Getting my active on - McCalls 7026 jacket and Vogue 1378 leggings

I am not what you would describe as sporty. In fact, the only time I run is away from anything sport related. I am quite active though. I walk every day and can be found hip hop dancing at the local school hall once a week.

I decided I needed some new, fancy activewear for the abovementioned activities.

In the interests of looking the part for these pictures, I grabbed this stick thing that was lying in the garden. I use it to poke the shade sail so the water doesn't pool in it when it rains. How do you hit a ball with this thing anyway?

Let's ditch the stick, move into more interesting territory and talk sewing. I have had this McCalls 7026 jacket pattern for quite a while. Ever since I saw a gorgeous version by JStarr4250 on Pattern Review. After reading all the reviews of this pattern, it seemed that the jacket was quite short and that the side seam pockets were awkward. I decided to alter my pattern to change these aspects.

I used the longer back length of View C and lengthened the jacket pieces all the way around so the hem was just slightly (maybe 5cm) higher at the front that the back. For the pockets I traced the bottom section of my lengthened side front piece and drew a curve for the top of the pocket. Once cut out I edged it with ribbing and sewed it as one with the side front piece. I was really pleased with these pockets.

You've probably noticed by now that there are several fabrics used in this jacket. I started off with the thick, plain, black lycra (left over from the leggings) and a remnant of mesh with a velvet pattern from a Potter Textiles remnant bag. These two fabrics turned out not to be enough for the jacket, so I searched around and found a textured stretch woven fabric for the pockets, cuffs and upper back and some other black fabric for the sleeves and to use as backing for the mesh.

I used the mesh for the front and back jacket panels and got a bit fancy with some Quilt Basting Spray to hold it to the backing fabric. I then got even more fancy with some Washaway Wonder Tape to get the pattern matching as best as I could at the back seam and front zip.

I am over the moon with this jacket. I love all the different fabrics that give some subtle interest. Next time I might make it a smidge longer at the back. Here I am wearing it all zipped up with the cuffs folded down.

The leggings are made with Vogue 1378. I have made this pattern three times now but never blogged it. The pattern has several panels that are overlapped at the edges and sewn to leave a raw edge. This time I decided to branch out and experiment with my coverstitch machine to see if I could get a ready-to-wear (RTW) seam finish.

For the overlapping seams I first sewed them on the right side with a wide zig zag in white thread, as a guide to be removed later. Then I could turn the fabric over and see where to coverstitch to get the stitches right over the raw edge. This probably makes no sense, so just ignore it. Anyway, I did get kind of the effect I wanted. I ended up doing two passes of coverstitching so it was more obvious. For the detailing near the hems, I used the other side of the coverstitch to get some straight stitched lines.

I bought the wrong size of this pattern and could really do with going a size smaller. Other than that, it's a practical and interesting pattern that could be made with different seam finishes, as I've done, or with colour blocked fabrics. I'd like to try a contrasting thread colour next time.

I love those cosy glove-cuffs!