New Look 6648, Butterfly Wing Knit Top

New Look 6648 has been a perennial favorite at PR, but for some reason very few people have made this butterfly wing view, perhaps because it is an insane fabric hog.

This was one of my quickie makes before my trip to Italy in October.  We were going to have cool but not cold and probably wet weather, so I was looking for transitional tops.  This is probably too much fabric to wear in the heat of summer, but for early fall it was perfect.  I also wanted tops that could go with leggings.  Though this isn't long (I seriously cannot find any long tops that will work for my wide-hipped, belly-pooched self), the volume up top is a nice contrast to a fitted bottom.



The top is very simple and only required a little bit of alteration.  As usual, I shortened the crossover for a small bust adjustment.

This is still quite drapey and I ended up tacking the two sides together at center front.  This is always a defeat for me--sewing should mean never having to tack a wrap style into place!  But at least I didn't have to resort to the safety pin of shame.





The lower band is drafted as a straight rectangle.  I altered it to have a tiny bit of waist shaping--you can see the bulge about 2/3 of the way down.  The bulge is the bottom of the band; only the top layer is gathered so the bulge is not in the center.  The top and bottom edges are the waist and are a little bit smaller than the bulge fold/hip.









The instructions have you gather the side edges of the band, then stitch.  I find it harder to do that than to sew the seam, then put in the gathering stitches on either side of it.














Once I pulled on the threads to gather the upper ruched band to the fit the under non-ruched band, I used my walking foot to zigzag the gathers in place.




















The small amount of waist shaping I did at the cutting/sewing stage on the band was definitely not enough to deal with my swayback.  Before attaching the band to the bodice I took a large dart at the upper edge of the band at center back. Next time I will just cut it with a CB seam pieces and integrate the dart into the seam.













I gathered the outer layer of the band before stitching the dart, so there is ruching in the dart.  It made for a very thick dart, which I cut open and trimmed before attaching the bodice to reduce the bulk.  Taking out this width in the band required slightly gathering the bodice before attaching it to the band, but this is in line with the style.

I finished the neckline by serging clear elastic to the inside at the raw edge, then turning under and twin needling.










I wore this for our beautiful day of psuedo-hiking in Bergamo, Italy (we were mostly on a road, so it wasn't much like hiking).  Admittedly, it looks a little weird with my athletic skants here.
















However, it does look good with skinny jeans, which was the whole point!






The lighting in my new photo spot in the house is still quite challenging, but I'm sort of getting there.

With this closeup you can notice that the crossover is tacked if you think about it, but I don't think it's *too* obvious.

All in all, this fabric hog is worth the fabric in my opinion.  It's a fun look that hides a multitude of pasta!

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

Burda 11-2011-114, Hot Pink Surplice Tee

Burda 11-2011-114 has been on my list ever since the magazine was published!  I got this fabric at Golden D'Or in Dallas in December 2011 and way overpaid for it at $8.50/yd, but I love the color and the subtle "space dyed" gradation.  It is extremely lightweight with little recovery and I don't expect to get more than a dozen wears out of this top before the fabric stretches out beyond redemption. Alas.  

The biggest negative for this pattern is that the front piece is a giant fabric hog and I couldn't find an efficient cutting layout that didn't waste a lot of fabric.

The center back is drafted on the fold, which doesn't work for my swayback.  I used my TNT tee to shape the side seams and add a center back seam.

This is the "easy" sewing pattern with illustrated instructions for the November 2011 issue.  I am sure I would have figured it out eventually from Burda's written instructions, but it was really nice to have the illustrations here.



The back neck finish (which wraps around from the front) is quite clever.  You fold the right front's self-facing to the wrong side, then place the right front and left front right sides together.  Then you fold the left front's self-facing around the whole back and sew.  When you open it up the join is very neat and tidy.  In wearing, my top does not have the gathered V-dip at the center back neck shown in the illustration; it just looks like a plain old neckline.

The fabric is very soft and lightweight, one of those fabric where sometimes you can't actually tell if you're touching it or not.  Surprisingly, it was not hard to sew.  The edges didn't curl or ravel, though it did like to spit out pins.

Because the fabric is so lightweight, I underlined the back only in a tricot.  With the front two layers already, a lining would have been too much (and would have interfered with the drape of the neckline).




With the front's cut-on yoke, the shoulder seam is not at the shoulder but several inches below it in the back.  Combine that with the dropped armscye, and this lightweight fabric has no support at all on the shoulder.  The armscye opening will eventually be at about my knees as the fabric stretches and stretches in wearing.  
To try to contain the stretch at the armscye, I fused bias strips of interfacing to the seam allowance (retrofitted after it was sewn).  With the dropped shoulder, I'm not sure how much good it will do but maybe it will buy me a few more wears. 

The tunic length of this top as drafted was *not* flattering to me, especially in this lightweight fabric that shows every lump and bump.  I shortened it 3 inches from the drafted length.











I couldn't tell from Burda's photos whether the neckline would be annoyingly low and require a camisole, but it sits perfectly fine on me--no gapage!  I really like the style of this top and the bright color offers some cheer in this neverending winter.  Seriously, it snowed on Tuesday.  Again.

Though the top will likely be short-lived, the pattern is a keeper.  With the dropped shoulder it would make a cute sleeveless summer tee with shoulder coverage, and I'll eventually turn the red merino wool I got from Fabric Mart into another version of the long sleeve top.

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

Burda 08-2013-131, Raglan Tee with Integrated Scarf

I'm always looking for an interesting t-shirt variation, so I had mentally bookmarked Burda 08-2013-131.  Then when Dibulous made it, I got really interested.



I have a lot of fabric purchasing to confess.  A lot.  But let's start with these pieces from Fabric Mart back in December.  They had merino wool jersey on sale, how was I supposed to leave it on the table?

The merino is quite thin and not suitable for a fitted tee.  So I needed to come up with top patterns that are a bit loose and will work with this thinner fabric.  As a plus, it is quite drapey!



I love orange, but I was a bit disappointed in the unsophisticated color "Orange Pop" or whatever it was called turned out to be.  It was just not rich enough for my taste and I fretted that I'd made a mistake in buying it.  I figured I had nothing to lose so I tested a small swatch in a fairly dilute dye bath.  OMG, a million times better!  So I popped the whole piece into the washer with a little bit of fuschia dye and came up with a rich, deeper orange that is much more suitable for office attire.  I felt very proud.


Now it was time to tackle the pattern.  I traced out the pieces and then compared the raglan top I drafted from my TNT tee to the pattern. It is drafted *large.*  Note here that I traced it to the cut line of my TNT, not to the stitch line of my TNT--that's how big it was drafted!  The finished back fits nicely, and still retains the eased look of the original without being humongous.

And also, the armscye is seriously dropped.  There is nothing more unflattering to a small bust than a dropped armscye, especially on a "petite" (aka short person) like me.  Well, maybe a giant dart to nothing.  Or empty bag syndrome.  But still, a dropped armscye is up there.  I slimmed the profile of the top a bit and raised the armscye to its normal position.

The sleeves were also very wide, and I slimmed them based on my TNT pattern, as well as raising the armscye.

I also raised the armscye of the front piece, matching it to my TNT.

The tie seemed like it would be too wide for my frame, so folded width out of the tie at the end, tapering to nothing by around 4 inches from the front neckline.  This had the added bonus of allowing me to actually fit the pattern onto my fabric.

The front pattern piece is spectacularly enormous.  Even though I had a generous 1 1/2 yard cut of this surprisingly wide fabric, I could barely fit the pattern onto it.  I had to copy the back and sleeve patterns so I could lay everything out at once to get it all to fit.  Getting this pattern to the point of sewing was incredibly time consuming and tedious!!!

Because of fabric limitations, I couldn't cut the sleeves as long as I wanted, so I finished them with cuffs.  The top has a bit of a 70s feel so I gathered the sleeves into the cuffs for a bishop look.



Once it was time to sew, this went together much more easily than you would expect.  The tie extends into the front by way of a long dart.  At the join between front and tie you have to clip into the very end of the dart to get a nice turn.

The tie is sewn right sides together and then turned right side out.  Because the tie is cut on the bias, it was a bit of work to get it folded properly and sitting flat; I had to press and steam it to get to that point. In a lightweight drapey fabric like I used here, I think the front could probably be cut on grain.



Here you can see how and where the tie extends out from the top.  It looks like the tie will be incredibly long, but it's actually not.



The front neckline as drafted was very high for my taste.  I do not like a super high crew neck like that, so I lowered it about 2 1/2 inches, and it is still relatively high, especially compared to my usual neckline.  Given the shape of the front pattern piece, I don't think it would be worth trying to lower it before cutting; just wait until you have it sewn and adjust to your taste.  I finished the neckline with clear elastic and a twin needle.





This top came out perfect for what I was hoping for.  It definitely has plenty of ease, but tucked into a top it blouses nicely.  It has a nice style, but doesn't seem too gimmicky or tied (get it?) to a particular fashion trend, so I think it will be able to stay in the closet for several years, depending on how well the fabric holds up (it's a bit fuzzy, but I can't tell if that's new abrasian or fabric characteristic).

I was surprised at how fussy the tie is.  It can really only be tied in that one place.  Theoretically I could wear it tied high (very unflattering to me) or tossed over the shoulder, but I think these clearly look like a stretch for the style and I will stick with having it tied where it extends out of the front.

A while back I tried to see if I could knock off the Temperley London Delilah top, but my attempts were comical.  Now that I see how it works with this tie--there has to be a dart extending into the bodice, I might give it a try again.  The results probably won't be great, but perhaps they will edge slightly above comical?

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

Simplicity 1805, Silk Dolman Tee

One of the things I've been meaning to get into my wardrobe is a pullover top with a cut on sleeve.  It's a dolman top, so how hard can it be?  But I've been too lazy to draft my own, so when Joann had Simplicity at 5 for $5, I picked up Simplicity 1805.  Had it been $2 I wouldn't have gotten it.

Zooey Deschanel in Derek Lam

It turned out to be fortuitous because I got a haircut the next day, which is a whole other conversation, and while I was waiting I picked up the Lucky magazine they had out and was instantly enchanted with this dolman top on Zooey Deschanel.  It's Derek Lam, and I just love how the simplicity lets the fabric be the star, and the perfect proportions.  And I already had the pattern!  The "Eh, it's only a dollar, it's ok if I end up giving it away" pattern was muslined and earmarked for a fabulous silk within 24 hours!

This has been a popular style with designers for several years.  There are plenty more examples out there, like this Michael Kors satin top ($542) and this Rachel Comey from Fall/Winter 2012.  The silhouette seems simple, but if you make it in a high-end fabric it drips luxury.



Before cutting, I used my TNT pullover woven top pattern to determine the side seams, add a center back seam, and add darts in the back.

The back neckline was seriously, seriously wide.  Here is my final pattern laid over the drafted pattern.  And keep in mind that my final pattern has a center back seam, so the cut edge of the tissue is not even the seam line!  I normally have to narrow the back neckline of commercial patterns a bit, so I didn't think too much of it other than remarking at how ridiculously wide it was drafted.








I actually muslined this *gasp.*  Although it is a wearable muslin.  When I sewed up the muslin I realized I should have had an inkling there was something going on with the front neckline too.  There was *serious* gaping at the front neckline.












As a slapdash fix to the muslin, I took up 2 1/4" inches total in an inverted pleat at the center front neck.  I swear they rotated the bust darts to the neckline but then forgot to remove the excess width.  I don't see how this would work for anybody.






You can see the dramatic change in my final front pattern where I folded out that gape!


After my muslin, the additional changes I made were to increase the width of the sleeve opening to match my inspiration, cut it to the length of the TNT (the tunic length just doesn't work for me), add a keyhole opening at the center back neck, and correct for sloping shoulders by shaving a slight amount off the shoulder edge from a few inches out from the neckline.  The muslin was sticking up a little at the neck edge of the shoulders.

When I was done getting all the information I needed from the muslin I chopped the sleeves short.

This is an airy cotton batiste ($3/yd on our Pilgrimage to Fabric Mart) that will be nice to wear in summer.  

And designers haven't left the short dolman sleeved top in the cold--check out this Reiss silk top for $210.

With the pattern altered and it being two fairly unshaped pieces, the silk version was...not a breeze.  I was using a silk charmeuse from Paron, puchased last November; it was $15/yd, but with a Groupon I ended up paying an average of $5/yd for several silks.  A steal!  As beautiful as it is, though, silk charmeuse is just fussy to sew with.





I used French seams, which makes for a lovely inside, but I am severely disappointed with the puckery back seam.  For some reason, although it has perfect tension on regular seams, my machine cranks up the tension when I sew the second pass of a French seam.  I honestly have no idea how the machine can "tell" that's what I'm doing, but I have to actively stretch the fabric from both sides of the presser foot to get a smooth seam and I clearly didn't stretch enough for the CB seam.  I am loath to unpick it because silk does not recover from needle holes and I'd rather live with a puckered seam than a shredded one.  Does anyone know why this happens?




For the back keyhole opening I first cut a shaped keyhole and staystitched it.

Next, I stitched self bias tape on the wrong side, right side of bias tape to wrong side of blouse.






Once the first pass with the bias tape was sewn, I pressed the bias tape over to the right side and pressed under the remaining raw edge.




Next I topstitched that folded under edge in place, and steamed steamed steamed to get it as flat as possible.


Finally I hand tacked the neck edges together to complete the keyhole--this is just decorative, I did not need a slit to get it over my head.  Then I bound the neck in a continuous bias piece.




Before binding the keyhole I made two tiny horizontal darts.  Because of my "forward head" (aka bad posture), I sometimes get gaping at back slit openings and I didn't want that.  I don't know that the darts were totally necessary, but they made me feel better.








Marking the hem on silk is a pain because pin holes.  I have a couple of packs of hair clips for millinery and was like, duh, use clips to mark the hem!  It wasn't quite as easy as using pins, but I got a reasonably straight hem considering I am working with silk charmeuse here.









I decided to do a regular stitched hem for the sleeves and the lower hem.  I normally do a blind hem or a twin-needle hem, but somehow the stitched hem seemed right for the style.  I think it works.











All the care taken on this simple top was worth it for the end result (other than that stupid center back seam, ugh).  It is as luxe and classy looking as I'd hoped, and looks and feels high end.  I have some dressy events coming up and I feel pretty confident this will be making an appearance at least once in the next couple of weeks.

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

Vogue 8907, Asymmetric Collar/Cape Silk Chiffon Blouse

I had never even noticed Vogue 8907 until Allison C showed hers as part of her Italy travel wardrobe and then I *had* to have the pattern.  A pullover top with a cool detail?  Yes please!

I bought the snakeskin print at Chic Fabrics in New York ($10/yd) in November 2011 to force myself to get rid of this wrap top; I didn't make a broad back adjustment on the pattern and the top was just too tight across the shoulders.  But I really loved the fabric and wasn't letting go of it; when I bought the replacement fabric I was forced to rotate the top out of the closet.

I don't like this fabric as much as the fabric in the top I had to get rid of because the huge print motifs were very difficult to manage.  I didn't want to center the medallion thing, but the print repeat is very wide so I basically had to just put it to one side.  It just looks kind of weird.  But I think the large collar/cape sort of minimizes the prominence of the medallions because the cape is the feature, rather than the print.



Since I already have a pullover woven top that fits me (almost) perfectly, I didn't bother using the body of the Vogue.  I just used my TNT, tracing the Vogue neckline onto it.








As drafted, the cape is cut longer than the blouse and is caught into the hem to create a blouson effect. I didn't have enough fabric to do the full length cape, so I used my large French curve ruler to trace a gentle curve onto the cape.  In cutting, I made the cape as long as I could with the fabric I had left after cutting the body and sleeves.

I also adjusted the neckline of the collar/cape to match the narrower back neckline of my TNT (back necklines on commercial patterns always gape on me) by taking tucks on either side of the center back marking.   I finished the collar with a serged rolled hem.  Easy peasy.

Lining a sheer piece always presents the conundrum:  to line or underline.  I prefer the lining to hang free, but I always get tripped up at the hem.  I have a very hard time getting the hems perfectly aligned with one another, especially when one of the layers is a tricky, slidey, unevenly drapey, impossible-to-keep-on-grain silk chiffon.  I have ruined at least one project at this final step.



Combined with my fabric limitations here I hit on what I thought was a genius solution:  finish the chiffon layer with an opaque hem band, and then the lining would only have to fall somewhere within the confines of that hem band, and if it was a little crooked it would make no difference.  What a relief!  Of course, this added an extra 4 or more hours to the project given I had to construct everything with French seams twice (once for the fashion fabric, once for the lining) and them apply the hem and sleeve bands, but I'd rather spend more time on a garment I will actually wear.

Using the bands also gave me that little extra length of fabric for my collar. Win-win!








The lining is joined with the chiffon at the neckline and the armscyes, hanging free at the side seams and the hem.  I am particularly proud of my best-ever French seams at the armscye.  Look how narrow and perfect!










To sew on the bands (both hem and cuff), I first stitched the right side of the band to the wrong side of the fabric.  Then I pressed under the seam allowances on the other edge of the band and folded over to the right side of the fabric.  It's important to make sure that your folded edge extends a little beyond the first pass of stitching so it will be hidden.







Finally I topstitched the bands in place.   Stitch-in-the-ditch while desperately trying to make sure you catch the underside of the fabric is way too much trouble for me.

The walking foot was a huge help with the silk, I don't think I could have gotten smooth hems without it.








This creates a beautiful look inside and out.  I think the topstitching on the outside might bother some people, but it looks like a nice finish to my eyes.











To finish the neckline, I used bias tape on all the layers at once--collar, fashion fabric, and lining.  I hand stitched the bias tape to the lining to make sure it stayed flat.






I am in love with this top!  The silhouette is not my usual.  Though it has shape, it is not closely fitted through the waist, and a defined waist with a belt or sash doesn't work with this style.  It can only be worn with jeans because it's too mono-column with a skirt and I don't want to tuck in and risk wrinkling the hem band forever.  But it is not *completely* shapeless and it looks current (at least I feel a little stylish in it).



The cape is interesting and I hope not totally weird, even across the back.

I try not to buy sheer silk fabrics because they are such a pain to work with *and* have to be lined so they feel like quadruple the work of opaque fabrics, but I have (well, had!) two in stash, this gray snakeskin print and a purple floral sheer for summer.  I'm so happy with this pattern that the purple floral will be made into a sleeveless version of this top when the weather gets nice again.  I have only one yard of it so the collar may be quite small indeed.  I'm even considering trying to find a mesh knit that looks good on both sides to do View A, the symmetric cape version.  This pattern is a surprising hit!

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.