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 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.
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