Made By A Fabricista: Pickleball!

I recently discovered a new thing: Pickleball. And I’ve become a little obsessed with it! Naturally, I needed new clothes to wear when playing, and when I saw the collection of Beyond Yoga performance fabric arrive at Fabric Mart, I knew I needed it!

After getting some inspiration from the Beyond Yoga website, I selected three fabrics from Fabric Mart with my $50 budget – two Nylon/Lycra “Sportflex” fabrics (purple and olive), and a polyester/Lycra featherweight Jersey knit (blue).

I’m a big fan of Jalie patterns for all things sportswear, so once again I turned to their collection for each of these creations (disclosure: Jalie gifted me the patterns for this project). I decided to use the same top for each of my outfits, and then use various patterns for the bottoms. I struggled to find a simple dress in their collection, so in the end, decided to use the same top pattern, but self-draft a quarter-circle skirt for it. There are a couple of things I’d do differently next time, but overall I’m very happy with how everything came together!

Each top in this collection uses Jalie Audrey. I love how this pattern includes a built-in bra with pockets for bra cups. The first one I made (purple), I miscalculated my size (remember: measure twice, cut once) and went a size too small. I was going to make it again, but decided *it would be fine*. I made the correct size for the subsequent tops! I also added an extra inch in length on the purple version. I’m not sure if that was totally necessary though.

When modifying Audrey for the dress, I ultimately ended up cutting off 1” from the lower hem so that the dress seam would sit at my natural waistline. One thing I didn’t factor in before starting is that the back of Audrey cuts diagonally into the front bodice as a design feature. Now, this is fine as a standalone top, but when attaching a skirt, this becomes a problem, as the side seams of the skirt don’t align with the seams on the top. If I were to do this again, I would trim the extra wedge from the back bodice and add it to the front pattern piece before cutting everything out.

To create the skirt, I measured my waist, decided on a length (28 inches), and plugged everything into a circle skirt generator I found online! After measuring and cutting everything out, I then realized that there was as circle skirt template already marked out on my cardboard pattern mat. So, if you have a cardboard pattern mat, take a close look at it before drafting your own circle skirt!

I used Jalie Loulouxe skirt with inbuilt shorts (with a pocket!!) for the purple set. I think this will be really cute for pickleball, though I’ll make the pocket wider next time so the ball will fit easier.

Finally, I used Jalie Clara high-rise leggings with the olive-green fabric. I had made these once before and found them too low, but upon reflecting, decided I’d used the wrong type of fabric. You need at least 60% stretch each direction for these, and the Beyond Yoga fabric was perfect for them. I love the height of these ones, but I found the back waist to gape just a little bit. I’ve made a note to take a triangle out of the waistband next time to account for my swayback.

Overall, I LOVE all these creations and will be keeping my eyes open for more of these performance fabrics from Fabric Mart in the future! Happy sewing, friends!

NATASHA | @auschicksews

Unfortunately Fabric Mart Fabrics sell out quickly!
You can find similar items by shopping the following categories: ACTIVEWEAR & BEYOND YOGA.

Made By A Fabricista: Liberty Snow Day

Hi everyone! While we’ve been blanketed with snow out here in Southeastern PA, I decided to conquer my fear of button holes and make NewLook pattern N6749. I was able to snag a few yards of the Jess + Jean print Liberty of London Tana Lawn for it. It’s always exciting when Fabric Mart is able to get Liberty fabrics in! I always make sure to grab some. Cutting into a beautiful piece of tana lawn is scary every time. The fabric is such good quality, I’m afraid to mess it up! I had to be extra careful as this is also the first directional pattern I’ve worked with. But one of my assistants made sure all of my pieces were laid correctly. Something I wanted to try out with this dress was finishing the inside seams using the overlock stitch on my domestic machine. Normally I would french seam, but it was nice to not have to worry about cutting seam allowance in half, sewing, trimming, flipping, and sewing again. Next time I would cut the seam allowance back before overlocking, but I thin...

Made By A Fabricista: Ghostly School Uniform

When Fabric Mart asked me what fabric I wanted for my first project I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to make, Nene Yashiro from Toilet Bound Hanako kun (a weird but cute anime) but as cute as the design was, I knew I'd need to adjust the colors to a slightly warmer tones to better suit my complexion and undertones. For the main dress I was so happy to find an off white cotton/Lycra stretch twill that was opaque enough to not need a lining and stretched enough that I could continue avoiding my nemesis; zippers. I wanted to try out having a seamless center front panel, so I modified one of my existing go-to bodice patterns, and after figuring out what length I wanted for the skirt, was able to have the center front panel incorporated into the center front panel of the skirt. I then had the rest of the bodice as their normal waist length so that I could add an additional panel to the skirt to be able to have enough width to have volume and gather it down evenly around my waist. The hem h...

Made By A Fabricista: Embracing Winter in Wool Boucle

As winter drags on, the cold weather is such a bummer to me and feeling uncomfortable and cold so often is rough. Meanwhile, I listened to a podcast all about how people in very northern countries deal better with the onset of dark, freezing winter with a radically different mindset of embracing the inevitable season by reframing the chill as refreshing and the opportunity to spend most time indoors as cozy. I can do that! I found a gorgeous, quintessential wool boucle suiting in black and white to make myself a luxurious outer layer while I’m outside attempting to embrace the sting of dry winter air… It’s kind of working. So classic, so chic! Wearing boucle is always an uptown move and I certainly do feel sophisticated in it. This black and white houndstooth combination feels especially Old Hollywood, and what a treat to make something with this! I sewed the Daphne Jacket from Vivian Shao Chen. There are no closures, and the shape is boxy and very easy to wear over multipl...

Fabric Mart Fabricistas

Search This Blog