Let me start this post off by saying that yes, I am 33, and yes, I still want to play dress-up. But running around town in a full-on princess dress just doesn’t cut it in “civilized” society unless you’re under the age of 6.

Not fair!

But thankfully, sewing has given me the freedom to still throw in some fun (some may say childish) ideas when I make clothes for myself.

I started taking yoga classes last summer in my move to get more active but not overdo it and hurt myself. I recently began supplementing my gym classes with free online yoga. I. Am. Hooked.

Yoga has given me more strength, more peace of mind, and less joint pain. I try to do some yoga if not every day, then at least every other day. And with all this yoga comes a need for cute yoga outfits!

I decided I needed a cosplay-like yoga outfit once I laid my eyes on this mermaid scale nylon lycra and this purple holographic nylon lycra on Cali Fabrics. A Little Mermaid inspired outfit would totally up my yoga game!

I have to say I feel pretty special in my new yoga wear! So much so that I’m throwing out pictures of my midriff for the world to see (yikes!).

I used Sewaholic Patterns for the whole ensemble. The leggings are the Pacific Leggings and it’s a tried and true pattern for me after I made my exer-fries outfit. The bra is the Dunbar Top and this is my first time sewing this pattern.

Let’s talk about the leggings first! This is a great pattern for those of us who are… ahem… rounder in the bottom area. It provides good coverage while being very comfortable. I cut a straight size 10 for this but instead of the 5/8 inch seam allowance, I went with 3/8 inch. I found I’m somewhere in between the 10 and 12, so this pretty much did the trick. For the elastic in the top of the waistband, I cut about 29.5 inches with a 1/2 inch overlap, which is slightly smaller than the size 10 recommendation. I find the tighter waistband keeps things in place!

This was my first time making the full-length version and I needed to cut an inch or so off of the hem. I’m almost 5’8″ and I know Sewaholic drafts for someone who is about 5’5″ (give or take), so I’m curious why there is extra length.

As far as the fabric goes, this is a really great mid-weight (I’d almost say close to heavy weight) spandex fabric that is super easy to sew! Because the fabric is kind of on the thick side, these leggings will be great for the winter months. It’s strong as heck and I can imagine it being a wonderful fabric to make a one-piece swimsuit. It would be great for keeping those curves in check and I can imagine how flattering it would look. You know I’m already contemplating a TLM themed bathing suit from the scraps! 😉

OK onto the bra!

This wasn’t as successful as the leggings, sadly. The fit is a little off and I don’t feel 100% supported. It feels as though I could pop out of the bottom at any moment. I made a size 10 which fits my measurements but there needs to be some tweaking on the next make.

Looking at these photos, it seems like the back yoke is too short and is making the bra ride up too far, which explains my predicament. Mental note: next time, add an inch or so to the yoke and maybe everything will work! The good news is this isn’t a total bust and I can still wear it for yoga and/or costuming.

The purple holograph fabric feels similar to the mermaid scale fabric, so it’s also on the medium/thick side, which is great for support (if you make the right sized bra, of course!)

The thing I do love about the Dunbar Top is how professional it looks, even on the inside! There are little pockets where you can add foam bra inserts (you can see mine hanging out in there).

The pattern also calls for power mesh, which you can see on the band here. This was a random Cali Fabrics purchase from a few months ago and is another easy-to-sew fabric! The nude spandex on top is from another online store and at the time I ordered it, I thought it was power mesh… I was super wrong but I’m glad I could use it for this project to allude to the clam-shell bra effect.

Making the bra was easy overall and I didn’t need to use my serger once! Don’t get me wrong, I love my serger but I have black thread in it currently for other projects and I was dreading getting to a point in the Dunbar instructions where I needed to switch to the serger (and therefore needing to change the thread color) but I opted for machine stitching on the one part they suggest a serger! You can serge all of the layers together at the bottom of the bra, but I figured it would look neat enough as is… I think it came out OK!

Now time for celebratory yoga poses!

I am super excited I am now able to do tree pose with my foot as high as my thigh! I have issues with my hips and never thought I would be flexible enough to manage this pose, but here I am! 🙂 It’s really amazing what yoga can do for your body.

Every time I do upward-facing dog, I think of Ariel singing on the rock in TLM movie… so I’m renaming this pose the mermaid!

If you’re wondering if I’ll really wear this getup at the gym, you bet I am! However, I am not brave enough to show this much skin at the gym (but internet is OK? LOL), so I’ll wear it with my TLM tank to cover up!

I think this set will up my yoga game and make me feel happy when I’m working out. I’m also hoping it brings a little happiness/silliness to others as my exer-fries outfit sometimes does. 😉

Another thing that makes this set kick-butt is it will double as my Halloween costume! All I really need to do is get some tulle and elastic and configure something for my calves to make my “fins.” Oh, and I guess I’ll need to purchase a red wig, too. 😉

So, what do you think? Why settle for boring basic colors at the gym when you can be a MERMAID?

Namaste, y’all, and keep on swimming!

-RED

You can follow more of Rachel’s adventures in sewing, cat wrangling, and mermaid-ing at sewredy.wordpress.com!