She Wears the Pants no. 15: Draped Cardigan

After I made no. 12, the draped minidress, I was less secure about my choice to size up to a M for this cardigan as well, but I forged ahead. My waist and hip measurements are M but my bust is S, so in this cardi I thought it was meaningful that it fit well about the hips.

The fabric is a drapey merino and tencel blend. It's a beautiful fabric, but it's relatively heavy and has quite a lot of drape for a loopback knit.

The pattern - I found it hilarious and so much fun to make!  It comes together really quickly and there's just nothing quite like Japanese patterns, I mean, the entire body is one single piece.

What I did determine: you should pull tension on the neckline binding between the shoulder seams, and then pull NO tension on it for the rest of the length of the cardigan. I pulled a little bit on it the whole way along, and I find the neckline is too loose, and the cardigan pulls inward because of my binding.

AND it's very big.  I like the sleeves a lot.  But the whole cardigan goes halfway to my knees!  Those models might possibly be really tall, but also my knit is heavy and has a tendency to pull downwards.

I'm happy about this result, but also disappointed, and I had to pause and remind myself that just lately I was confirming the need to make something multiple times before you get it right.  I'm not going to bother with buttons this time around - I had thought about interfacing the button part of the band, which would be wise if you can figure out which part it is!  It doesn't need to be stretched so the interfacing won't interfere that way - I would definitely interface in future, especially on a lighter knit.

There's nothing in my stash that works for this, but I definitely want to try again. I've been doing a lot of Alabama Chanin experimentation, and actually I think this might work perfectly with 2 layers of overlock cotton - they aren't very stretchy, but the two layers creates a substantial result.  There's room for improvement.  (I don't think I'll size down until I've tried a different fabric first.)

She Wears the Pants no. 12: draped minidress

I was allowing myself to thumb through my Japanese pattern books for inspiration...and sure enough, inspiration was waiting for me in She Wears the Pants, by Yuko Takada.

I picked out no. 12: the draped minidress, realising I have exactly the fabric for it, and I was enticed by how simple it was, but also how clever - the grainline isn't at the centre of the front piece, presumably to alter the drape of the front.

Problem: my chest is 32.5, which is a small, but my waist and hip are solidly a size M.  I decided to size up, and I sincerely regretted that later - I didn't think through silk jersey, and how it would be better for it to be too small, and very clingy, rather than too big.

I sort of went my own way with the bindings doing a kind of hybrid bias binding on them, but otherwise the pattern was very simple.  Tracing the pattern, I thought about my previous experience trying to copy a Japanese dress (here) and how a very simple appearing decision like an offset grainline can make all the difference to the pattern.

You only trace 2 pieces. You measure your own bindings, and you mirror imagine the front piece to create 2, whereas the back is cut on the fold.  It was one of the simplest Japanese patterns I've ever traced out.  Of course adding seam allowances, a minor irritation.

Though my jersey was slippery, overall this is a very easy sew.
It's just like the model! Even the weird, hunched over look!  In my pictures I promise I'm not hunching. I do have a blue dress under it which shows at the hem (obviously and at the chest).

Not hunched over, for real!

You see I really should have sized down.  A size down would have indeed been clingy, not a bad thing in this fabric, and it also wouldn't have draped down to my belly button.  It may not quite show my belly button but I look down and see a lot so it feels like it exposes more than it does!   The weight of the drape comes directly from the shoulders so the bindings are a good support.  I really like how nicely finished this is, and how easily it came together.

As it is I'm happy with this experiment. I wore it to dinner at friends (they are part of my shared isolation bubble, no judging!) and layered a bra top under it and it was great. Also, looking over the book again the model is wearing a top under it so possibly it drapes down to her belly button too.

Thoughts:
size down if you are in between, especially in a heavier weight fabric
the front drape flips inside out at times, so a fabric that doesn't have an obvious reverse side is better.
easy dress! 

The Autumn tshirt binge sew

If there's one thing you can count on, it's that when I stop remembering my last tshirt binge sew, it's time for another one!  I don't know why I can't just stick to my TNT tshirt patterns, because I definitely have a few...there's a unicorn out there...

In this binge I sewed:
-The Lane Raglan
-The Woodstock swing tee, a free pattern by Hey June in teen sizes up to size 16
-The ebony, low neck version A since I had made the raglan sleeve top during my last binge
-plus the Instinc-Tee by Sasha from Secondo Piano, also a free tshirt. You can find it here.

This particular binge sew had me thinking about serial sewing - you know, when you sew one new pattern 3 times?  Everyone who blogs really well made things...they all do it.  And they kind of duck their heads in embarrassment and say, well, you know, I made one so then I had to make a few more!  I think that's actually a genius way of instinctively riding your enthusiasm for a new pattern until you get it to fit - because the truth is that no pattern is going to magically fit.  (I'll write about my Alabama Chanin experiments soon...)

Lane Raglan:
Size: S
Scrap of merino +?  silk?
Verdict: great fit at the shoulders, way too long, and the front and back are easy to confuse. 

Version 2, which is actually the tshirt I've been envisioning for the past 6 months and which was the cause of both of the last 2  tshirt binges.
Fabric: liberty jersey
side panels: merino blend jersey
I shortened by 4" and removed the curved hem.  I sewed this last thing at night, and you know, I did say something like the front and back are easy to mix up. Right? So my binding is on backwards.  I'm very grumpy about this, but I'm trying to convince myself it's a design feature.

Woodstock tee, size 16:
free pattern!
Free fabric!  (Thanks Tessa.)
I'll make the sleeves a bit longer next time, otherwise this is great!

Ebony, size 2:
fabric: silk blend, still lots left over
verdict: wtf this is short...
I also found the arms really really tight.  

 So I made another one!  I lengthened the pattern 2 inches, but I made sleeves out of the tiniest leftover bits so they were just as long as I had fabric for. This fabric is a difficult scrap - it's a rayon blend, which is almost cheeseclothy, and it hates the sewing machine, it hates being touched, but it kind of sticks to itself...anyway I tried not to touch it too much and I'm definitely not hemming it. One of the maps on the sleeve is upside down but all the body pieces are right side up!  Tetris score!

And here is the Instinc-Tee. It is size XS and I have shortened the pattern somewhat.

This counts as one of my TNT patterns.  I had enough flowers left over to do it! I've found it works really nicely under scrubs. 

As I was photographing this with my Dawn jeans I realised I've just hit the epitome of sewing:  I've mastered jeans and tshirts.  I basically never need to buy anything again. (Hah! As if.)

Until the next tshirt binge!

Merchant & Mills Top 64 review

I made a muslin first.
It's a really horrible muslin.
I used size 10, and shortened the sleeves to fit my fabric.
The fabric is all heavyweight knits!
But despite being kind of hugely long for me the furry cozy sweatshirt sleeves made it feel really nice on!  I finished it well enough that I can give to my local secondhand shops.  I will absolutely have a giggle if I see it on someone in town next year...

What I ascertained:
-shorten the body 6"
-sleeves about 5" longer than I made them (I think I shortened them about 12" due to fabric limitations.)
-Make the pockets as long as possible - in the pattern they are weird micropockets.

The photos were also really helpful, because though I feel like I'm swimming in this top I was completely shocked to see that it looks great on.  So if I wanted a long version I could do the pattern with no modifications (except extending the pockets.)

When I can buy fabric again I really want to do a leather and boiled wool version, but luckily I have some luxury cozy quilted layered gauze to tide me over!  Also quite good for layered lounging at home, I foresee.

I was happy with the pattern measurements in terms of size - it's pretty impressive that it fit over my hips with no need for swayback modifications. I would say that it's meant to be roomy and it matched my expectations that way.

For version 2 I really felt like removing 6" was changing the pattern too much, so I removed 4" below the narrowest part of the waist.  I lengthened the pockets 2" but didn't widen them at all.  I think my sleeves are now about 5" shorter than the pattern.

The weird shaped front pocket pieces and the two part sleeves make this pattern take up a lot of fabric!  Well, plus I always only buy 1.5 meters of everything.  This fabric is a multilayer quilted gauze, and it did start to fray and shed pretty quickly.  I overlocked and topstitched everything.  I did bias binding on the neck.  I didn't top stitch the pocket part of things, I sewed from the underside, which is probably a sign of laziness on my part and has resulted in wonkiness on one side.  The pockets are now a bit too narrow for their length, also.  

Overall I'd still like it a bit shorter, hah!  BUT I guess it's ok the way it is.  I'd widen the pockets a bit and make them not quite so much deeper, maybe 1" would be enough instead of 2".  My enthusiasm started to wane while I was sewing, which is characteristic of my current binge sew, I suppose. What's the NEXT EXCITING PROJECT?  Oh there are five.  Next week I'm back to work lots of days in a row so I'm allowing the wildness to run crazy for now.