Greenstyle FitCapsule (Part 1!)

I’ve hung around the sewing community long enough to be familiar with the concept of a capsule wardrobe, a small collection of coordinating clothing usually organized around a season or theme.

Despite being interested in the concept, I’ve never sewn one, for a few reasons. One, I prefer to be rather spontaneous with my fabric/pattern pairings, and don’t like feeling “tied down” to a prescribed theme. Two, I’m just not that organized. Three, I usually don’t love any single designer enough to sew an entire season/mini-wardrobe of clothing from their patterns.

Buuuuut….(you knew that was coming, didn’t you?), I’m giving it a try this time, because Joni (of Greenstyle Creations) is hosting a “FitCapsule” Group, complete with motivation to workout and prizes!

Motivation has been in short supply these days, so I was already interested for that reason alone- there’s no better way (in my opinion) to motivate me to hit the gym than to sew up some new duds to show off! Reason #3 wasn’t an issue either, since my love for Greenstyle is well documented, and I can easily see myself sewing up an entire athletic line using these patterns! To save myself the stress of organizing (I’m putting all my organizational energy into homeschool right now!), I’ve decided to make each outfit in my capsule a “stand-alone” set, in that I will have a matching top for each bottom, but not necessarily have a coordinated color scheme across the board, giving me more freedom to select my fabric on a whim, and negating Reasons #1 and #2.

To get myself started, I grabbed two of my favorite patterns: The Lille tank/dress (made as a tank here, and as a maxi dress here), and the Inspire Leggings.

Usually, people go all ga-ga over the Strides (which are also cool), but IMHO, the Inspires are where it’s at.

The fit is superb, and the optional front and back inserts add interest without sacrificing sewing speed (unless of course, you sew them on upside down TWICE….but I wouldn’t know anything about that).

The instructions walk me through a perfect triangular gusset every time, and I’ve even experimented with overlapping the side seam to show off a cool print. Since I pretty much workout in capris year round, I sewed up the capri length- and swapped out the mid rise waistband for the high-rise option from the strides.

I also omitted the clear elastic- I don’t have any trouble with them staying in place without it, and I like the smoother look in the front.

The fabric for these Inspires is a printed yoga knit from Surge Fabric Shoppe, which they offered to send me to try out. I’ve purchased a lot of athletic fabric in my day, but I can say in all honesty that this is some of the silkiest, smoothest yoga knit I’ve ever felt. My machines went through it like butter, it’s heaven to wear, and it wicks the sweat well. You can grab it on pre-order here. I’ll be ordering more for sure!

Since the Inspires are so economical on fabric, I was able to piece together a matching pullover for the cooler months ahead, using the Hey June Halifax pattern.

While not officially a part of my capsule (since it’s not a Greenstyle Pattern), I loved the flattering front angles of the Halifax and knew it would be perfect for my narrow scraps.

I used a coordinating black yoga knit for the rest of the pullover, slimming the arms and side seams significantly to achieve the athletic look I wanted.

To complete my outfit, and this portion of my FitCapsule, I sewed up a Lille tank with some black athletic knit from my stash.

I was originally going to pair the capris with my favorite black Nike tank, but the (annoying) little voice in my head kept insisting I could do better, and I’m so glad I gave it a try!

I adjusted the fit a little bit from my last version, adding 1/4″ to the side seams, lowering the neckline for better nursing access, and lowering front arm openings a little to avoid chafing. My cover-stitch was in a cooperative mood, and I’m really proud of the bindings!

We corralled the kids in to a photo shoot at the local high school track (where a group of cheerleaders were training). It was a little awkward to be taking photos and posing in front of a group of 16 year olds, but we made it work, and they thought the baby was really cute.

Next up in my FitCapsule: another pair of Inspires to copy a favorite pair I saw from Anthropologie, with an long sleeved open back tank hack!

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