Sofiona Designs 3rd Anniversary Sale

My selfish apparel sewing has been very little the past 18 months. The  Pandemic has really changed how I work, dress, and what I do. I haven't worked in the office since March 2020. I've resorted to wearing mostly athlesiure wear. I would say athletic wear, but really I'm not all that athletic. I do more than work in my athlesiure wear - I do get in exercise throughout the day. It's been great and I've been able to lose some weight and inches. So when I was contacted by Sofiona Designs to see if I was interested in sewing a few of their patterns I said yes! I have been in need of better fitting clothes. I don't mind wearing baggy clothes, but I thought it would be nice to have just a few new pieces that were in my new size. 

I knew I wanted to make the  Miss Trail Joggers. I wanted a top to wear with them and decided the Miss Birch Sweater would be a great top that would be casual enough for my walks in the neighborhood, but still nice enough to wear with some nicer pants or jeans to work. I also thought a new pair of leggings may not be a bad idea either and picked out the Miss Tamarack Tights.

The Miss Birch is a super comfortable top. I am 5ft tall and did not make any height adjustments for the top. I would say it runs a little short and would advise to lengthen it if you are of average height. I made the size 8 based on my bust measurement.  My hips are a few sizes bigger and I probably should have sized up the bottom band so it was not as tight. The print is a cotton jersey and the black is a thermal (waffle) knit. The cotton jersey is not especially stretchy.  Overall the fit is good and  I would make minimal adjustments when making it again. 

The Miss Trail Joggers have a design that I have only seen on tights before. I made a size 16 based on what I think my hips are (I think I need a sewing friend to help me measure)  and my thigh measurement. I did size down the waist a tad, and used a smaller elastic for the waistband. I took out 2" from the length for my height. This seemed almost perfect. I would probably add back a half inch when making them again as I like my ankles covered when seated.

For my Miss Trail Joggers I used a textured athletic knit from Zenith & Quasar. It has a bit of an optical illusion effect as it looks black at an angle and teal when viewed straight on. 

The pockets on the Miss Trail Joggers are nice and large. However they are placed very forward on the leg and feels a bit awkward when I put my phone in the pocket. The pockets are not bagged and I attached them using a reverse coverstitch. I then did a reverse coverstitch on the other seams to give them a sporty look. 

The back pieces have shaping over the rear. I have an ample bum and found that I could have used an extra half inch added to the rise as the waistband dips a little bit at the back center seam. You can see it peeking out from under my top. 

The Miss Tamarak Tights have some fun colorblocking options, but I wanted to keep them simple and solid. I have found that I wear my solid colored leggings way more than my color blocked ones. Colorblocking is so fun, but I have a hard time picking out colors that look great together. 

I decided a while back to keep my wardrobe to a few main colors and doing so has really made getting dressed easier and less stressful. My two main colors are green and blue and I pull in pops of purple and yellow. These purple tights were really needed in my closet. I love the dark and rich color. These are made with an athletic knit from Zenith & Quasar. 

Here's a look at the simple color blocking I did from the pattern. I did a reverse coverstitch on the seams for a sporty look. 

Here's another view of the colorblocked design. I didn't wear my shoes in these photos because I realized after the first few photos that my shoes had gotten muddy on my walk to this spot. 

Sofiona Designs is celebrating their 3rd year anniversary. All patterns are on sale for 40% off. These are the only patterns I have tried from Sofiona, but they have many more. The drafting seems to be spot on and the  instructions were clear. I was able to get all three items made over 2 days. I cut them all out on one day and sewed all three up the next day - with time to spare. 

Follow me on Instagram and Facebook!

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. These links provide me with a small compensation if you make a purchase using my link. There is not cost to you when you do this. My thoughts and opinions given in this blog post are mine.

Zenith & Quasar Fabric Technology Round

I always look forward to the technology round every year at Zenith & Quasar. It's usually my opportunity to grab some computer science themed prints to make my son fun pajamas or underwear. I still need to ask him which print is his favorite. My favorite is the Glitch Screen.

I love the mix of colors and patterns. I takes me back to the old days of playing pong on an Atari and having to wiggle all the connections to get the game to show back up on the TV screen. Oh the good old days of signal loss. My tank is the free tank from Life Sew Savory. I did modify this one a tad to make it more relaxed. I'm wearing a pair of Greensyle Chelsea Pants in these first few photos.

As I looked over my stash of Zenith & Quasar fabrics, the yellow mesh grabbed my attention. I loved how it pulled out the yellow and green tones from the print. This mesh is cool to the touch and not super see through. It has holes, but the holes are not really holes, the fabric is just really thin inside the holes. I'm wearing a navy blue bra with the tank I made (as evidenced by my strap showing) and you cannot see the thick back band easily through my tank.

I didn't have a whole lot of this Glitch Screen print to play with. I had about 24" by wof (58"). It's a good thing I am short because I was able to get some stride inserts out of it and added the cross cuff to give them a little more length.

This was my first time making the cross cuff. I had to modify the piece slightly since I did not cut the legs at the cut line for the cross cuffs, I cut mine longer and the opening was narrower. I cut the cross cuff to match the width of the neon red supplex. I then eyeballed the length of the criss cross straps. I only did two sets of two instead of the three sets of two in the pattern.

I really love how the strides make my butt look. I really love how opaque the budget supplex is. I'm wearing underwear with black stripes and you can't see them. You can make out the outline, but I don't care.

The strides have become my favorite athletic tights. They are so comfortable and go together fairly quickly. Maybe not as quick as plain leggings, but the extra effort give such a cool pair of leggings that fit amazing.

I'm undecided if I actually like my tank with my strides. I was really wishing I had bought some of the neon green hybrid athletic knit. It would have looked awesome as strides.

Here's a look at the other prints in the Technology Round.

The Preorder closes on Saturday at midnight! Order HERE!


Follow me on Instagram and Facebook!

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. These links provide me with a small compensation if you make a purchase using my link. There is not cost to you when you do this. My thoughts and opinions given in this blog post are mine.

Greenstyle Creations Staple Tank

Greenstyle Creations always has the trendiest patterns when it comes to activewear, but sometimes you really need a basic everyday pattern. That is why they just released the Staple Tank. It's a simple tank top that has two finishing options - banded or binding. It's perfect to wear on its own or as a layering piece.

I made this one in an athletic knit I found in my stash. It's a beautiful heathered teal color that will coordinate with many of my athletic leggings. Here I'm wearing my leggings I made with Vibrant Vapors from Zenith & Quasar. This print is currently at preorder.

I do have a swayback and did not make any adjustments for it during testing and ended up with a bit of pooling at the small of my back. I hope to correct this when I make my next Staple Tank.

I also want to note that the front and back have nearly the same amount of scoop - there may be a 1/4" difference. So it is very easy to get the front and back mixed up after you sew them together. Be sure to mark the back piece so you can easily identify it.

 

After I made my Staple Tank, I noticed it went perfectly with my Midway Bomber Jacket I recently made. You can find my blog post about it HERE.

The Staple Tank also looks amazing with the Chelsea Pants.

Grab the Staple Tank for $8.50 through Wednesday, March 27th.

Follow me on Instagram and Facebook!

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. These links provide me with a small compensation if you make a purchase using my link. There is not cost to you when you do this. My thoughts and opinions given in this blog post are mine.