Another Jalie top ...... with a little secret!

I’ve made myself yet another top from Jalie 2806, the wonderful top pattern that I like so much.

Now those of you that are familiar with this pattern must be a little puzzled because the pattern is for a variety of scoop neck tops, not a top with a draped neckline. But I’m going to reveal my secret


You see the top does have a scoop neck but in the first picture I am wearing it with a neck ring scarf, that I made from the leftover fabric. That way this basic top gets two different looks. Pretty neat, eh?

I found the instructions for making the neck ring scarf in the October issue of the Vogue/McCalls/Butterick pattern magazine – in the UK the magazine is called Sew Today but in the USA it’s still called Vogue Patterns. The neck ring is very easy to make. Basically you take a piece of leftover fabric (mine measured 60” wide by about 20” so is long enough to go round my neck twice), fold it in half lengthwise and sew the long sides right sides together but leave about 5” open at either end. Turn it right sides out. Then, also right sides together, you sew the short ends together (this is made possible because you have left the ends of the long sides open). Then hand sew the opening. Done!

Back to the top. This is actually the fourth time I have made this pattern but, guess what, this time I managed to screw up sewing the neck band on. It turned out to be horribly uneven, totally unacceptable! So I had to unpick all the serger stitching (yuk!) and cut another neck band. Fortunately the fabric of the top itself wasn’t too mangled. By taking a lot of care my second attempt at getting the band on was (almost) perfect. Which just goes to show – I should never get too complacent – it doesn’t matter how many times I’ve done something, it’s still possible to make a mess of it! Do you identify with that kind of mindset – “Oh this won’t take a second, I can do this in my sleep ………. whoops, what happened there?”

I haven’t been doing much sewing in the last few weeks, Christmas preparations have been top of the agenda, but I do have plans to get at least some sewing done before Santa arrives. So, more soon …..

Vogue classic pencil skirt finished!

Regular readers will know that my recent sewing activities have been aimed at building some winter wardrobe basics. So I had to make that classic essential - a black pencil skirt.

The pattern I picked out was Vogue 8603 (in case you are wondering, I am wearing it with the silk jersey top I made from Jalie 2806 blogged about in my last post). Here’s what the skirt pattern looks like

What this picture doesn’t show you, however, is the back view. The pattern gives the option of a gathered inset in the lower back. So, although my version looks pretty plain from the front, the back looks like this.

I do like a skirt that has a bit of back interest!

The lining is cut so that it is hand-stitched around the edge of the gathered insert, like this

The skirt is fairly simple to make and, as it has princess seams, it is not difficult to get a good fit. Next time I make this pattern I think I'm going to try the view with the gathers at the hips - I avoided this because I thought that extra fabric around this area might be unflattering but now I've made this skirt, I think that the side gathers would work.

One thing did puzzle me about this pattern, however, is the way Vogue tells you to do the waistband facing. Once you have constructed the skirt and the lining separately they tell you to pin the lining to the skirt wrong sides together and baste along the upper edges. Then they tell you to sew the facing right sides together with the skirt, then turn the facing to the inside and slipstitch to the zipper tape and tack at the seams. This means that the facing is only attached at the seams and is kind of loose inside. I’m not very experienced so perhaps their way is a good way? But I didn’t fancy it much.

Instead I decided to do away with the facings (as you can see in the photo above of inside the skirt). To be sure that the waist seam didn’t stretch out I sewed 1/4” seam tape to the inside of the skirt (along the seam line) before attaching the lining. I think that if you aren’t going to add facings this is an essential step to give the waist some stability. Then I just sewed the lining and skirt together along the top, right sides together, understitched the seam and flipped the lining to the inside.

I quite like having the skirt without facings – I think it gives a smooth line. I should mention that even if I had decided on keeping the facings, I still wouldn’t have done it the way that Vogue suggests. I would have sewn the facings to the lining to make one lining/facing unit and then sewn this to the skirt with the right sides together, along the waist seam. But that’s just me – you might like the way that Vogue advise doing it? Do you have particular feelings about facings?

Moving on, I’m feeling that I need a change from sewing separates so I’m planning on making a dress next - more on that soon …….

A trio of tops - my love affair with Jalie continues ...

The arrival of my new cover stitch machine coincided with the discovery that my wardrobe is seriously lacking some basic long-sleeve t-shirts – an essential for the British winter. Because I was so pleased with my Jalie scarf collar top (blogged about here), I thought I would turn to Jalie for a simple t-shirt pattern. I picked out Jalie 2806 and thought it was so quick and easy that I whipped up three!

Here’s the first one – ‘the flower print one’ made in a rayon/lycra knit.

The pattern gives you a choice of necklines and sleeves that you can mix and match. Here’s the pattern envelope.


I made the gathered neck with three-quarter length sleeves. It’s very straight forward to make – the most difficult part is attaching the neckline band. You need to take a little care to make sure the gathers are distributed evenly and that you sew the band on so that the width is exactly right all the way round.

So, here’s the second one – ‘the Liberty print one’. (I’m not modelling this one – I mean, how many pictures of me in a t-shirt do you need to look at?!)

Because Liberty of London is so famous for its cotton lawn, you might not be aware that they also make knit fabrics, but they do. As it is a cotton knit, it isn’t drapey like the rayon knit and doesn’t have the same kind of stretch or recovery. But it makes a nice, beefy t-shirt that is good to wear with jeans and the prints and colours they use are interesting. I extended the sleeves to make them full length for this version.

Lastly, as I had got my confidence up by now, is ‘the luxury one’ made from a 100% silk jersey purchased from Gorgeous Fabrics.

This picture doesn’t really do it justice. The fabric has a wonderful lustrous sheen and drapes perfectly. The top works worn casually but also looks very nice and dressy with a skirt.

I am quite enchanted with my cover stitch machine. Of course it is perfectly possible to make hems on knits without one but I do like how the machine can so easily make a knit garment look professional. Here’s a close-up of the hem (both the outside and inside) on the flower print top

The triple row of stitching is on the outside and inside the looper thread ‘covers’ the raw edge. It looks super-neat and you can stretch it as far as the fabric will go without the stitches breaking. You can also do a double row of stitching, rather than a triple row if you want to (which is what I did for the other two tops).

So, now that I have some tops, my winter wardrobe building is going to continue with a classic black pencil skirt but more on that soon ….

Jalie 2921 scarf collar top - finished!

So, here I am in my Jalie scarf collar top.

This is the first time I’ve made a Jalie pattern and I have to tell you that I am super-impressed. I thought I was probably on to a good thing because this pattern has 33 reviews on Pattern Review and patterns are usually popular there for a very good reason. Here’s what it looks like

I like the style because although it’s got the comfort of a knit top, it’s a little dressier than a basic t-shirt. The fabric I used is rayon with some silk in it – it’s very drapey and quite sheer but ok to work with.

When I first noticed (and I do mean noticed because it’s in very small print!) that the seam allowances were only ¼” I was rather alarmed. Being used to the usual 5/8” that the big pattern companies allow I was fearful that there just wouldn’t be enough to work with – but, I have to admit, I was completely WRONG. I loved how it all just slotted together and whizzed through my serger without any trouble at all. I think that from now on I’m going to trim all seam allowances for knits to ¼” – it makes attaching the sleeves so much easier!

Of course, I have to mention the neat burrito technique for attaching the collar! The instructions had me thoroughly intrigued – I just couldn’t fathom out how it was going to work. For those who haven’t got this pattern it’s a bit difficult to explain but basically you have to roll the front and back inside the collar and sew around the collar with the top inside it. But I had faith – after all, I told myself, 33 Pattern Reviewers can’t be wrong. I meticulously followed the instructions, being very careful to get the right side and the wrong side the right way round (if you know what I mean) and, yes, it worked. It was so exciting when I fished the top out of the 1” gap at the end of the collar and the seam allowances were all neatly enclosed inside.

I think I’m definitely nuts about knits at the moment because next on the cutting table is this one,

Vogue 1179, which I’m making in a black double knit (another thing I'm nuts about at the moment!). More soon ……….

Some sewing Q&A ....

The lovely Sherry from pattern scissors cloth (do take a look at her fabulous pink jacket in this post) has honoured me with the task of answering some questions. Now, I’m supposed to answer eight questions but, for now, as I’m fairly hopeless at this kind of thing, I am going to answer three.

Which pattern/vintage style have you been thinking about lately?
This gorgeous vintage pattern, McCalls 7521, has recently entered my pattern collection (see how I’m calling it a ‘collection’ rather than a stash?)


Dated 1964 it was designed by the renowned Pauline Trigere. Born in Paris, she moved to New York in 1937 where she established herself as one of the foremost designers of her time. One of the things she was known for was her “evening dresses that were dramatic without being fussy” (quoted from New York Fashion: The Evolution of American Style by Caroline Rennolds Milbank). I think this pattern offers a perfect example of that style. I have a fancy that I might look a little like Audrey Hepburn in this gown. However, as I am considerably curvier, the reality probably won’t match up with that little fantasy. I like the idea of making it in black – maybe a wool crepe or a soft satin or even a double knit would be nice – what do you think?

What is one sewing skill you want to learn/try out?
Making welt pockets or bound buttonholes. I keep meaning to do it, I have read about it extensively (both in books and looking at some excellent blog tutorials) but somehow I haven’t taken the plunge. I have been sewing regularly for about a year and a half now and during this time have learnt an enormous amount but I must remember to push myself to keeping on learning and expanding my skills.

What garment/accessory do you wear the most?
I would like to be able to answer that it is this maxi dress that I made last year from Simplicity 3503 (written about in this post).


I am pictured here wearing it on vacation in Miami earlier this year. I’d love to wear this dress a lot because it gives me that whole ‘tropical carefree summery vibe’ that makes me feel young and glamorous! Actually the reality is that I live in London so the weather is not often good enough to wear this. What I do wear the most is something far more practical for daily city life – jeans. And I have to confess that all my jeans are shop bought. (My favourite brand, in case you’re interested, is good old Levi’s and I always buy their straight cut). The reason that I’ve never been tempted to make a pair of jeans is because they look quite difficult to make and, by some miracle, I don’t have too much trouble buying a pair of jeans that fit me. From the waist up nothing (I mean NOTHING) fits me properly but from the waist down I seem to be, more or less, a RTW approved shape!

However, I am always interested and impressed by the fabulous jeans that other people have made. This jeans pattern, Jalie 2908, seems to be very popular


It has 58 reviews on Pattern Review (and 848 people have it in their stash!!). If I were to venture into jeans making, I think this is the one that I would choose. So, what I’d love to know from you is have you made your own jeans? Is it easy to do and does your sewing machine cope with the layers of denim ok? Do you think the result is better than RTW and why? Or, are you like me and fear that jeans making is too much hard work?