Staying fit during lockdown — I’m sure anyone would agree — is so important and a massive challenge. I’m very grateful that in the fall of 2019, my husband’s mother (who is in her 80s) introduced me to Leslie Sansone videos on YouTube. I really loved Leslie’s videos and, by the end of the year, I was a subscriber to her Walk at Home app, which I’ve done practically every day for a year now.

As you can imagine, I struggle to maintain the same enthusiasm for my exercise routine. No fault of Leslie — who provides monthly re-edits of the workouts. The trick I’ve found to get excited about it again is to inject something new. The Cass t-shirt — a new, free pattern from Sie Macht — is just the something new I needed!

I just love the rolled-forward sleeve detail on this pattern. Like Leslie Sansone would say, “It’s that little trick that makes the difference” (of course, she means HIIT training). The pattern has a “B” and a “D” size range and covers a 31″ bust to a 66″ bust. I made the 10/12 B range. The tee has no negative ease so allowed me a full range of band-stretching and hand-clapping during my workouts.

The pattern pieces are in a downloadable PDF and the instructions are contained in a Sie macht blog post. I like to keep all of my patterns and instructions together in Dropbox, so I just copy/pasted the instructions into a Word doc and put that in same Dropbox folder as the pattern.

The only fit issue I had was under the arms. The pattern directs you to hem the sleeves before sewing the side seams — which makes things easier because you’re not fitting a tiny circle under the machine. But then I wasn’t sure if I should sew these seams together when I sewed the side seam. I did sew them together and it turned out to be a little too tight under the arms. So I just ripped it back and sewed a little lower.

A neckband pattern piece is not provided, which I think is fine. I was able to easily draft one from the measurements provided in the instructions. A quilting ruler makes this especially simple, as you can just lay it on the fabric and draw around.

I used polyester performance fabric, which had a lot of two-way stretch. My neckband turned out a little long. If you’re making the 10/12 size with a very stretchy fabric, you might try a 21″ or 20-1/2″ neckband to make it extra snappy around the neck.

Overall, I’m excited to have a bright, new workout uniform. It will definitely motivate me to do at least one more month of at-home workouts! -rp