Basic Woven Pullover Top

I have been so thrilled with my TNT t-shirt draft that I've been wanting the same for a woven pullover top.  I have made many Simplicity 2938 tank tops, but (1) a recent attempt to add sleeves to the pattern was a disaster, and (2) I don't always want the front pleat detail or the front princess seams to break up a print.

 I started with Burda 12-2007-123 and got it about 85% of the way there last year when I was attempting to duplicate the DVF Grandie Top.  As warm weather approaches (I hope?  pretty please?), my thoughts turned again to a basic pullover woven tank so I pulled out my pattern and brought it over the finish line...or at least to 95%.  I went to ScrapDC to find a muslin fabric and found this perfect piece!  I think I need to shorten it a teeny bit between the shoulder and bust in the front and the hem is difficult, as explained below.

In the closeup photo it looks like the hips are winging out (the dreaded Mickey Mouse Hips where they stick out like round ears), but I think it's just the camera angle.  You can see in the full-length shots that the hips have an appropriate but not excessive amount of ease.  In the fitting process, I narrowed them as much as possible.  If I take out more than a smidge of width they will be too tight and the top will ride up.  I could also make them less obvious by adding to the waist, thus reducing the curve.  But the point of this top is that I want to be able to wear it without a belt, so I don't want to give up the waist definition.



I will most likely make this pattern sleeveless most of the time, but I wanted to make sure it could accommodate sleeves as well.  For this piece, I thought I would baste the sleeves in to confirm they worked and then take them off and have it as a tank.

But I actually liked the way the sleeves looked so I kept them.  I didn't have much length for a hem allowance, so I did a narrow hand hem on the sleeves.










For the lower hem I used a machine blind stitch.

I found the lower hem the most difficult part of the whole top!  The long back darts meant that the lower edge was too wide to be folded up.  I had to put mirror darts into the hem allowance before I could get the hem to sit smoothly.  I would like to figure out a way to make the hem easier on later editions.  I might need to use a hem facing.



I finished the neckline with vintage(?) bias tape from Scrap.  The tape was folded so that one edge is longer than the other.  Maybe all commercial bias tape is still done like that--I haven't bought bias tape in forever because I make my own.






Because of the fold, I could sew with confidence right at the edge of the shorter side, knowing the longer side underneath the garment would catch.

I used my blind hem foot and clicked the needle to the right.  I ran the shield thingy (don't know the actual name of the metal part) along the fold, and had the needle to the right of the shield to catch the tape.








I would normally do a double-fold bias tape finish in a two-step process, but with the fold of this I was able to stitch it in one.
 







I suspect this fabric is a home dec; it's a rather stiff cotton that had a satiny finish on it.  The pre-wash took out a little of the stiffness and the finish.

Anyway, it was an oddly shaped remnant, and only the front or the back could be sewn with the paisley in a symmetric pattern.

With the symmetry in the front, it was very "Behold my sacred heart and my exploding spleen!"  From the back, it is more, "Observe the elegant architecture of my spine."  So I went with placing the symmetry in the back.

One thing I realized when making this and deciding on the length is that skirts and jeans call for different lengths.  I wear skirts at natural waist, but even my relatively high-waisted jeans are well below natural waist.  On the pattern I marked a hem 1 1/2 inches shorter for tops to be worn with jeans.

Now I'm eager to find ways to chop up and reassemble the pattern!  Any suggestions for tops that start with a woven pullover base?

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

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Source: lyst.com via Trena on Pinterest

The skirt is Burda 01-2008-127, which I made three years ago in a green silk.  I'd always meant to come back to the pattern, and this Halogen Seamed Pencil Skirt ($69 at Nordstrom)--a favorite of Corporette readers--reminded me.









I re-used the petersham waistband of the fail skirt that ended up with my niece.  I wasn't sure whether it would be uncomfortable to put a non-stretch waist treatment on a stretch skirt, but it wears well.

I wish I'd thought to stitch the petersham to the wrong side of the skirt rather than the right side of the skirt before folding it down and topstitching.  The seam allowance of the ponte makes a noticeable ridge in wearing.  If the seam allowance was hanging over the petersham, rather than underneath, it wouldn't show.






In the past, I've always made ponte skirts as a simple two-piecer with an elastic waist.  I realized with the last one that I really needed to add back darts.  With that much work, it's better just to make them real skirts rather than elastic waist.  I don't mind putting in zippers.  It's a flattering skirt in a nice shape, though there is a little bit of tummy-danger-zone arrow-pointing depending on how recently I've eaten.

I have a couple of ponte pencil skirts planned--unlike woven pencil skirts, they are fairly bikeable--so I took the time to perfect the pattern and it's on my TNT bulletin board. Although now I'm wondering if there's a way to eliminate the side seam....

Variations on a Tee # 5: Lace Tee with Contrast Shoulder

Source: shop.nordstrom.com via Trena on Pinterest

I found this stretch lace on the $2.97/yd table at G Street Fabrics a while back and had been puzzling over what to make it into.  With lace being in style right now I wanted to make it up fairly quickly, but the somewhat blah color and the fact that it would either have to be lined or worn with a camisole was cramping my creativity.

Enter Burda 09-2012-123  with its contrast shoulder and the fact that I had this silk charmeuse in an exactly matching color and voila!  Perfect long top to go with my jeggings.  I got this made in my pre-vacation sewing.  The photos were taken on Mt. Penha in Guimaraes, Portugal.

The contrast shoulder is a nice way to dress up a plain tee, as in this Classiques Entier® 'Pezza' Leather Trim Ponte Top, $168.





I used the Burda pattern as a guide to mark the contrast shoulder on my TNT tee pattern.  I pinned the front and back pattern together along the stitching line at the shoulder, and then drafted the shoulder inset as a single piece.







To cut the body of the tee shirt, I just folded down at my marking and added seam allowance.













I wanted to make the tee long to be worn with the jeggings, but I liked the idea of an adjustable length with ruched sides, rather than just gathering the side seam and permanently fixing the length. I cut a rectangle of fabric the length I wanted, and 2 1/2 inches wide. I marked down the center of the fabric, as this line would be stitched for a channel. I started by sewing the marked center channel line down, starting from about 1 inch from the top and folding under the seam allowance at the bottom.






Then I turned under the seam allowances on the top and the long sides and stitched down the long sides. Be sure to leave the top open at this point so you can put in your drawstring! Once the drawstring is in, stitch along the top, being careful not to catch the drawstring.












The Burda is drafted with a keyhole neckline and tie in the back. Since my TNT pattern has a center back seam anyway, I decided to keep that detail. I started by finishing the keyhole, then moving on to the neckline.


I made bias tape from my contrast silk charmeuse and first sewed it to the inside of the neckline, right side of the bias tape against wrong side of the fabric. The bias tape extended at the end to form the tie.




Then I folded the bias tape over to the right side, pinned, and stitched. I did a *ton* of pressing on the neckline and it still doesn't sit quite right. Maybe I didn't cut my strip exactly on the bias? Regardless, it's something that I think only I will notice.












The back keyhole is a nice little touch, and helps bring the contrast silk more into the tee.



To add a little more interest to this top, I used the sleeve from Butterick 5562, the short sleeve from View A, which is much nicer than the similar but not identical long sleeve from View B.

This was a fun use of my stretch lace, and I thought it made a nice travel piece.  It is cute and trendy, and--most important--doesn't look like work clothes!  If I find the right combination of fabrics I can definitely see making another of these contrast shoulder tees, though probably without the keyhole and the fancy sleeve.

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

Simplicity 4047, 1950s Blouse plus Another Tweed Ride Hat

Source: lwrenscott.com via Trena on Pinterest

I first made this pattern in 2007 and always planned to return to it.  It's a gorgeous style, and unusual.

The neckline with little cut-on collar is remarkably similar to this insanely beautiful L'Wren Scott (a more brightly-lit runway shot shows two rows of decorative buttons down the front--for which I do not care--and princess seams).  One thing I really like about the Simplicity neckline is that the centers have an inward curve.  Very graceful.


When I pulled out the pattern pieces, I was first struck cut this out along the smallest size line.  When my mom taught me to sew, she made me cut out the pattern along the largest size line, pin it to the tissue at the desired size, and then cut underneath the tissue at the desired size.  I truly HATED this.  Cutting is hard enough, but cutting underneath the tissue at the precisely the right spot was just horrible.  So when I started buying my own patterns, I just cut them out at the right size.

Well, then came the day when I realized I likely wouldn't be the same size forever, and that perhaps it might make sense to preserve the larger sizes.  Don't you hate it when your mom is right?  Anyway, I just added random increments of width at the waist and hip.

The other thing was that about 1 1/2 inches of length had been folded out of the upper bodice front and back.  It seemed odd, as I usually don't have to shorten above the waist due to my long torso (yes, my legs really are that short; you should see me running), but I figured I must have had a reason.  1 1/2 inches seemed way too much so I reduced it to 1 inch and went on my merry way.

Why, self of 2007?  Why did you screw me like that?  If anything, this could stand to have 1/2 inch of *additional* length.  So I got this put together and the upper bodice was ridiculously short.  The waist line is supposed to hit approximately at natural waist, and this was practically an Empire line.  Why, I ask again, why?

Ugh.  I found a piece of scrap large enough to cut out a waist insert 2 1/2 inches wide (including seam allowances).  In the end, the waist insert is a nice design feature, but it was way more trouble than it ought to have been.






The key to the neckline is clipping all the way to the stitching at the corner, and trimming the seam allowance at the center.  I am pretty happy with the sharpness.  The corners are good and fairly sharp.  The only issue is there is still a tiny bit of wrinkling underneath the corners.










One thing I did remember from making this the first time is that I desperately needed a broad back adjustment.  The first version of this was from a shreddy dupioni, and the fabric disintegrated at the darts the first time I wore it because I didn't have enough movement across the back.  I did not know what I needed then, but luckily through the magic of the internet I now know how to fix the problem.  I now have plenty of movement at the expense of a fairly unsightly back view where the excess ease sits when I lower my arms; I consider this a worthwhile trade.







Another thing I remembered was that the facings were horrible.  This really must be lined.  I lined only the upper bodice, and stitched the lining to the seam allowance at the waistline by hand.








To make sure that the neckline would be crisp, I used the facing pieces to interface the edges of lining.  I should not have interfaced the sleeve edge, as it is a little too stiff and the various seam allowances show through a bit.  However, it worked well for the neckline.  I stitched the edges of the interfacing down, so that if the glue unadheres the interfacing won't flap around inside.

















To get a nice turn of cloth at the armscye, I pinned the lining 1/8" beyond the fashion fabric when I was sewing them.  When the lining was turned to the inside, that pulled the fashion fabric in so there is no chance of the lining showing.

This blouse falls toward the back at the shoulders, which is not a common problem for me.  I have to shrug it up toward the front to get the shoulder seam to run along the shoulder ridge before I can move my arms.  Is this a function of the dolman sleeve?  If I were to consider fixing this in the pattern, would I just move some fabric to the front from the back, or would I affirmatively add more to the front?  Wisdom and suggestions appreciated.  I think I would like to draft this into a regular armscye so I could make a sleeved top or dress from the pattern.



The skirt I'm wearing it with had a really dated handkerchief hem.  This was during the PR Refashion contest and the fabric is a really lovely silk (purchased at H&M if you can believe, about 7 or 8 years ago).  I was thinking of making it into a tank.  It was going to be tricky because the skirt is bias cut.  But then I realized it would be much easier (and likely more successful) to just change the ugly hemline.  Ta da!  New skirt.

I bought this blush silk crepe many years ago, I don't remember exactly from where (FFC?) and how much I paid.  I let it lie fallow for many years because I thought I couldn't wear this color--too close to my skin tone.  However, I suddenly decided that it was the perfect color for me and I had to make the blouse immediately.  I don't know why.  I do like the color; it works a lot better for me than I thought it would.

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.












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This was my costume change for the Tweed Ride.  I also wore my Nana's fur collar coat, which I'd never worn.  Even though I had nothing to do with the fur, I just can't bring myself to wear it.  It is a beautiful coat, though, and it fits me so well!




















The main point of the costume change was to wear the other hat I made!  This one I blocked from a length of wool felt.  As sewists, we know how awesome it is to go from a flat piece of fabric to a 3D garment.  It was very cool to do this in a new way.



I gleaned most of my information from this video, and then just sort of made up the rest.  I cut off three of the square edges and used the fourth one to fold into a kind of origami back piece, accented with a faux bow.









Here it is after I spent a lot of time stretching the felt around the head form to give it a conical shape, and then the initial blocking.  I was just making up the shape as I went along.









I hand stitched the wire in place to help it keep its shape (felt stiffener is really what ensures it stays in shape).

Because I don't have a hat form suitable for blocking, I just had to use my head form.  The edge is pretty ugly--not at all smooth--because I couldn't stretch the wool underneath a block.  I didn't have any matching ribbon to wrap around the edge and cover the ugliness.

But I really don't care--I am over the moon about this hat!



I've wanted a hat with netting my whole life , for some reason, and this one was well-suited to it.  I don't know how you're actually supposed to attach netting, but I did it with tiny hand stitches anchoring it in place, as demonstrated in the photo.  You can see completed stitches here.

Millinery photos are here, along with some closeups of the houndstooth hat.

Burda 7519, Woven Cowl Pullover Top with Carapace Sleeves

I feel that sleeve variations are one of the more underused ways to make a garment special.  I get really sick of making plain, boring sleeves on everything.  When I found this top a couple years ago, I was really intrigued by the sleeves.  They probably have a boring name like "draped sleeves," but to me they look like beetle wings that appear solid until the insect goes to fly when it appears that its whole body splits open.  These sleeves appear solid on the upper side, but when you lift your arms you see they are split to the armscye.  So I call them carapace sleeves.


Anyway, I had no idea how they might be done, so when I saw Burda 7519 with that style of sleeve I was thrilled and picked it up.  I plan to make a copper-colored silk dress with this pattern, but I wanted to test it out before sewing the dress.  The silk fabric for this top was purchased from Fabric Mart many years ago, at least 4 years ago and possibly even 5.  The $9.99/yd sticker was still on it; I'm sure it was the most expensive fabric I'd ever bought at the time!



Although I loved it, something kept me from finding the right project for this fabric.  Finally I realized the problem was that I loved the main motif, and I loved the border, but the fabric is sort of a "double" border print with the narrow geometric border, then a wide band of beige silk with flowers, and then another narrow geometric border.  I just didn't like the flowers at all or their expanse of beige, but somehow I felt that I should reconcile myself to them. After so many years, I acknowledged that I would never like the flowers and it would not be sacrilege to wantonly waste that part of the fabric.  Yes, I do have issues.

Anyway, I think this is one of those rare projects where the fabric for the wearable muslin is more expensive than the fabric meant for the final version!




I was testing out several things with this iteration:  fit, of course, though I didn't expect it to be an issue as it's an unfitted style; the sleeves; the depth of the cowl; and most crucially, whether the front really has to be cut on the bias.  This directional border print really couldn't be cut on the bias, but since it's a flowing silk and the bias isn't needed for fit, as it might be in a narrower-cut garment, I decided to just go ahead and cut on straight grain (the cotton batiste front lining was cut on the bias).



I took a lot of care with pattern matching for this project, and the matches are pretty much spot on (I'm not going to pretend it's perfect, of course!).  I pinned at each black line and used the walking foot to ensure even feed of the top and bottom fabric.





The other thing I changed for this version was to line it.

To cut the front lining, I folded down the self-facing on the pattern and traced where it ended.  In cutting the fashion fabric, I added a 1/4 inch seam allowance at the top of the self-facing, and in cutting the lining I added a 1/4 seam allowance above the marked line.  I stitched the two pieces together using the serger and pressed well.  This creates a neat finish on the inside, and by keeping the front self-facing intact there is no chance of the lining showing at the cowl.  When I make the intended dress, which doesn't need to be lined, I will extend the front self facing the entire width of the shoulder and down into the armscye a bit.

I wasn't overly impressed with the construction order and method for this project, so I used my own preferred method for cowl necks.



First, I finished the back neckline by sewing the fashion fabric and back lining right sides together at the neckline, using the serger to trim off the seam allowance, and flipping and pressing.  (Well, before that I sewed the CB seam, which I had added to allow for swayback shaping.








Next, sandwich the back shoulder with the front and its self-facing/lining.  The fold line goes at the neckline/inner edge of the back shoulder.  Stitch, finish the seam allowances, and turn.  The seam allowances will automatically turn toward the front.  Press.

Next I sewed the side seams, starting on the fashion fabric and continuing onto the lining.



I treated the fashion fabric and lining as one at the armscye.  This method does create a visible seam inside the garment; it is not neatly finished as a fully-lined garment would be.  This can be remedied by setting the sleeve only into the fashion fabric, folding down and pressing the lining seam allowance, and then hand stitching the lining to the armscye's seam allowance.  I don't go to the trouble unless it's a special garment.






The one review of this pattern that discusses the sleeves mentioned that they are really restrictive.  Cutting out the voluminous sleeve pattern, I didn't see how this was possible.  The instructions weren't clear on how to install the sleeve.  The sleevecap is longer than the armscye so at first I overlapped the finished lower edges of the sleeves.  Whoa.  I couldn't even pull the sleeve over my arm enough to get the shoulder to my shoulder.  How that much fabric can be too tight, I don't understand, but I stopped doubting the reviewer.

I ripped out the sleeves.  This time I eased the sleeve cap and abutted the finished edges of the sleeve so they met exactly at the side seam.  Huge improvement.  The sleeves are no longer tight and uncomfortable.  However, I am a little disappointed in them.  The distinct tiers of drapes pictured on the envelope don't really show up in my project, though the print could be obscuring their appearance a little.  For the intended dress, I might try to figure out how to use the sleeves from Burda 12-2010-102, which are a similar style but a regular "tube" sleeve.  It might be tricky because the armscye is cut semi-raglan on that pattern.



After carefully pressing the hem exactly at the border motif, I machine blind hemmed the fashion fabric.  The blind hem stitches disappear pretty well into the border print.  The lining, which hangs free below the armscye, was hemmed with a regular straight stitch.









 This can *almost* be worn as a true tunic, but the side view is pretty atrocious so I will likely wear it belted at all times.  We can wear jeans to work on Fridays.  I always feel like I should wear a nicer top to go with them and this really fits the bill.

This is one of those things that I think doesn't look as good in the photos as in real life.  It looks more bulky than it really is--the silk is very lightweight and the batiste lining is also light. 

I am happy both with the pattern and that I have finally sewn up this special fabric!  I normally hem tops at the high hip for the most flattering spot on me, but I wanted a couple longer tops to wear with my jeggings.  I cut in between the shirt and tunic length on the pattern.

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

Travel Togs for Portugal: A Line Skirt and Waterfall Cardi

Thank you all for the lovely comments on my photos from Portugal!  It really is a wonderful place to visit.  I highly recommend it.

Since making my biking/travel wardrobe for The Netherlands, I've pretty much been set on travel clothes.  For that trip, I made 6 tops out of solid-colored wicking fabric and added 3 print skirts to my already broad repertoire.  Throw in a dress or two and you've got two weeks worth of outfits that you might not even get sick of.  However, for Portugal the weather was likely to be a little cooler than my sleeveless tops and summer skirts would work for, and plus I always need an excuse to do some sewing!

I made four new items and in writing about them I realized that all of them are TNTs, or at least based on a TNT.  Am I getting boring?  I hope not.  I think it's that with 275 pattern reviews (plus all the patterns sewn before I discovered PR and those I haven't gotten around to reviewing), I've got a lot of bases covered.  I'm also getting better at adapting patterns I already know that go together nicely and fit well rather than having to start over each time.

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The skirts I made for The Netherlands are mostly cotton, which sometimes doesn't interact well with tights, so I wanted a more tights-oriented skirt.  I turned to--what else--TNT A line skirt Simplicity 2211.  This is a recent addition to my lexicon, as I only made it for the first time over the summer.  I've now made it 4 times, and this certainly isn't the last.

I used a bronze silk dupioni I bought in NYC several years ago.  It was intended for another project but I kept using bits of it here and there and finally there wasn't enough for the original plan.  Also, I am (as ever) working on Too Good to Use.  Sometimes having a plan for something makes it TGTU.  If I really cared about the planned project, it would have been made sometime in the last four years.  It wasn't.  Better to make it into something I will wear than continue to "save" the fabric indefinitely.

The challenge with this was choosing the right side and then keeping all the piece straight.  I tore little pieces of tissue paper, marked them with CF, SF, SB, and CB and then pinned them on the wrong side of the respective pieces.


To add body to the dupioni, I underlined in silk organza using the faux Hong Kong finish technique, as described here.  You cut the underlining 1.5 inches wider than the fashion fabric, line up the cut vertical edges and sew right sides together (so the underlining is kind of bulging over the fashion fabric), then turn it right-side out, letting the underlining roll over to cover the seam allowances.  It creates such a high-end looking finish!









To complete the high-end look, I put in a hand hem.  I don't usually do hems by hand.  The machine blind stitch is truly nicer than anything I've ever achieved by hand.  But here I was able to sew the hem allowance only to the underlining, for a completely invisible hem.







The waist is bound with a straight-grain strip of fabric.  I sewed it first to the wrong side, stitching a ribbon in place as I sewed on the binding to ensure the waist would remain stable.  Then I folded it over to the right side and topstitched, using my walking foot to ensure even feed.  I left a tab overlapping the zipper opening, and sewed in a snap for closing.  I find snaps more secure than hooks-and-eyes.









This still isn't a great skirt for sitting in; the dupioni wrinkles like crazy despite the underlining.  So I think I only wore it twice, on the days we didn't take any train rides.  It is gorgeous, though, and I felt very luxe in this 100% silk outfit.  The blouse is McCall 5708 made out of Vera Wang silk from that Fabric.com $1.99/yd blowout a couple years ago.  The photos were taken near the Oceanario (aquarium) in Lisbon.

All photos for S2211 are here.






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I made use of my waterfall cardigan t-shirt variation pattern right away for this gorgeous wool sweaterknit I bought in New York last Fall.  It was $10/yd and I only bought one yard, thinking I'd make a pullover sweater (aka long-sleeve t-shirt).  To get the waterfall cardigan out of it, I had to cut the sleeves on the crossgrain.  Before doing so I tested the fabric and it appeared to have stretch.



Well, clearly my stretch test was not sufficiently rigorous because I could barely pull the sweater on, the sleeves were so tight.  Dang it!  Stupid, stupid mistake.  I contemplated it and then found scraps large enough to add gussets under each arm.  I carefully cut away the serged seams as narrowly as possible, and then added diamond-shaped patches (you can see them in the photo if you look carefully).














I should have made the gussets extend longer on the arms, all the way to the elbow, but the sweater is wearable now.  It is surprisingly warm, even with the lacy pattern.  I am wearing it here with Butterick 5382 in the fabric gifted to me by Marji.






Please excuse my appearance.  It looks like I forgot to put on lipstick that day.  Also, I look a little bit like I'm upset but I was actually having a lot of fun!  These photos were taken in the Castelo in Guimaraes.  It's an 11th century (? as I recall) ruin that has been rebuilt enough to be safe to scramble around in.  It is free to enter and you can climb up and down the walls and staircases.

While we were there some students were having some sort of initiation ceremony, it looked like.  Students in Portugal wear capes or robes, so three girls flowed by in their long robes, climbed a staircase, and called something out from the top of the walls.  The initiates down below, wearing street clothes and straw hats, had to shout something in response, dance a jig, do pushups, and generally carry on.  It was so fun--I felt like I was at Hogwarts!

All photos for the waterfall cardi are here.

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All is well with me through Hurricane Sandy.  We got a lot of rain and wind, but I have power and my roof didn't leak.  Those of you still dealing with it, take care and my fingers are crossed you get off as easy as I did.