Simplicity 2283, Yoked Cowl Top

I love me a good knit cowl top, so I had to give Simplicity 2283 a try for one of my Supplex piece. I was intrigued by the front shoulder yoke.



The key to a pleasant cowl wearing experience is an adequate cowl facing. If you have enough self-facing coverage, you can put the top on in the morning and not think about it for the rest of the day. If the facing is skimpy, you will spend every spare moment making sure the facing hasn't flipped to the outside or is otherwise visible.

The facing on this was pretty good as drafted, but it is my opinion that you can always go longer. So I added an inch in cutting. As you can see on the inside, it is securely caught into the yoke seam and there is enough length hanging down at center front that the facing is not going to flip out. I had no troubles with it while wearing for bike riding (though admittedly I was wearing a fleece the whole time other than for the photos).

As mentioned, for biking tops I want some shoulder coverage for sun protection but in general don't want a full sleeve because of, well, armpit sweating, to be graphic. Extending the shoulder here wasn't going to be easy because of the yoke. I wasn't even considering the funky sleeve until I saw SewWil's pattern review. Her sleeves are great and look breezy and comfortable, so I cut the fun little pleated sleeve.

On SewWil and on the model it looks like there is plenty of room for a breeze under the arm, but on my I found that the sleeve amounted to a giant wad of fabric in my armpit as the armscye is quite high on me.

Never one to give up, I decided to turn the sleeves into cap sleeves. I marked the pleated, finished sleeve units with arcs, stitched along my marking, and cut 1/2" away from the stitching for a seam allowance. I then sewed in the sleeves and turned under and stitched the lower part of the armscye. This gives me the shoulder coverage I want with the underarm ventilation I need. If you look closely (or not even that closely) at the photos you'll see that the sleeves are not quite symmetric. Oh well! If I do this again, though, I will fix the sleeve in the drafting/cutting process, not after it is sewn.



When making the back darts in my B5283 twist top, the hardest part was figuring out where, exactly, center back was. So for this project I thread-traced center back before unpinning the pattern tissue. So very uncharacteristic of me.

Having CB marked made it a lot easier to place the darts, and also made it easier to transfer those darts to the pattern tissue for next time. The shape of my darts matches the idiosyncratic shape of my body. Most of the dart volume is not at the waist but below it at my swayback, and the width of my latissimus muscles means they have to go up nearly to the shoulder to avoid a puff at the top.



Pretend I had had the sense to make sure the back was not caught up above the belt before taking this photo. But on the right side, where the belt has not taken up a fold, you can see that it sits fairly flat on my back rather than ballooning out over my swayback.

The only thing I don't like about this pattern is that it can't be turned into a dress! The cowl width in the front sort of cascades all the way down to the hemline and would not translate well to a full length piece.


















As you can see I've already tested it out! It gets the thumbs up.

I love the sweetheart look of the neckline, that the narrower cowl that is not too low cut, that the facing that stays firmly in place, and the interesting yoke. I did not interface the yoke as directed in the pattern because of the thickness of my fabric--I feared it would be way too stiff and sit awkwardly--though now that it's done I think I should have. I would recommend interfacing if you're using anything less than a double knit.

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

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And that is the last piece in my Mini Wardrobe for the PR contest. The challenge was to start with an existing piece in the closet, sew four pieces during the contest period, and end up with at least 6 outfits. I managed to pull off 8!

I started with my self-drafted black and white print dirndl biking skirt from last March.

Then I added two tops, this one and the B5283 twist top.

Next, I needed another skirt, the S2413 pleated silk organza number. Oh, and by the way, I wear biking shorts under the skirts. I'm not going around flashing.

Finally, a topper in the form of this Burda 01-2011-131 wrap sweater.

I love all these pieces individually and I love how they work together. I still have more sewing to do for the trip--more tops and more skirts, which will be fun, and more rain gear which makes me want to die. I muslined the pullover rain jacket last weekend and have not been able to motivate to cut it out this week. I need to pull up my big girl panties and just get started. Then I can reward myself with fun, bright, cheerful sewing (not that it is fun, bright, or cheerful in our persistent, endless winter; it is killing me, people).

All photos for the mini-wardrobe, showing each look as well as the disaggregated pieces, are here.

Burda 01-2011-131, Ballerina Wrap Sweater

We're already a third of the way through this year's BurdaStyle subscription, and this is my first garment from a 2011 magazine. Things aren't looking good for Burda. I made only 6 items out of the entire 2010 subscription. There are definitely more that I'd like to make and considering how many things I am still sewing from 2007-2009 my count will eventually increase, but that is not good odds. It is the only magazine I subscribe to so I don't feel like it's wasted money, but I really hope they step up to the plate soon.

At any rate, here's Burda 01-2011-131. I have a hip-length wrap sweater pattern that I rubbed off a RTW sweater from H&M (as seen in my trip to Turkey), but I like the ballerina vibe to this cropped sweater so I added to the sewing list for my upcoming bike trip. It's made of the heavier Tactel nylon I bought from Fabric.com last January for $3.50/yd and from wearing it around the house during our latest cold snap (sob!) it is a nice layering fabric.

I lengthened the sleeves on the pattern so that I could do another thumbhole garment. As I learned from my 09-2010-121 turtleneck (which I am coincidentally wearing today, due to the FREAKISH COLD WEATHER), while it is convenient to put the thumbhole in the sleeve seam, it doesn't necessarily work anatomically. For the sweater, I constructed the body and sleeves and sewed the sleeves to about 3 inches above my wrist. Then I put it on and marked the thumbhole placement and made a welt opening at my marking.

The first step is to pin rectangle of fabric for your welt over the marked opening, and then mark the openings on the welts (since you'll be sewing on the welt side).

Once you have your patch in place, stitch a rectangle according to your marked opening. For a normal welt, you would only stitch the legs and not the tiny short ends, but I was going for a simplified, sturdy process here so I sewed the whole box.

Once the rectangles are sewn, clip as per usual with a straight clip down the center and Y clips into the corners, cutting as close to the stitching as possible at each corner. Turn the welt patches to the inside through your clips.


Once you have turned and pressed your welt patches to the inside, topstitch the welt patches in a rectangle around your opening at about 1/4 inch. The goal here is to enclose the cut edges and Y clips so that they cannot ravel or deteriorate.

Once your topstitching is done, trim the welt as close as possible to the topstitching. Note that this method requires non-raveling fabric. If your fabric ravels, you'll need to finish the edges of the welt rather than trimming them to the topstitching.

And voila! These thumbholes are perfectly placed and do not require me to spin the sleeve out of alignment to get my thumbs through them. They are neatly finished and should hold up to lots of wear. If it is at all chilly your hands get really cold while biking because they are out in front of you directly in the wind and in a fixed, unmoving position so they don't get circulation. If it is in the low 50s or below you simply have to wear gloves but I think for higher 50s and low 60s the longer sleeve and thumbhole should be sufficient warmth.

I meant to look at the instructions for this but forgot, so I don't know how Burda wants you to finish it, exactly. However, I was quite proud of my clever hemming method.

First, let me recommend fusing a light tricot interfacing along the foldline of the neckline opening edge. My knit fabric did not want to press flat there because this is a long bias line. I hemmed one of the sides three times before finally resorting to fusing and now it looks good. I couldn't face unpicking the other side, so it is not as flat.

I found the sweater to be a touch long as drafted, so I took a slightly deeper hem than planned. This allowed me to layer the hem allowances to create a beautiful finish on the inside. The deep hem rendered the tie opening somewhat superfluous; next time I probably will skip the opening.



To create the finish, once you have attached the tie, fold the hem allowance over the tie, and then fold down the turn-under portion of the hem. Then, fold the upper edge allowance over those layers and fold up the turn-under portion of the hem. Stitch this whole sandwich and then grade the seam allowances.

When you turn it right side out by pulling out the tie, you will already see how neat your your hem and upper edge allowances will be.



Pin the remainder of your hem and upper edge allowances and stitch, pivoting at the confluence point where the folded edges meet. I used a twin needle so I couldn't pivot the way you can with a single needle, I just kept the lines as close together as possible. You can see how great this looks both inside and outside.




Due to my hatred of facings, I left off the back facing and instead twin needled over clear elastic. When I went to sew down the front edge allowances, I realized that a facing would actually have looked nicer for this project. You can see the offset between my twin-needle finishing for the back and front. Had I faced the back neckline I could have had one continuous row of stitching. I don't really care, probably not even enough to use the facing next time. But something to consider if you will care.

For fitting, I found I needed to narrow the shoulders (I did 1/2 inch, it probably could have used a full inch) and add back darts.





This sweater came out quite cute. When planning it, I was not sure about the cropped length. At my height (5'1.5") I have to be careful about having too many segments of clothing so I don't look squat and even shorter, particularly when taking my high waist into account. However, I think it works, particularly for athletic gear. I love the bright color and I think it will be fun to wear on my trip!

All photos are here and the pattern review is here

Pattern Giveaway Winner and Flickr Tutorial

I forgot to announce the Butterick 5451 big collar wrap dress pattern giveaway winner! It was a little hard to tell who was entering but based on my best guess of who entered the random number winner is

Stoffhamster!

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I recommended a while back that you regularly check your recent activity on flickr to make sure the flickr nasties haven't gotten to you. It is an easy process to block unsavory users and I make a practice of it. To be clear, this does NOT prevent them from seeing your photos. The only way to prevent someone from seeing your photos is to make them private. But that means you can't share them with the sewing community either. I have made the decision to make my photos public knowing that they can be seen by flickr nasties; you have to make your own decision.

Anyway, when I brought it up I figured I'd do some screencaps the next time the opportunity arose and lo and behold! It has arisen. As always, click on the photos to see them larger.




When you are signed in to flickr, there is line of options across the top with drop-down menus. Click on "You" and find "Recent Activity." Clink on this and it will bring you to a list of recent comments, photo favorites, and person favorites. I like to check this anyway to see new comments--sometimes people ask questions in comments and I try to answer them.





Look at the names of people in your recent activity. The flickr nasties are usually pretty obvious, like this most recent "Sexy Satin Lining." That's probably not someone I want aggregating my photos! I don't check out everyone who has favorited a photo because often it's clear they are fellow sewists, such as if they favorite a photo of a pattern alteration. But if the name is ambiguous or they seem to be favoriting a certain kind of photo (the turtleneck fetishists are surprisingly numerous) I dig a little deeper.


Clicking on the person's name brings you to their photostream. Often, the flickr nasties keep their photostreams private. Because they are realllllly into respecting privacy. Yeah, right. This one was unusual in that their photostream is public. Be ready to avert your eyes when you get to the photostream. Some of them are graphic. The blocking option is on the person's profile page, so click on "Profile."






Once you're on the profile page, click on the option for "Block this person."






Blocking is a two step process. First, you must click the checkbox at the bottom of the list of things blocked persons may not do. Then hit the "Block" button. Once you hit the "Block" button, flickr gives you a pop-up asking if you're sure. That way you won't accidentally block a friend. Say ok and the deed is done.




As you can (sort of) see, when you block someone they can't
-comment
-favorite you
-favorite your photos
-add your photos to their albums or galleries
-contact you through private message

They can still see your photos, but they can't collect them, they can't find you or your photos easily by looking on their favorites list (unless they bookmark them in their browser--these people are after volume and I seriously doubt they'll go to the trouble), and they can't send you a message. I appreciate flickr for creating such a comprehensive blocking system! I highly recommend you take advantage of it. You can see all these photos in my Tech Support album.

Simplicity 2413, Silk Organza Biking Skirt

I bought Simplicity 2413 for the paper bag waist tulip skirt view, but when I was considering skirts for biking I noticed that the pleated view was pretty cute. I like the size of the waistband and the width of the skirt--not crazy wide for this silk organza with plenty of body, but plenty wide to swing my leg up over a bike.

I have been wanting to make this skirt since I bought the organza from Fabric Mart last July for $3.99/yd. I've seen it listed a few times since but at over double the price, so I feel lucky to have snagged some when I did. For some reason, I only bought 1.5 yards. Dumb! I should have stocked up.

I lined the skirt with some Vera Wang rayon satin I purchased during my giant binge from Fabric.com last year when all the VW was $1.95/yd. This is another fabric I should have stocked up on; I think I bought only 3 yards. The quality is just outstanding. On the lining, I went back and forth on whether to have the matte side or shiny side facing out. The shiny side creates a weird interference with the weave of the organza resulting in a headache-inducing visual effect. But, I love the way the subtle shine boosts the beautiful organza so I put it shiny side out anyway, and will warn people not to look at me too closely.

The pattern uses the same piece for front and back. My front and back are not shaped the same way. I stitched down the pleats as marked for the front, but had to stitch them much further down in the back, converting them more to released darts than pleats. Otherwise, it was just way too puffy over the back, even given the intentional fullness of the silhouette. I may need to stitch down the side-most back darts further still into actual darts, as I am getting a lot of puff on my low hip (just call me Marie Antoinette), but I don't want to interfere with the bell shape too much more; as it is, I have managed to preserve it even in the back.

I found a product at G Street called "Waistband Interfacing," though it seems more like some kind of specialized elastic. I tested various interfacings on the organza and (unsurprisingly) they all showed through and looked terrible. Since I couldn't interface the waistband and wasn't sure that interfacing only the waistband lining would be enough, I thought elastic would be a good solution to keep the waistband in shape. The skirt doesn't have that elastic waist look, but it fits snugly and without discomfort. I am sold on this now!

The skirt is designed so that the zipper is sewn both to the skirt and the waistband up to the fold line. So I installed the zipper and then tacked the elastic to the seam allowance and zipper tape at each end. Then I stitched-in-the-ditch (or as close as I can get) on the outside, careful not to catch the elastic.

I sometimes treated the lining as lining and sometimes as underlining in this project. The non-zipper side seams of both fashion and lining are sewn separately in their own French seams. Then the pieces were joined at the upper edge and treated as one for pleating. While I love the look of a French seam in sheer silk, I thought the pleats would not look as nice in terms of how the parts of the print would interact.

At the zipper side seam, I sewed the zipper to the fashion and lining fabrics as one, and then French seamed the fashion and lining separately below the zipper. This requires a little finagling and a tolerance for not-quite-perfect at the transition spot, but it's a technique I've done before and it gives me what I'm looking for. I definitely wanted the lower half and the hem of the fashion fabric to hang free, but didn't want to put the zipper only in the sheer fabric because it would look ugly with the seam allowances and everything. It's not perfect, but it is acceptable, both from the outside and the inside.

I am so happy I finally had the chance to make this skirt! I adore the New Look silhouette, which seems to be enjoying a bit of a resurgence.

In fact, this project might have been a little *too* successful because I wore this skirt on a ride with Cidell on Saturday and was afraid of getting chain grease on it the whole time. I believe the bikes on the trip will have chain covers, and I won't be lifting it up onto a car rack or doing any maintenance, so the skirt should be safe on the trip. But at home, I think I'll stick to wearing it for non-bike occasions other than commuting (the CaBi bikes I ride to/from work have chain guards).

I'm wearing it here with yet another version of the OOP Simplicity 4509 cowl neck top. This is the last of the purple jersey I used for my Kate Middleton dress and ruffle shoulder top. I curse my fabric economy when laying out because it is *so* tedious and time-consuming, but when I pull off a hat trick of a dress and two tops--with long sleeves on both the dress and one of the tops--on a 3 yard piece of fabric (given that Fabric.com's yards are generous) I do feel pretty smug.

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

Butterick 5283, Supplex Asymmetric Twist Top

When Cidell and I visited NYC last November we dropped in Stretch House to pick up Supplex technical wicking fabrics for athletic clothes. It's funny to compare our purchases (mine and hers--scroll to the bottom of the post) because you can see how different our taste is in color. I've got saturated brights and she has delicate pastels.

I'll be sewing mine up in the next couple months in preparation for my bike trip. I will try not to make this the all activewear, all the time blog, but you're gonna get a lot of it.

This is the third time I've made this view of Butterick 5283, so I don't have much more to say about this project. It was my first time doing it as a sleeveless top. It has an extended/drop shoulder, which is not my favorite look for a blouse with sleeves. However, the extended shoulder is perfect for a bike top. I don't want sleeves because it can be too hot and I don't want my armpits strangled with too much fabric, but at the same time I want my shoulders covered against the sun. This is the perfect compromise!

The outer edge of the shoulder kind of sticks up. I thought it was due to my sloping shoulder but if you look at the pattern illustration you see even in the drawing that it is designed that way (this being a rare exception to the rule that you shouldn't trust a pattern with illustrations and no photo). I don't have strong enough feelings to unpick my twin needle sleeve hem and correct the shoulder slope, but for future iterations of this top I might taper that shoulder seam.

As drafted, this is a somewhat unfitted top, with plenty of ease at the side seams and no shaping in the back. For athletic wear I prefer more fitted clothing for better range of motion. Not that I need that much range of motion in my torso for biking, but whatever. I cut a 12 below the bust to the waist and hip, but ended up taking in the waist a total of around 2.5 inches at the side seams and an additional 1.5 inches in back darts.

I usually add a center back seam to allow for swayback correction, but I had previously made this one with back darts and decided to do the same for this version. Marking darts on yourself is hard, lol. To work with my particular shape, the darts are widest at the waist and for about 3 inches below the waist, where my swayback curvature is most pronounced. They run to the hem foldline and up to the shoulder blades. The hardest part was getting the darts evenly spaced from CB. I'm going to have to mark the pattern with these next time so they will be symmetrical!

The only problem I had was that I *swear* the last two times I made it I sewed the diagonal twist seam and then did the twisting, but on this one I could NOT figure out how that is possible. I had to unpick the diagonal seam, twist, and then re-sew. Odd.

I want my biking tops to be wearable, fitted tees, but the thought of having just plain sleeveless t-shirts strikes me with horror. So I've been combing my patterns for interesting but not *too* crazy knit top patterns. This one fit the bill perfectly and since I'd made it before was a no brainer to be included in the mix. One down, five to go (or more--I just made an order from FFC after swearing I'd never order from them again; we'll see about the quality of their $3.95/yd wicking knits)

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.