Chrysanthemum print top

Well...when I say chrysanthemum I probably mean it's quite a stylised version but it was the cerise pink that swung it for me! It's easier to see closer up.

I just had to bring out the cerise somewhere and adding bias binding to the neck seemed the right thing to do. This fabric is fine so I drafted facings for the neckline too and this provides enough 'body' for the rest of the top to hang from. I used Simplicity 1364 again and the fabric was bought from John Lewis, perhaps in their sale but I can't remember. 

I have added some width to the back pattern piece and I think I need to review how I've done that. In fact, I'm thinking I should start from scratch with how this pattern fits me and how I go about making fit adjustments. Basically, I'm discovering that with swimming I've developed back muscles (and arm muscles too) and clothing often feels tight across the upper back. I added width (2cm?) to the back pattern piece and I think that was perhaps too much. You can see the too-wide shoulder seams in this photo. 

Good pattern matching though! There is a zip in the back seam, just for info! The pattern is one I've made so many times before. The fabric is a 100% polyester, probably John Kaldor and is good quality. Do I love this top? Not really. Why not? I don't know...I will wear it but I know it won't be the first thing I reach for in the wardrobe. But there you go, some you win, some you lose in a way! 

Spring sunshire and a flower top

Yes folks, it's spring in Edinburgh and today there was glorious sunshine. Yay! So after finishing my current project I decided to go outside and take some photos of it for this post. Lovely sunshine...but a biting cold wind...the things I do to try and make this blog just a bit better! Enough of my moaning, here's the finished top. I actually like the bleached out look to the background of these photos, am I weird?

The fabric has a lovely print, a kind of free-form cream, white, brown and beige flower and leaves and there's also a bit of lilac there in the shading too. All of this on a background of a not black but a very, very dark navy. If you put it against navy, it looks black, if you put it against black it looks navy. You know what I mean! And that's probably the reason why it was on sale at John Lewis a month or so ago. The print was also printed along both selvedges of the fabric. I basically bought a number of print repeats - one repeat for the front, two repeats for the sleeves and two repeats for the back as there's a zip in the back, the back seam is shaped and on top of that there's pattern matching to do. I don't think I did badly on the pattern matching. And I bought another repeat 'just in case'. 

This fabric was half price. And it's a decent thickness of probably polyester, nope, no natural fibres in this!That was a tricky one to lay out for cutting to get the pattern placement right. It was impossible to get both sleeves identical as you have to turn the pattern piece over for the second sleeve. You can see what I mean now that I've pointed it out. I had the fabric in a single layer when cutting out just so I could do the best I could for pattern placement. I feel that's worked out well. 

Which pattern did I use? None other than my favourite Simplicity1364. Looking back through my makes I see that I haven't used this pattern this year. Shock! It's high time I did, then. 

I'd just like you to know that I'm wearing RTW jeans in these photos. I played no part in the creation of these jeans! I have got some black stretch denim that's patiently waiting to be pre-washed before I dig out the Named Jamie jeans pattern again but I just know that the black dye from the fabric will dye everything else it's washed with so I'll wait till I build up a 'safe load'.

It's a holiday weekend so I was busy sewing today and there will be more sewing over the next few days too. Bliss! 

Another floral TNT

Yes, it's another floral fabric version of my all time favourite Tried and Tested pattern, Simplicity1364 Cant tell you how much I love this pattern but you're probably getting a good idea! I bought this fabric from John Lewis in Oxford Street when we went to London for a short break in mid-November. It's quite unusual for me to choose such a bland background colour but the flowers are suitably in your face for me to feel comfortable with it!

Here's a close-up of the fabric just ink car you didn't see it properly in the first photo. The fabric is probably a polyester and definitely 100% man made fibre, whatever it is. 

There are some details in this pattern that I love. One of them is the dart at each elbow, something you might be able to see in the photo above. It's the blouse equivalent of a tailored jacket's two piece sleeve, the top sleeve just hangs beautifully and bends well at the elbow. Just a small detail but lovely. 

This was a top I sewed up quite quickly. I thought I'd caught up with my blogging but there are a couple of other things I need to blog about, so I'll do those in the next few days. I'm currently on holiday so there's a lot of sewing being done!  

UFO now finished!

So, saga of the UFO (or UnFinshed Object). This was a cream top I'd cut out and started sewing together in the summer. I bought the fabric in my first raid on Mandors in Glasgow in April. It has viscose in it and quite a bit of lycra plus something else too that I can't remember. The pattern was my old favourite Simplicity 1364. There's 50% off Simplicity patterns just now, by the way.

I got as far as sewing in the zip then ignored it. For a couple of months. The problem was with the stretchy fabric, when I sewed the zip I just sewed in a whole load of tiny tucks. Unintentionally. Yes, I'd basted the zip in position and whip stitched the two edges together as I always do. You see, I actually like sewing in zips and take a good bit of satisfaction in a well sewn zip. There! I've said it!

So, a couple of weeks ago I decided to unpick the machine stitching and try sewing it again. Slightly better result but still more tiny tucks than I could ever live with. Out with the seam ripper. Again. This time I also unpicked my basting and ironed on some interfacing strips along the zip stitching lines. I'll show it who's boss! Then I basted the zip in again and sewed it for the third time. See! I do have patience. When I'm determined a pesky zip won't get the better of me! This time it worked.

If this hadn't worked, Plan D involved me unpicking all the basting and hand sewing the b***** zip in! Then of course the only thing I had to do were the hems. Never my favourite job it was another week or so before I finally hemmed and finished it yesterday. Yay!

I didn't feel too well yesterday so I have taken some photos of the top on a hanger. I like this top on and I'll get good use of it in the winter, worn with a cardigan or jumper. It looks much better on than it does on the hanger but I just wasn't up to going outside to take photographs.

Preparations for the green wool jacket are continuing. It never ceases to amaze me just how much time and preparation goes into getting everything ready before you even sit down at the sewing machine. I've bought some 100% cupro lining fabric from John Lewis at the weekend but I've still to pre-wash it. I'm not going to wash the jacket but wanted some kind of treatment before I cut it out and it should also be a safeguard for when I get it dry cleaned.

Saturday was a better day for me and I cut out and sewed up a simple jersey top using a £7 remnant I bought in my second raid on Mandors a couple of weeks ago. Still to be photographed and blogged. Why does it feel so good sewing up something from a remnant? Making use of an end of the roll or off cut of fabric? It was cheap and wearable? Whatever the reason, it feels good!

A tale of three tops

Well hello there, from a rainy Edinburgh. How's your day and weekend been so far? In the last few days I've been busy sewing with mixed results. You can tell there's a story brewing, can't you? Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.

The story starts with catching sight of the Natalie top pattern from Liola Designs. I like that kind of top and it's for woven fabrics so I could use a lovely jade green coloured Trieste fabric from my stash. I printed off the PDF and taped it together. I measured the bust and hips and did an FBA. I measured across the back and did a broad back adjustment. I even made a muslin to check the body size...but I didn't muslin the sleeves. Everything was going so well until I tried on the top before doing the body and sleeve hems. The bust fitted. The back was still too tight and the sleeves were far too tight, unwearably tight.

Here it is. all crushed...just like my hopes! *sigh* I was going to give up on the pattern but after a wee while I thought I'm almost there. I just need to make a large arm adjustment and to increase the amount added for the broad back adjustment. By the way, the fit on the shoulders was perfect so I know I'd chosen the correct size to begin with...before all the adjustments began!

I go to swimming classes to develop my strokes and I'm learning butterfly so when you think about it, all the places I needed to add width correspond to the muscles I use in swimming.

So, back to the cutting and taping and adjusting the pattern. In the meantime I also visited Remnant Kings in Bonnington Road for the first time. It's a bit out of my way so as a holiday treat that's fine. They have a sale on at the moment so I bought some fabrics. Well, it would be rude not too!

So I cut out my pattern pieces (Mark 2) and used some fabric I'd bought at £1.99 a metre. The colour hasn't photographed very well but here is my Natalie Top Take 2.

Yes, it's crushed, just like its predecessor...and my hopes again! The problem with this top is that while it now fits everywhere, I'm not sure about the style on me. It's still unhemmed and laying on the table near my sewing space. So there we are. I decided to quit while I'm ahead. The pattern is lovely and it's an interesting garment to sew and I thoroughly recommend it but I don't know if I'll be making it up again. I'd like to believe in third time lucky but I can't be bothered to waste the time on it.

Three tops, remember! So, after all the disappointment of two fails I really needed a guaranteed success. What do you think I made next? Yes, that's right I went back to my favourite Simplicity 1364 and used another fabric from my stash. I've made this pattern so many times but I decided to make a broad back adjustment of 2cm. This has worked really well and the back now fits perfectly.

This is a lovely fabric, a 100% viscose. I loved the print so much that I also bought it in the blue and dark green colours and made this and this. Now it's the turn of the red!

I didn't have a lot of fabric to play with so couldn't do any pattern matching for the back seam and the zip, but I don't think it's that bad. Here's a close-up of the fabric so you can see it in all its glory!

So, that sums up my last few days, full of sewing ups and downs. Stay tuned for my next project...Vintage Pattern Sewing Pledge...well, fingers crossed!

The Queue-jumper!

When I bought this fabric I just knew it wouldn't hang around among others in the queue pile. I say queue, but really it's a pile of fabric that I'll just pull something out of when inspiration strikes/the prefect pattern suddenly blips on my radar.

It also called out screamed at me to make Simplicity 1364 which by now must be a classic in my wardrobe. I've made so many versions but my favourite is the blue flowered version, it never fails to get a compliment every time I wear it too.

So, here's my latest version in another lovely, flowery fabric that I bought a week or so ago. This shows the front of the top.

I love it! It's a cotton sateen and lovely to work with. The flowers are big, lots of blues, maroon, pinks and some grey and brown, unusual for this style of print. This pattern is lovely to sew too, there are elbow darts, slits in the side seams and a 18" zip at the back. I scooped out the neck by about half an inch as this sits better on me.

Its a lovely patterned fabric but that means...pattern matching the back seam with the zip. It took a while but boy did I make a good job of it (obviously, modesty is my middle name!). I think I'm just relieved as it would have stuck out like a sore thumb if I hadn't done it right. Have a look and see what you think.

I'm one of those weird people that likes putting zips in. Quite a bit of basting is needed but it really pays off in the finished result. Can't resist adding a close-up photo too!

The background of the fabric looks white but in reality it's cream.

C (AKA The Photographer) is still working while I'm off so there will probably be more photos of clothes hanging on the wall rather than on me!