Striped Long Sleeve Top: Burda 7066

We got back from our big (more than 6 weeks!) European vacation a few weeks ago, and as those of you who sew can imagine, the urge to sew after being away for that long was very, very strong, even eclipsing my need for sleep. In the first couple of jetlagged days back in Sydney I started 4 new projects - mostly patterns I'd tested before, nothing too tricky - so instead of telling you about what we did in the South of France and Italy, I hope you don't mind if I share my first post-Europe garment.  I know it's very simple:

UpSewLate: Front view, Burda 7066 long sleeved top

Fabric
You probably recognise the fabric - so many Australian sewing bloggers have sewn something with it this year, and many non-bloggers must have too! It's the Jaywalk stretch from Tessuti fabrics; it was on sale in two colourways leading up to this year's Tessuti awards so I bought several metres of each - and I still have some left of both. This fabric is rather stretchy with great recovery and nice drape, but it's quite a heavy fabric. I originally made a dress from the other colourway to enter in the awards, but honestly the fabric is better suited to a top like this or even PJ leggings as I made for my daughter.

Pattern
I used a Burda pattern (BurdaStyle 7066) that I'd picked up on sale at Lincraft a few months ago (seriously, why do I keep buying patterns? I'll never be able to get to them all!).  This pattern is described as an Easy (yes, it is) semi-fitted shirt and dress with broad shoulders, and the pattern illustrations show it to have bust darts, a centre back seam, a choice of round or V-neckline, a choice of sleeve and shirt lengths, and an optional very basic fabric belt. The recommended fabric is jersey, and I don't think this pattern would work in a woven fabric because of the way it's designed to fit (see below).

My timing is a bit off with making a long sleeved top - we arrived back in Sydney to unseasonally cold weather, but the weather quickly changed to summer heat, so I may not get much use out of this top till next year.  Anyway, no matter; I don't have many long sleeved tops that feel like they fit anywhere near well, so I'm sure I'll appreciate this one when the weather cools down again!

UpSewLate: Another view, Burda 7066 long sleeved top

Fitting
I made more effort than usual in fitting this one - there was even an ugly muslin* - and I was very glad to have made a muslin because even though this is an easy sew, there were a few surprises in the pattern. The pattern has dropped shoulders, which weren't apparent to me in the photos and technical drawings, and the sleeves are really tight compared to the fit through the body.  I know this style of top - loose with dropped shoulders and skin tight sleeves - is a bit of a "look", but it's not one I like on myself.  I think dropped shoulders make my narrow shoulders look even smaller, and skin tight sleeves just don't feel good. Needless to say I made a few changes before sewing this up in my Jaywalk fabric.

UpSewLate: Burda 7066 with shoulder fit adjusted

* I say "ugly muslin", but the sewing was decent and in fact, that top fits and apparently looks fine on my mum! She now has both the muslin and the pattern (good luck with it, mum!). Here's what the muslin was like on me - great colour but UGH - weird shoulders, pulling under the arms to the bust, and too-tight sleeves:

UpSewLate: Loved the colour but the fabric and fit were off on this top

Pattern Adjustments
I took an inch out of each shoulder, and took in the body. To do this I translated the arm scye an inch inwards - you could do this by folding out width in the paper pattern, but I just redrew the lines. The shape of the new arm scye is unchanged, but the shoulder seams are now closer to my actual shoulder line, and the body has a closer fit. I also let out the sleeve seams - I sewed these with a 0.5 cm instead of 1.5 cm seam allowance, and graduated out to the 1.5 seam allowance in the body around the bustline.  I'm happy with this fit on my arms and body (apart from the bust darts - they're a bit low on me and I forgot to adjust them upwards!), but I'm still not 100% sure about the shoulders.

UpSewLate: Oh yes, there's that waist - I knew it was there somewhere!

The back view shows some excess fabric so perhaps I am one of the millions that needs a sway back adjustment:

UpSewLate: Back view, Burda 7066 long sleeved top

I made a couple more changed that were less about fit: I lengthened the arms, shortened the body, and removed the CB seam. I made the neckline facing from a different plain black jersey because I was in such a rush to sew that really couldn't be a#$%ed with stripe matching - and you can see clear evidence of that uncharacteristic attitude in the side seams too!

UpSewLate: For once I didn't worry about matching my stripes

Phew! I guess I'm now officially back in blogging mode now!


See you soon
- Gabrielle xx


Oh and a postscript... I mentioned while I was away that I was having trouble commenting on people's blogs due to a login issue, and I'm still having that problem on my mobile phone (which is the medium I use for reading blogs these days). I've been able to comment on a few Disqus-enabled blogs and blogs that accept unauthenticated comments, but otherwise it's been a challenge I haven't managed to conquer. I'm working on it!