In search of a good woven top

I never wear woven tops. There is a shirt in my closet. But it’s a bit small and haven’t been worn for years. Which means I should get rid of it. I wore it frequently when it did fit my body (and style?). It’s a stretch woven, so maybe it doesn’t count. I’m used to wearing fitted, stretch tops. Although I’ve gravitated towards less fitted and sometimes even draped tops over the last few years, I’d still like to show off my curves while I still have them. I like the concept of woven tops and I would like to make them a part of my style and wardrobe. They look good on others. Permitting I can feel comfortable wearing one. Therein  lies the problem. I need to find a woven, fitted top that looks good and feels good to wear.

SWAP 2014 – Portrait blouse, front

The plan was to make two Portrait blouses from Gertie’s first book. One from a cheap but very lovely cotton in black and white and another from my much pricier cotton voile from Cloud 9. It didn’t turn out as as excellent as I pictured it. Mostly All my fault since I altered the pattern based on holding up the pattern tissue against my body. This top was done over six moths ago and I can’t remember why I did these changes. The only reason I know the numbers are because I wrote them down. Good for me. I used a size 4 but cut the back 1 cm from the fold and the front 2.5 cm from the fold. Both back and front facings were extended the same amounts. The bust dart was lowered about 4.5 cm.

Well, the result as I said is not stunning. Maybe it’s salvageable. In the photo below, I’m pinching the shoulder, bringing it up a cm or two on both the front and back. Looks a little better and maybe I’ll try it someday. But I’d need more alterations to get rid of the fluff under the arms. Maybe just trying a regular size 4 but with some added width at the waist side seams.

SWAP 2014 – Portrait blouse, back

SWAP 2014 – Portrait Blouse, possible alteration

Both sleeves and hem were hemmed using my rolled hem presser foot. It’s a little tricky to get it started but I totally love it. Must get the wider foots as well. I put in an invisible zip because that’s what I bought before really reading the instructions. I guess vintage clothes don’t use invisible zips. I don’t mind though.

Portrait blouse – invisible zipper

Portrait blouse – detail : rolled hem

Since I apparently dread fitting so much and hoping to magically find a pattern that’s drafted to perfectly fit me; instead of doing another Portrait blouse and ruining my lovely voile, I found another pattern to try. This is the Edith blouse from Maria Denmark. This pattern is available as both a B and a C cup. These are sold separately and at the time a bought it the C-cup version wasn’t on Crafsty. It’s not perfect but probably the best one yet (I’ve also made test versions of Alma and Belcarra from Sewaholic). I’ve worn it out once and didn’t think about it too much.

Edith blouse

Well who would expect perfect out of the envelope. Not many people and did anyone think I learnt anything from the Portrait blouse. I made a high round back adjustment. The computer-generation alteration according to the authors of  Fit for real people. I can’t really get to grips with what my fitting issues are. Most of the time with woven garments (like jackets and the Belcarra) I cannot comfortably raise my arms. At first I thought it was due to a broad back but comparing my cross back measurement to at least some tables contradicts that. Well, as barely visible in the photo of the back the half cm added at the centre back is pooling below the collar. I again think it is probably a broad shoulder issue since the front of the cap sleeves dig into my arms when raised. There are also some pull lines at the front shoulder. Whatever that means.

Edith Blouse – back view

Edith blouse – front

The cap sleeve hems were again hemmed using the rolled hem foot. Not too pretty since the curve was so tight. I had bought some regular white buttons and I was super excited to try the automated buttonholes on my machine. But they just looked ugly in the thin fabric. Even tried a small microtex needle. Pearl snaps to the rescue. Even got myself a pair of pliers. They were so easy to use. The snaps were marked jersey, but they seem to work.

Supplies:

• Pattern 1 – Portrait blouse from Gertie’s new book for better sewing.
• Pattern 2 – Edith blouse drafted for a C-cup from Maria Denmark.
• Fabric – Lightweight cotton from Tygaffären.
• Thread – Polyester.
• Notions – Invisible zip.  Prym snap buttons
• Interfacing – A lightweight nonvowen.

Edith blouse – front

Edith blouse – detail

Cost – about 300SEK for both, £24 , $36, €32

The Way of Flowers Anna Dress

This dress was finished just in time for my friends wedding. It’s the Anna dress from By Hand London made from the most wonderful fabric ever. I’m totally in love with the colours of this fabric and could base my entire wardrobe on these colours. It was my first time using and touching a voile. It borders on the side of too see-through but it’s fine and I’m guessing part of it is because it’s so light, darker colours will probably fare better.

Anna dress – front 3/4

I spent quite a lot of time messing with the pattern. I traced a size 4 and started doing an FBA. There are several tutorials on this and I like this one from Another little crafty creation. I had some problems because my lines did not end up between the two tucks/gathers. After a lot of fiddling around I realised that a size 4 is too small at the waist anyway and could not get it together. Then I was fed up with the whole thing so I just cut the size 6 with a 5cm/2″ elongation above the waist using a cheap sheet. It looked good and I realised I did not need the elongation. The reason I put it in, in the first place, was to make the seam hit on the waist line. With my change it did end up on the waistline. But that turned out to be a bad thing. It’s much easier to breath when the tight portion of the dress ends just above the waist – you can then eat all you want :). The biggest change was that I needed to take it in in the upper back. I took out about 5cm/2″ along the each centre back at the top of the zipper and graded to nothing – a total of about 10cm.

Anna dress – Side

I stitched it together using French seams, even the waistline seam. The dress turned out OK. I like it well enough. The only issues are a bit of gaping above the chest and the necklinge falls a bit too high. So if I do make it again I need to tighten it up across the upper chest and lower the neckline. Maybe the solution is to start with a size 4 upper bodice, do an FBA and let some of the extra out at the waist to match a size 6 waistband.

Anna dress – back

I’m really pleased with the attachment of the hook and eye. They’re attached using blanket stitches. I’ve misplaced where I got the instructions though. It was kinda fiddly but so worth it. Next time I’ll try to make the stitches closer together. Here’s a link to a fully covered hook and eye – looks really fancy.

Anna dress – detail

Anna dress-detail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies:

• Pattern – Anna dress from By Hand London.
• Fabric – The Way of Flowers voile from Cloud 9 Koi collection bought at M is for Make.
• Thread – polyester.
• Notions – Invisible zipper, hook and eye
• Interfacing – A light weight nonvowen.

Anna dress – closure details

Cost – 800SEK, £71, $116, €86

Sewing with a plan

In the last month I considered building an inkle loom and started making tablets for tablet (card) weaving. I’ve bought new supplies and tools for both paper and jewellery crafts. So if I don’t try and control myself I would get nothing done because I want to do everything. I will never be able to finish as many things as say Lauren of LLadybird – impressively many finished pieces. But with a plan I can hopefully get some things done that I will like, enjoy to wear and gradually build a wardrobe with matching clothes. To that end the Facebook group is so inspirational and one of few I still visit after deleting the Facebook app from my phone. The original plan of the group was to do four  6PAC a year. Now I think it’s more apt to just say sewing with a plan – SWAP; not many members adheres to the format of a 6PAC. With my limited time and energy I have no way of doing four plans a year. But I make a plan and try to stick to it. The plan I made last year is below. The colour palette is based off the Koi collection from Cloud 9. I fell in love with the fabric as soon as I saw it and fortunately the colours were just as great in person.

SWAP 2014

My first thought was to stick to the plan until everything was finished. But as winter came and a new year was approaching I just did not feel like finishing those shorts. So the blazer/cardigan and the bottoms are still clothes I want to make. I’m just transferring them to a new plan for 2015. Below is the results of the pieces I did finish. I’ll post separate posts for these items under the tag SWAP2014.

SWAP 2014 – results

The plan for 2015 is under way and most of it is finished. New for this plan is that I’m including jewellery. Those figures on the bottom left are supposed to be earrings.

Planning for spring 2015