New Pattern Release: Sinclair Gaia Tank

Pattern Stats: Gaia Knit Tank

Pattern designer: Sinclair Patterns 

Pattern level: 5/10

Time start to finish: 2.5 hours

Suggested fabrics: CL, ITY, DBP, athletic

My fabric: floral in ITY with CL binding, blue in athletic

Price: $6.99 through Sunday August 4th then $8.99

My family has recently gotten into biking which we've found is a great way to enjoy the outdoors (and wear our kids out). We've been having a great time exploring different areas of Oregon to ride around and loving the different scenery we've found along the way. I've been using my Peloton indoor cycling bike too for the past few months. With getting into all kinds of cycling, I have made indoor cycling clothes but realized I have a gap for cycling clothes for outdoors. Basically the difference is that I wear only a sports bra and shorts for inside and feel I need a bit more coverage for outdoors. The new Sinclair Patterns Gaia knit tank is exactly what I was missing!

The Gaia is fitted across the bust and looser at the waist and hips. The best part is the fun back! It features a keyhole and crossed strap back finished with binding. It can be made for a sporty look in athletic or everyday look with DBP, Cotton Lycra or even ITY.

The bottom of the tank has several options for finishing. You first get the choice of a back slit or closed back seam. The back slit can be left open or tied. I love the flexibility of that so I can have a loose look or tied for more of a fitted look. 

You can also choose to have a fully sewn back seam and then finish the slight curved hem with topstitching or a bottom band. Since these tops will be used for athletic use, I opted for the bottom band so it would stay in place. Similarly, when the back slit option is tied, I found little movement from the top.

I loved that this tank really doesn't take much fabric. I was easily able to get it from a yard cut. The floral ITY was actually an oddly shaped scrap piece that I was able to utilize. The back seam really helps with saving fabric. 

I did have a few struggles with the Gaia. The first was the binding. I'm not super awesome at binding which you've seen me comment about recently. I'm improving but it seems to correspond to my patience level at that particular moment. I made the blue athletic version first and found my coverstitch wasn't a fan of this fabric. I got it to work with some finagaling but it added quite a bit of time to the construction process. With the blue Gaia, I followed the directions for the binding method by placing the right side of the binding strip to the wrong side of the garment. Then I serged it on and double fold wrapped it to the front of the garment. I had a spot that my binding didn't catch and since my coverstitch was sliding around a bit, I didn't feel like it was my best work. 

For my ITY/CL version, I opted to do the opposite binding construction. With this way, I put the binding piece and bodice right sides together, serged and then folded the binding to the back of the garment. This method has a cleaner front but come with the challenge that you can't see the backside of the binding to make sure it's catching when you sew. I did have several sections I had to seam rip and fix due to that. I also chose to use my regular sewing machine with a 3 length straight stitch for this binding. I found it was much more consistent and easier to use (but that could have been since it was a CL binding too). I found I had an edge stitch foot that helped create an even binding topstitching too. 

Another thing to note about Gaia is that the fabric choice makes a HUGE difference in fit and sewing. The difference between my blue 4-way stretch brushed athletic version and the ITY with CL bands is very noticeable. The blue athletic one is looser at the bust and has more pull lines. Some testers tried rayon spandex or drapier fabrics and opted to size down at least the bust. If you choose to make Gaia in a fabric such as Cotton Lycra, keep in mind you won't have as much drape and will get a more fitted look. 

The fabrics I used for this Gaia is the blue touch athletic from Mily Mae Fabrics. It has 4 way stretch with a brushed underside and silky soft main side. It's still cool to wear for athletic indoor or outdoor. This fabric was just marked down as part of a summer clearance and is currently available for only $4.25 a yard. 

This fabric was a scrap from a dress I made last year. The fabric is the Tahitian Maui ITY from Surge Fabrics paired with more of that black Cotton Lycra I purchased in bulk from Knitpop. I really like the weight and feel of this ITY. It's available in a couple of other color ways too. To get 10% off a Surge Fabrics order, follow this link. 

The Gaia is available for $6.99 through Sunday August 4th, 2019 as part of it's new release pricing. After that, it will be offered at the price of $8.99. 

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