Kinetic Tee by Fehrtrade

Melissa Fehr has been well-known in home sewing terms for a few years now because she specialises in clever and well thought out activewear. She worked as a technical advisor on the fourth series of the Great British Sewing Bee too. You can hear her talking about this and other parts of her life on an episode of the Stitchers Brew podcast. Early last year she published her first book “Sew Your Own Activewear” which features a whole range of sports garments which can be adapted and mixed up to suit your own taste and requirements. As if that it isn’t enough, in the autumn she released this pattern, the Kinetic Tee, in November. It’s a roomy top with interesting asymmetric seam and shoulder details and it’s a PDF so available any time you choose.

Whilst the Kinetic is intended as a workout top and sport fabrics are suggested, I’d got some lovely stable wool jersey in my stash which I knew would look great too.

Because it’s a simple (ish) top the PDF doesn’t have a horrendous number of pages so it’s fairly quick to stick together. I cut a size Medium which has just the right amount amount of roominess (I’m a UK 12-14 usually) I decided on the twisted sleeve version too because it looked interesting.

Part of the beauty of this pattern is, because of all the seams, it could be a great scrap-busting top, or you could create unique effects with patterned fabrics.

My fabric was plain so it didn’t take long to cut out, be very aware that you need to cut the two upper neck sections on single layers from spaces left between other pieces because the front and back are different. The instructions and illustrations do show this and draw your attention to it but double check before you cut anything-“measure twice, cut once!”

Melissa gives full instructions for sewing the Kinetic with either an overlocker or a regular sewing machine so don’t be put off if you don’t have an overlocker, or a cover-stitch machine either. A ballpoint needle and possibly a twin needle to finish the hem and sleeves would be sufficient.

I sewed the Kinetic with a mixture of overlocker and regular machine and it went together very well, notches and seams match and the illustrations are very clear.

The only area I had any difficulty with was adding the binding to the edges of the slit openings on the shoulders. The method is good (because Melissa has been doing these patterns longer than me so she knows what works well for her!) but I think maybe the jersey I used was a bit too firm so hadn’t got as much stretch which meant I had trouble getting the strips to fit and sit nicely on the inside, it’s quite fiddly so give yourself time. They actually look perfectly acceptable from the right side which is what matters more, I just like things to be nice on the inside too.

This aside the rest of the pattern went together pretty quickly given the number of seams and I’m really happy with the result. I’m going to rummage to see what I can do in the way of scraps-busting, if fact I’ve made one of Melissa’s VNA workout tops using 3 corporate T-shirts in technical fabric that my daughter had no further use for. It had additional seams which weren’t part of the already seam-y design but it was a good test garment before I use my ‘good’ fabric to make a ‘proper’ one (which I still haven’t as Christmas overtook everything)

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finished! not a great photo though…

finished neckline, I didn’t top stitch the neckband down as it’s sitting nice and flat without it.

The points look tricky but because of the order of construction they aren’t difficult at all.

similar seams on the back.

You can see the twisted sleeve seams more here, there’s a regular straight sleeve option if you prefer that, or short sleeves.

The length on the Kinetic is probably at about your high hip which is fine for workout wear although you might feel it’s a little short for regular clothing, it’s a personal thing probably. It would be easy enough to add some length to the hem, that might alter the proportions a little but that isn’t much of an issue. You could sew up the shoulder openings if you don’t want them, or wear a top underneath-I’ve discovered that one bra strap shows which isn’t an issue if you’re exercising and might be considered coquettish if you’ve got a nice bra on, not so much if it’s a tatty old thing!

Melissa writes a comprehensive blog about each of her patterns, plus her running exploits so head on over to find out more about the woman herself.

Ok, I’m off for a run around the block now so until next time,

Happy sewing

Sue