and my finished top, rather unimaginatively made up in a jersey of the same colour:
The top didn't require much fabric, so when I got a serious urge to make it, I went trawling through my stash and came up lucky - some hot pink jersey with a lovely sheen on the right side, purchased at Tessuti Fabrics last year. Unfortunately the hot pink jersey had already been made into something; a dress consigned to the scrapheap.
If you're wondering how to turn a lovely piece of jersey into a disgrace, I can guide you now. Take a scoop-necked pattern from BurdaStyle magazine (eg 07/2009 #123), do not do a paper fitting to check whether Burda has lowered the neckline by about 3 unnecessary inches, and sew with confidence. Try the garment on. Observe the result in horror. Attempt to fix, make silly errors. Consign item to the scrapheap. I believe the BurdaStyle magazine archive has been decommissioned so I don't have a picture of the originally intended dress, but you can find some poor reviews (think mu-mu) here at PatternReview.
The BurdaStyle dress looked like it had enough fabric in it for a cute little top, but fitting the pattern pieces in was a bit tight... The Anne Klein top has about 20 pleats and tucks around the neckline, so this means the bodice is shaped like a chunky, flattened down "Y". There are also facing pieces and cap sleeves. The bodice pieces fitted in the skirt front and back of the scraphead dress. The facing pieces came from the bodice facing of the scrapheap dress (already interfaced, Hooray), and the cap sleeves only just fit into the scrapheap dress bodice.
Re-sewing this fabric was fun. Folding all the pleats and tucks in place was not so enjoyable, and I only basted them across the neckline as I thought the stitches would show after the basting was removed. The facing fitted perfectly, and I staystitched it in place but the facing still tends to roll out a little (I think I know the answer to this problem, which I'll talk about in a future post on my Melbourne Cup Dress). The cap sleeves are fitted but there is no extra fabric so they are what they are. I used a twin needle to finish the sleeves and the hemline and I sewed a bit too close to the edge of the sleeves, which seems to have increased the raised effect that I've somehow achieved between the 2 rows of stitches.... if someone knows what this raised effect is caused by or how to prevent it, can they let me know? Here are some pics of the details:
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| the pleated neckline, with rolling facing |
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| a small cap sleeve with double stitched hem showing raised effect |
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| the hemline of the top with raised effect again |
Lovely top! You need to 'understitch' your facing.
ReplyDeleteOnce you sew your main seam, clip and then iron the seam open with the seam allowance towards the facing, Now 'topstitch' the facing and the seam allowance only. This stitching won't show on the front when the top is worn but will make the seam roll to the facing (instead of outwards and showing). You can then topstitch from the front if you want that effect or to further define the seam. Your pleats might be make the front heavy, also dragging the seam towards the pleats.
Try this link -
http://www.tillyandthebuttons.com/2013/02/sewing-neckline-facing.html