Vogue 8877 in an Unnatural Animal Print

This print is not the sort of print I would normally wear, and these are not the sort of colours I'd normally wear either, but when I came across the fabric in the remnant bin of The Fabric Store on a visit with Nic, I found it strangely irresistible.  I may be making a heinous style error (who cares!) but I love it, and I think it's going to "go"- or at least "pop" in a way I find appealing - with lots and lots of the duller characters in my wardrobe :). 

Speaking of the duller characters, in these photos I'm wearing my new top with a grey merino dress (Vogue 1338, blogged here), and I'd just taken off an aubergine boiled wool jacket (Vogue 8930, blogged here) - Vogue trifecta for the win!  I feel too self conscious in the grey merino dress by itself, but I realised today I'd be perfectly comfortable and cosy wearing it with an extra layer. 

Here's Vogue 1338, photographed a few years ago:

and Vogue 8930 looks like this on:

What's with the hands on hips all the time, hey?

This top is view C of the Vogue 8877 sewn from a single fabric, sewn in a size Medium (12-14) and with a narrowed neckline. As I've mentioned before, this pattern is intended for wovens but can also be sewn with stretch fabrics.  The dropped shoulders and curved bust seam are potential fitting challenges, and the first time I sewed the top (from a cotton lawn, never blogged) I thought the fit was a disaster.  Version number two was a t-shirt (loved it, and the fit was of course more forgiving in a stretch fabric), version three was made from linen - no fit issues that time around for some reason, and version four was a merino wool jumper. 

Version two, the crazy bunnies t-shirt:

Version three in white linen:

Version four as a merino travel jumper:

This time around my fabric is a white cotton waffle weave with purple, yellow and grey splotches printed on one side. The fabric doesn't really drape, so Vogue 8877 wasn't the ideal pattern - but I wanted to make something oversized and sweatshirt-related and V8877 seemed like a decent representation of that idea. 

To be honest the only hint of sweatshirt I've really managed is that ribbed neckband!  It's a bit subtle, isn't it! 

And speaking of unnoticeable, that curved bust seam isn't even visible in this print, is it - it would have been a good idea to pick it out with some piping, but the idea didn't occur to me till I saw these photos.  

So this is version 5. Apart from the rib neckline, the only change I made this time was to play around with the hemline.  Again, I don't think you can really see it, but I cut into the length of the front bodice and curved the sides down to the (original length) back. I included a really deep hem this time too with what I thought might be noticeable black top stitching but it just blends into the print. Who'd have thought? Turns out subtle doesn't work with fake animal print! 

I'll leave you with a couple more photos of the new top - I can't think of anything more to say about it! 

 

 

Happy sewing, and see you soon!

- Gabrielle x

Top 5 of 2016: the Hits

Taking a lead from Gillian, here are my personal top 5 from 2016:


The flying squirrel Rachel Comey dress (V1482) - I don't wear this that much but I LOVE it; it feels really special on and is incredibly comfortable and eye-catching (in a good way, I hope).

My D&G inspired polka dots and carnations dress - a great work dress, and one that gets a lot of compliments too:

My Japanese seersucker checked Gabby top - I wear this soooo often, and I don't care that Mr UpSewLate hates it (too shapeless apparently, but I won't listen to that!):

My Tessuti Chloe pants and Vogue 8877 linen top - love these as a combination but also as separates. The pants go with everything, and the top feels very designer-ish even with basic jeans:

And another Rachel Comey dress, the super summery Vogue 1501:

I'm sensing a colour theme here... I seem to be a bit obsessed with blues! 

Honourable mentions also go to my StyleArc Edith top (worn very frequently), the Vogue 1264 black pants shown in this post (a work staple, and I should really wear the cute vintage top more often), and the Vogue 8993 dress that I would be wearing now if I hadn't put on a bit of weight - these are all favourites too - and in terms of post popularity, I guess I should include my only "how to" (on mitred self-faced vents). 

It may look like 2016 was all beer and skittles, sewing-wise, but that's of course not the case - I made several garments that I'm not at all interested in wearing, and I'll share that list with you soon. 

Till then, happy sewing!

- Gabrielle xx

Crazy Bunnies on the Loose: V8877

I'm getting so behind with posting what I've been sewing that I think I'm going to need to cut back on my verbiage... hmm and also get less fussy with my photos! Let's give it a try :)

So here's another easy top I made soon after getting back to Sydney - it's big and loose, and it's MUCH better than I expected!

UpSewLate: disregard the floor please, it's V8877 on the loose

Fabric
This cool, crazy bunny fabric came from Tessuti's remnant table last year. It's got bunnies, birds and what look like possums on branches, and now I've made the top I can see the odd tank floating past at random - quite odd!  

Initially I planned to make this fabric into an adult t-shirt, then it was going to be a child's dress (but my daughter hated the fabric), then finally after time away from the stash it was back on my adult t-shirt ideas list.  Phew. And I actually like the way it's turned out, after all that indecision.

UpSewLate: V8877, tucked in

Obviously these photos were taken before the floors got washed! We had just had a built-in wardrobe installed after getting the ceilings and cornices replastered, so there was plaster dust everywhere.  I was taking advantage of our having moved all the furniture out of the room - oh, and of the family being out too - but it didn't even occur to me that the dusty floor was going to feature in my photos. Priorities, priorities!  

Pattern

The pattern is one I muslined earlier this year in a lightweight cotton voile, Vogue 8877 (view A).  In a lightweight woven the pattern fitted me badly with tension in the bust area, and I really couldn't see how to adjust it even though the pattern is loose fitting. Anyway, I hated the muslin fabric, so no great loss, and if I make this again it will not be in a voile.

This pattern looks so much better in a drapey knit fabric - I wish I could show you the improvement, but I hated the muslin so much I cut it up for scrap fabric.

UpSewLate: shoulder line, seam lines on the front of V8877

Fitting

The pattern IS recommended for a variety of fabrics from drapey wovens (challis, crepe etc) to jersey. As I mentioned above, the pattern didn't work for me in a non-drapey woven (cotton voile), but worked really well in a knit. That's without any fitting adjustments; both versions were made in a straight size M (12-14).

So based on my experience I'd suggest you at least verify your size by measuring the pattern pieces if you want to make it in a woven - you may need to go up a size, or figure out how to make an FBA.

UpSewLate: and shoulder line, seam lines on the back of V8877

I wouldn't have thought it, but this curved shoulder shape with no arm scye seems to make my mini shoulders look normal-sized.  

Pattern Adjustments
As you can see above, I added a centre back seam in the body pattern piece - purely because I didn't have enough fabric to cut the back piece on the fold. And otherwise, my only changes were to the details. Instead of finishing the neckline with bias binding (I'm not good at that!) I turned the fabric over to the inside, encasing some clear elastic under the fold, before stitching the neckline with a twin needle. I sewed all the seams with an overlocker and finished the hems with the twin needle straight stitch on my normal sewing machine.

Hey, that was so quick to write!

See you soon
- Gabrielle xx