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

Linen Crush (Tessuti Chloe Pants + Vogue 8877 Top)

The crushing and wanting started with this image, which I saw on Tessuti Fabrics' Instagram feed.  I didn't save the image anywhere but in my memory, and as it happens, my memory then turned the outfit upside down - loose blue linen top became loose white linen top, and white shorts became blue pants (details, details!).  I already had a beautiful blue linen in my stash, bought from Tessuti fabrics a few years ago just because it was the perfect blue for something, and when the perfect pants pattern came into my possession while the outfit was still cause for obsession the ball really got rolling.  A top pattern quickly followed suit (tick!), along with a heavy white linen from an after work dash to The Fabric Shop.

And here's where I ended up:

My outfit isn't at all like the original inspiration image, and I'm at least twice the age of the girl in the original image, but this look is precisely what I wanted. The photos may or may not be in agreement - but this is my sweet spot :).

A simple pants shape, slim fitting through the hips and neither flared nor skinny, and an oversized top, loose through the bust and more fitted at the hips and lower arms. Not at all what like the original image, I know!

The pants pattern I used is the Chloe pants pattern by Tessuti patterns, which my mum was ditching because she thought the legs looked too wide for her height. The legs look to be very slightly tapered but there is still some fabric flapping around (not something I mind at all).  Normally these pants would be a proper long length on me, even with hemming (and I'm about 5'8" with fairly long legs) but I took them up about 5 centimetres to get the above-ankle length I was after, including a generous hem.  I'm thinking this length will be good for walking and doing stuff in summer - at this length there's zero risk of my tripping on my own hems.

I've sewn these up in a straight size 12, and amazingly the fit seems pretty good as is.  Second time around I could possibly remove a small wedge from the front crotch curve and maybe add that length to the back crotch curve, but the pants are really comfortable so I'll see how they feel after a few wears before I draw any fit conclusions.

There is one small annoyance with these pants: I had the choice of a darker blue (much darker than the fabric) or white invisible zip for the side seam, and as you can see I chose unwisely.  It isn't really a big deal for me - I'm planning to wear these pants with loose tops to about the length of this white top - but I do wonder if there's a way of neatly colouring in the visible white of the zip?

Anyway, regardless, I really like how streamlined these pants look.

Next time: review the fit after wear, and then make any necessary adjustments to the crotch curve; consider adding pockets on the backside (I was fumbling for pockets when I wore the pants to take photos); try them as shorts; and definitely make them again!

The top pattern is Vogue 8877, a "very easy" pattern (and yes, it is) in the size Medium (12-14).  I sewed this top (blog post here) before with short sleeves in a jersey, and it does work in a stretch fabric but it's really intended for wovens.

The top is described as a loose-fitting pullover top, but if you're busty I think you would need to seriously modify the bust seam, as the angled, dropped shoulder line takes away some of the ease you would get in the bust area IF you had a regular shoulder and sleeve. Oh and I didn't notice those dropped shoulders when I wore my earlier top, but I can really feel them on this top, and can feel if the top has wiggled to one side - so the shoulders are obviously another fitting area to watch out for.

My only adjustments to this pattern were to take the neckline in slightly on both sides and to remove some of the length in the bodice.  My adjusted neckline is now less "boat" and a little bit "square", but I think this smaller width is more proportionate to my shoulders while still fitting over my head. For the top length I had a very specific finishing length and hem depth in mind, so I did a lot of trying on and pinning and pressing in place and then cut away what turned out to be an excess of a couple of centimetres of length.

I don't think it's very noticeable in the bright sunlight (yay, Spring sunshine!) but the fabric has a damask sort of floral pattern woven into it.  I think it's pretty, but I do hope I haven't accidentally sewn myself a tablecloth top!  Hmm... more research is required here...

I added a cotton bias binding tag in the back neckline to help quickly identify back from front without the itch factor of a normal garment tag - this is one of those garments whose front and back are extremely similar, so it's actually very helpful, and I'm wishing I'd thought of it in time for the pants too.

 

The one problem I think I'll have with this top is finding jumpers or jackets to go over it - check out the width of those sleeves!  One obvious solution is to use the pattern again to sew a long-sleeved wool top - or would that be a bit much?  I've got some nice thick merino lined up for the job if I don't come up with a better idea.

Next time: sew again in a heavy knit fabric to make a jumper that will layer over this top and the many other dolman sleeved dresses and tops in my wardrobe - yay!


So all up I am a very happy camper right now.  I've got two garments I love, and they've got my imagination fired up with lots more ideas too...

Happy sewing!



See you soon

- 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