I’m back to chat about the other half of my second activewear outfit – the Essential Tank from Patterns for Pirates. Did you catch my post about the Peg Legs yesterday? If not, click here to read it!
The Pattern and the Tank
I decided this week to go a little non-workout specific tank and when I was picking up the Peg Legs the Essential Tank reminded me a lot of my Lululemon workout tanks crossed with my favorite Pure Barre Tanks. I always love when a pattern gives you lots of options. The Essential Tank has options for a straight/full back straps, racerback straps, shirt length hemmed or banded, tunic length hemmed or banded, curved tunic length, above knee dress length and maxi length with back or front slit options – so many!
Similar to the other Patterns for Pirates patterns, it’s super easy to put together due to its no trim pages and print guide to only print the pages you need.
I chose to sew up the racerback curved hem tank. I was a little weary of the curved hem because the sample on the pattern cover was a little wavy, and unfortunately mine turned out the same way. I think the tank is a bit too long so the curved hem comes off my backside and is then wavy (or something – it doesn’t look the best). I think in a future version I would shorten it and maybe just do a straight hem to avoid this issue.
The pattern also calls for knit binding but this fabric was super slippery and didn’t want to cooperate. So I opted for bands. I’d like to do a future version with knit binding but I really like how the bands worked out.
I sewed up a size medium which is in line with my measurements – I love how it fit in the end. I don’t like my workout tanks to be tight (mainly because in Pure Barre you have to stare at yourself in the mirror the whole time and too tight = not a good look!)
My favorite part of the pattern? The bra coverage! You can’t see my sports bra at all – major win! I can totally see this becoming my go to tank pattern.
The Fabric
I used some circular knit from Phee Fabrics (based on the recommendation from Sarah from her Fit Capsule Post. This fabric is perfect for athletic wear. I ordered it in a couple colors so expect to see more of it!
I wore this tank to my 100th Pure Barre Class today (wahoo!) which was an Empower class (Pure Barre’s cardio based class) and loved how sweat wicking and comfortable it was all class! It was so lightweight, easy to wear. I’ve said this before, but I think fabric is 99% of the activewear battle, and this is a good one!
This is the fifth post in my series on sewing activewear. For the intro post click here, for my review of the Avery Leggings click here, for my review of the tie back tank click here, and for my review of the Peg Legs click here.
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I’m loving your activewear series. I wonder how many of us are going through the same thing-looking for good fitting comfortable active wear, finding decent material, making sure the leggings waistband doesn’t roll down halfway through the class so you have to keep yanking it up and so on. You’re doing all the hard work for me so thank you!!