my absolute favorite pattern, the Inspire tights. The back zipper hack is HERE, and the Sewalong is HERE, if you want to check it out. I ordered this huge zipper pack on amazon, and I’m going to be working through that stash for a long time!
The bra also matches this pair of endurance mesh/endurance Inspire leggings that I never blogged, so now it’s a little capsule! As I recall, I hacked these leggings a bit when I was making them, to make a larger part of mesh over my shins. I can’t remember all the details now though!
We snapped these photos right after Hurricane Nicole swept through Florida. I finished the project just before the storm, as we rushed to prep the trailer for the high winds. We were spared much of the brunt of the storm in our area just south of Tampa, and while we were nervous, the RV did very well. I wouldn’t want to be in anything stronger than a Category 1 though!
Travel News:
In travel news, we have been having a great time exploring Tampa/St. Pete this week. I’m blown away by the educational opportunities in this area, especially for marine biology.
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The kids have attended squid and fish dissection classes at Tampa Bay Watch, homeschool classes on Estuaries at the Florida aquarium, explored the “Nest” at Robinson Preserve and fished their hearts out along the bay. We also got to enjoy a couple beach days- there’s nothing like those sugar white sands of the gulf!
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Thanks for reading my blog- I really love hearing from you, so feel free to drop me a comment! There are affiliate links in this post, if you want one of the patterns I’ve linked, all proceeds to go coffee, the skyrocketing cost of diesel, or both!