Geometric Silk Top

Right now I've got a bit of a blogging backlog, and this little top isn't the first in the queue but it IS the one that was photographed yesterday. The photos were a bit of an adventure (more about that later) so this is the one that's coming first.

So, this is a little top made from a metre of silk I bought at The Fabric Store about a week ago, when I was looking for something else (oops - but I'm sure that happens to lots of people!). I love geometric prints and all things tesselation-like, and I'd just been reading Lena's tips for sewing with silk, so I was really excited to try the gelatine treatment and sew something silk in stable form. If you're wondering if the gelatine trick works, it does! I used it straight after handwashing my silk in a silk wash, and initially thought there wasn't going to be enough gelatine to do anything - the water mixed with gelatine looked and felt like regular water.

 

I couldn't seem to find exactly the kind of pattern I wanted for this top, and all the runners up used more than a metre, so I sort of 'drafted' something for myself - a simple loose, blocky shape drawn roughly on butcher's paper - though in retrospect I could have looked among my vintage patterns, as I've made tops very similar in shape to this before. 

Tops to fit me need a length from shoulder to hip of about 60cm, and a width from sleeve hem to sleeve hem of about 85cm - so there was no way I could fit a top with cut-on sleeves in my single metre. Time for the Puzzles Department to wake up.  I realised that I could reduce the body length by making raglan sleeves, which could fit on the fabric if rotated 45 degrees. So I drew and cut some 45 degree lines, from underarm to neckline, to make a separate sleeve pattern piece. 

Of course I should have been able to line the fabric patterns up on the seams better than this, but since I didn't think I had enough fabric to play with I didn't worry about the pattern alignment across any of the seams.  

 

I made some darling self-fabric bias binding for the neckline with my new clover bias binding gizmo and the odd little leftover scraps, and it worked reasonably well for a first go, and with silk.  But I left finishing the neckline till the end, by which time I'd convinced myself the top was going to be a dog - so I didn't take enough care and the stitch finish is not great. Sill-eee! 

 
I did manage to pay attention to the seams and hems at least. French seams throughout, and nice straight hems that follow the pattern lines. Speaking of which, isn't the fabric gorgeous?

Lately I've either been asking other people to take my photos for me (thank you kids, mother-in-law, colleagues) or taking my own photos with a timer in the privacy of my own home / balcony / garden. Now that school's back and I'm back at work, I don't feel like I have time for interesting outings, but I'm getting a bit sick of my photos of the same old brick balcony wall! 

I took my camera in to work with me yesterday, and after work walked around the city looking for a good spot: somewhere not too busy and yet good looking and light, and somewhere I wasn't likely to bump into colleagues. This little street is in the Sydney CBD, and there were cars and people going past, but not constantly.



It's been a long time since I've taken my own photos in public, and boy did I feel awkward - so much more embarrassing than doing it with a friend - but at the end I also felt exhilerated that I'd done it! Once I'd taken a few phone snaps to check which direction / view would look alright, I set up my tripod and camera with the 10 second timer, with the camera on burst mode. I took loads of photos of the buildings and walls around me, pretending that's what I was about, and every now and then I'd mosey over to where the camera was pointed and pretend I was checking things out (camera silently going click, click, click). Have you ever taken photos of yourself in public? 


Finally, I have to thank the commenters on my pants muslin post - I'm looking forward to trying out those suggestions, and I will definitely give myself some sitting down ease :)  I'm busting to get back to the pants, but first I've a shirt to make for my dad's birthday - which is on Monday - yikes!

Thanks for reading! See you soon



- Gabrielle xxx