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Made by me / My makes / Sewing activewear

Spoonflower print capri workout leggings


So here are the capri leggings I made from my custom Spoonflower print. I was really inspired by some of the more elaborate ready to wear leggings that have been popping up lately and wanted to see if I could mimic some of the techniques with my home sewing equipment.

One of the things I’ve seen recently is curved insets. In the garment manufacturing industry, these are sewn using an industrial flatlock machine. I don’t have access to one of those, unfortunately, so instead I serged the mesh insets using a narrow 3-thread overlock seam with woolly nylon in the loopers. Then I topstitched the curve in place using my coverstitch machine.

The pockets I covered with fold over elastic, and I think this a really clever way to finish pockets on activewear or other stretchy knit garments. So simple and it looks very neat too I think!

Spoonflower prints on a white fabric which is a factor to consider. There is a smidgen of the white showing at the seams and over the bum where the fabric is stretched out a lot. I was given a heads-up about this before I went and ordered the fabric, and to me it’s not an issue, but I think lighter prints might work better than really dark colours if the white sheen is something you want to avoid completely. I’ve also noticed that a lot of RTW activewear brands use this print on white technique now with the bold pattern trend, so this way of printing is fairly common.

While this project took a lot of effort and I’m very happy that I did put in the time to make all my design ideas into practice.

6 Comments

  • PsychicSewerKathleen
    October 31, 2017 at 8:00 pm

    What fabulous leggings Johanna! Beautiful finish and love the idea of using FOE on the pockets. I have a bunch of FOE on standby ever since I read somewhere that it makes for a great band even on wovens although I’ve yet to try it 🙂

    Reply
    • Johanna
      November 1, 2017 at 3:33 pm

      I have never tried fold over elastic on wovens either, but it does make sense when I think about it. Such a great way to finish edges that might be tricky or bulky to finish in other ways!

      Reply
  • Summerflies
    November 1, 2017 at 12:59 pm

    Your garments look so professional. I love the FOE edge too. I have a back pack that has it…. so versatile.

    Reply
    • Johanna
      November 1, 2017 at 3:34 pm

      Yeah it so great and when you look at ready to wear and stuff they use it all the time, and not just on underwear. Having it on a backpack makes sense since other seam finishing would be quite bulky, plus it foe is really durable too. Clever!

      Reply
  • Adrianne
    November 1, 2017 at 1:21 pm

    Awesome leggings Johanna! I really like the idea of mesh inserts for keeping cool and looking cool!

    Reply
    • Johanna
      November 1, 2017 at 3:35 pm

      Hehe, you are right! They really do achieve both things 🙂

      Reply

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