Ah yeah, I dropped everything when this collection came out. The last Papercut collection held little of interest for me but I love the aesthetic and I love something about the simplicity of Katie's designs so I was enthusiastic to try anything at this point. This top was the most interesting thing to come out of the Sakura collection as far as I was concerned, also I was looking for long sleeved tops right now so it was good timing.
I picked up the pattern at The Fabric Store in Auckland along with this cheap tencel - only 4 $ per meter! It's a fine and drapey knit.
Overall the pattern came together quickly. I was puzzled by the binding and somehow reasoned that I had to sew it into a circle and then apply it, which I did, and which was wrong. You apply it flat, and I think the directions are relatively clear on that. I was able to salvage the binding without any unstitching by a lot of stretching on one side, which is now not visible in the twist.
My one gripe with Papercut is that she seldom shapes the sleevecap and I don't really need more batwing tops in my collection. I know you can whittle that down into a better fit, but it would be nice to have shape in the shoulder and upper sleeve.
However.
I made an XXS. Reminding, I am 32-27-37 with a super short torso, I'm 5'4" and apparently most of that height is in my neck.
My friend Ellie, who took these pictures in Dunedin (she said she took a thousand pictures) also tried this on and it looked the same on her. She is often the recipient of my sewing and is proof that some things I've sewn have stood the test of time! She has a bigger bust than I do but it did not help with the chest being uncovered, if anything she had more on show. But I obviously opted to wear a tank top underneath for the photo shoot.
My reflections afterwards are that a twist creates a >< shape in center of this top, which means that by the nature of the curve, it's dipping low at the bust and high at the belly. If I elevate the shoulders about 4 inches, 2 front and 2 back, it brings that twist up to something more reasonable but leaves my belly totally exposed. Suboptimal. I would have given up on this and left it at that but then Fiona posted her top which looks great. It seems like she has a lot less open chest space than I do, and the twist itself sits right below her bust, whereas for me it was hanging rather lower and most of my bra was on display.
So I might scavenge all my merino scraps and make one from merino to see if a denser, heavier weight material occupies more space. Tencel is one of the recommended materials for this top but I think it probably pulls too much, pulling the chest more open. I recommend heavier knits unless you want the top to expose a lot of cleavage/bra and pull downwards.
I have made one other item from this collection and it also seemed really huge to me. It could be part of the theme/aesthetic to have these be less close-fitting but when I'm already in the XXS I don't have much leeway to size down.
I picked up the pattern at The Fabric Store in Auckland along with this cheap tencel - only 4 $ per meter! It's a fine and drapey knit.
Overall the pattern came together quickly. I was puzzled by the binding and somehow reasoned that I had to sew it into a circle and then apply it, which I did, and which was wrong. You apply it flat, and I think the directions are relatively clear on that. I was able to salvage the binding without any unstitching by a lot of stretching on one side, which is now not visible in the twist.
My one gripe with Papercut is that she seldom shapes the sleevecap and I don't really need more batwing tops in my collection. I know you can whittle that down into a better fit, but it would be nice to have shape in the shoulder and upper sleeve.
However.
I made an XXS. Reminding, I am 32-27-37 with a super short torso, I'm 5'4" and apparently most of that height is in my neck.
My friend Ellie, who took these pictures in Dunedin (she said she took a thousand pictures) also tried this on and it looked the same on her. She is often the recipient of my sewing and is proof that some things I've sewn have stood the test of time! She has a bigger bust than I do but it did not help with the chest being uncovered, if anything she had more on show. But I obviously opted to wear a tank top underneath for the photo shoot.
My reflections afterwards are that a twist creates a >< shape in center of this top, which means that by the nature of the curve, it's dipping low at the bust and high at the belly. If I elevate the shoulders about 4 inches, 2 front and 2 back, it brings that twist up to something more reasonable but leaves my belly totally exposed. Suboptimal. I would have given up on this and left it at that but then Fiona posted her top which looks great. It seems like she has a lot less open chest space than I do, and the twist itself sits right below her bust, whereas for me it was hanging rather lower and most of my bra was on display.
So I might scavenge all my merino scraps and make one from merino to see if a denser, heavier weight material occupies more space. Tencel is one of the recommended materials for this top but I think it probably pulls too much, pulling the chest more open. I recommend heavier knits unless you want the top to expose a lot of cleavage/bra and pull downwards.
I have made one other item from this collection and it also seemed really huge to me. It could be part of the theme/aesthetic to have these be less close-fitting but when I'm already in the XXS I don't have much leeway to size down.
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