Simplicity 1111: Workout Tops

This past week or so, now that I finally finished up all my school student evals (I hate evals...they are just one letter away from "evil"), I have been working on some tops to coordinate with the PB Jam Leggings (from Fehr Trade pattern company) I just sewed up. I got the new Simplicity 1111 workout pattern from JoAnn during one of the $1 Simplicity sales (love $1 sales!).

View B: Cross-Front Top

View D: Plain Top

This is what the Simplicity description has to say about this pattern: "This great active wear pattern for miss features dress or tunic with either racer back or cross front all with built in bra." This is what I have to say about this pattern: "It does NOT have a built in bra; it has a LINING. Big difference. If you plan on using this activewear as activewear, a sports bra is a must."I thought maybe I could fix this problem since the pattern is designed with negative ease built in...if I went a size smaller on the bra part of the pattern maybe that would give some compression to the bust and maybe create the "built in bra" effect the pattern description states. Nope!

I used the same material for each of these tops as I did for my leggings - Supplex from Spandex World. I am really, really liking it! It's incredibly soft and has substance. It's easy to work with, no curling, no rolling, pretty stable. It stays put where you want it when you work with it. It's great for all that Bikram Yoga sweating! I only wish it was possible to find it in prints and patterns, not just solids. Oh, well! Maybe someday.

Now I have coordinating tops for my leggings!

The pattern suggests tricot for the lining. This is an aside gripe, not about the pattern, but about JoAnn Fabrics. Would you please label your fabrics as what it is, not make up your own names for it???? It is so frustrating to newbies like me. Grrrr! Thankfully, a helpful employee showed me exactly where they keep it and JoAnn calls it "swimsuit lining." How would I have known that???? JoAnn Fabrics nearly lost a sale on that one to Amazon/Fabric.com. They have on other occasions for the same reason...pattern calls for something that I have no idea what it is and JoAnn is going around making stuff up! (Not that JA has much great fabric to begin with....)

One thing I DON'T LIKE about this pattern is... The underbust gathers! Um...they were NOT well placed, at least for me. They were centered off to the outside of my bust, making the chest front pull really weird. I had to reposition the gathers by bringing the interior gathering line by about an inch when I did my second top, View D. I have not yet corrected my first one, View B.

Since I can't wear it stand-a-lone and need to add a sports bra, it ends up looking kinda weird since the sports bra is compressing and there's these weird bust gathers with nowhere to go. This is especially bad on View B. (I was wearing a normal bra for the photo shoot, so the problem may not be obvious.)

A Few Finishing Notes

On View D, I added some piping between the bust and the torso piece. Unfortunately, it wasn't my best piping job, and after fiddling and fiddling, I said "good enough." Sigh...

Full Coverage Back

View D's Back: easy to move!

Overall, I do like this pattern. I will probably make View D again because I use my workout wear hard and it's a pretty easy pattern to play with color and fabric. Once I fixed the bust gathers, it fits pretty well.

I will probably not make View B again. The criss-cross top just seemed to move weird during class, mostly because of the wide shoulders and the full coverage on the back. I suppose I could tweak them some, but...

My PB Jam Leggings

This summer I am starting a Bikram Yoga 60 day challenge...that means I'm going to be going through my workout wear pretty quickly. After making some of the Fehr Trade Duathlon leggings earlier this year for the PR Athletic Wear contest and loving them (they quickly became my favorites), I decided to try my hand at the PB Jam leggings.

I bought a bunch of fabric from Spandex World. My first two pair are mirror images of each other. The black is their supplex, the grey is the "moisture management." Quite frankly, I can't tell any difference. I'm guessing its due to different manufacturers.Because I made capri length instead of full length leggings I was able to cut leg pieces and contrast pieces from exactly one yard of fabric in each color. I cut a size xs.

It was really hard to tell right side from wrong side with this fabric. I could barely make out that one side looked slightly ribbed and one side flatter. My guess that the ribbed side was the right side was confirmed when I did a quick "squirt test" with a water bottle on mist setting on each side of some scraps. The water is supposed to move from the wrong side to the right as it wicks and that is what happened. I was also glad to know that the fabric actually does what it says it does! Once I had the right side distinguished from the wrong side, I marked each wrong side piece with a small piece of painter's tape.

I was really worried about the curvy accent pieces and being able to get them matched up. Thank you, Melissa, for reminding newbies like me to baste the side seams first to make sure of the match. I would have bravely forged forwarded and serged on through trusting to luck and then cursed a thousand curses. That "hint" she included saved me an hour of frustration.

The notches on the accents/curvy parts match up perfectly! I had no trouble placing them in the legs. (I still struggle knowing how to make sure the edges of both pieces on the side (where the side seams will be) will be even so you end up with a nice smooth edge; I know there has to be overlap but that part still takes me some fiddling. But I think this is a skill/experience issue, not a pattern issue because as I said, the pieces fit together beautifully.)

A Few Changes I Made

• I shortened them to the capri length. I live in the desert. No full length leggings for me! I used my Fehr Trade Duathlon pattern pieces to help me find the right length.

• I took out the contrast piece on the back knee, mostly because I just don't like it (the curves and that block seem to fight each other, not complement each other); also because it just seemed like it would be uncomfortable to have seam allowances (SAs) chafing there. I taped the back leg pieces/contrast knee piece together, folding over the SAs, and then again used my Duathlon pieces to cut it to capri length. 

The Back

• The center back seam! One of these days I'm going to read other people's reviews BEFORE I start! There is a really weird bulge between the waistline and the butt that I just don't get. After fiddling with it and thinking "surely I did something wrong," I read other reviews and found the same problem cropping up. Since my Duathlons fit great, I laid that piece over this pattern's piece and traced its CB seamline. Perfect!

ETA: Melissa of Fehr Trade has updated this pattern recently to fix this problem. Any new purchasers will have a corrected pattern. If you have already purchased this pattern, just email her and she'll send you a corrected one. Thanks, Melissa!

I absolutely love these leggings! I haven't been able to try them out at Bikram yet (studio is closed for roof repairs), but I will be soon. They have, however, worked great at step and cycling.