Upcycle: Jamie Christina Mission tank & Little Tailoress Emmeline in stretch silk

This was another Goodwill interpretation.  I found a size-XL Halston stretch silk muumuu, and got to work destructing.  (Still forgot a pre-demolish picture, sorry.)

First I made another mission tank.  I got a bit lazy by the bindings because I had to piece them.  I used a zig zag on all the edges for finishing, which started out when I zig zagged the center back and then just carried the theme through.  The new sewing machine doesn't seem to have very many settings for the zig zag - you can't get it very wide, and it pulled the silk into a little tunnel which was irritating.

Unfortunately, stretch silk may indeed be stretchy, but that doesn't mean you can indiscriminately use the same sizes that you use for other stretchy fabrics.  This top is way too tight in the bust.  I did extend the line from the bust to the hem a bit more A-line than the original pattern so it skims below the bust, but not on me!  Best for my friend R!

After I finished that, I made an Emmeline - using my old pattern with the Polly top hem.  My energy for this was flagging by the end and it sat around awhile.  I wanted it to be much nicer than my blue Emmeline - I didn't cut my French seams before flipping them so the blue one has lots of threads leaking everywhere.  Not to mention that using the rolled hem foot didn't really create nice armholes.  The stretch silk was a great option for this because it has a nice loose drape but it's stretchy and comfortable to wear.

For this one after the French seams, I inspected the armhole and then did a kind of accordion maneuver instead of binding it.  I got this idea from some RTW and I hope it doesn't end up looking ragged, but it followed the natural folds that the French seam had done and it was relatively easy.  Then I carried this effect through by only sewing the bias to the inside and then cutting it all even - again, will this turn ragged?  Not sure.  I made a fine rolled hem by hand just because.  My design features mean that this shirt functions reversibly!  The matte side is the technical exterior, but the French seams of the shiny version are all matching design lines and I could absolutely see it being worn both ways.

I was sick of the Emmeline pattern after this.  My initial goal with the Emmeline pattern was to do something really simple with silk, and the indistinct armholes (not even mentioning the other two versions of the Emmeline, which I think are terribly drafted in the arm), make it hard to get that nice clean finish, and so I doubt I'll play with the Emmeline anymore.

Whereas eventually I'll make a few more Missions : ) 

Silk Emmeline & Silk Scout

Oh my gawwwd I am such an addict.  I am in my usual pre-departure phase which means I suddenly and unhelpfully want to buy clothing as a psychological support for my upcoming months of homelessness.

And that extends to fabric, ah, sillllkkksssss!  In Italy!!  We went to Como one day because it was a Swiss national holiday and thus, what could be more thrilling than the not-closed Italian grocery store full of wine, cheese, pasta, fresh tomatoes, etc? Um, and the not closed shops in the center of Como full of nice cheap clothing?  Or the FABRIC STORE in Como full of not cheap, Italian silks? Especially as I was just recently reminded I wanted to do Emmeline in silk...And the shop was full of silks!  I couldn't possibly resist an artistic Italian panel, or some wild paisleys...so now my pile of projects for the next month has stopped shrinking!  Help!!

To gird myself for this and also for an upcoming evil chiffon project, I got out the tools. On the Scout I tried out the spray glue. So, spray glue.  Really.  Doesn't help a whole lot.  Instead of just lying your pattern piece on the fabric you have to apply it really carefully and I think this took up enough time to make it a waste of time. Your fabric and pattern piece are nicely attached to cut out, but then you have to rip the pattern piece off the fabric (would NEVER work on anything fragile) and then you have sticky pattern pieces. Which gum up your iron.  haha!

Sorry head, we don't need you after all...

More on the Scout: I cut a size 2 with a 1" wide shoulder adjustment and a bit of shaping at the bottom, otherwise no changes.  I continue to be incapable of doing whatever I am supposed to on the Scout with bias taping, so I went for another, um, creative couture finish. (This is very narrow bias tape! I can't fold it over into 1/4s!) This is a good fitting Scout and I am so happy with it. It still pulls a bit across the back but overall the fit is much better.  After the glue experiment, I gelatined the rest of the fabric before cutting out the sleeve.  Gelatin here is a bit tricky as it comes in sheets.  I ignored the instructions and plopped it in warm water, which made a gooey mess, and then I just popped the fabric in that...it got some bits of gelatin on the edges but was delightfully firm to cut and sew.  I love gelatin.  One is supposed to dissolve it in cold water and then add it to a warm water bath.  That way you avoid the gummy gelatin ball.

Annoying unfinishable triangle at the armpit.

As a reminder of how great gelatin is, I cut out the blue Emmeline without anything.  It sucked.  I also didn't pay attention on the front which is why it has a design feature of being half matte and half shiny.  I am great at adding design features ; )  I lengthened the Emmeline using the bottom of the By Hand London Polly top pattern. I french seamed, and had the same problem as before that there is no real seam allowance difference at the sleeve, and so it creates a triangle-fabric-mess.  I can't think of a way to avoid that. I then used my micro rolly hem foot on everything.  This was totally experimental but it came out amazing, even though the shirt is actually quite, ermmm, not symmetrical...it looks great on!  Way better than expected! and NO BIAS TAPE!!  My life has been so improved by learning the use of this hem foot. 

Emmeline Tee by Little Tailoress

I made versions 3 and 2 as muslins using scraps from my scrap bag.  I also tried a new technique for tracing and I have to report it was a bad idea.  I traced each page one at a time without taping them...I think this leads to serious distortion.  Size S, both in woven fabric.

Version 2 has raglan sleeves. I cut one out backwards and had to sort of match scraps to get it to work, because I had decided I wanted it to be a wearable muslin. Overall I feel like the sleeves are both too long, and funny at the shoulder points.  To sew this shirt together, you basically sew a single 90 degree angle, and that to me is just wrong at the underarm seam.  I'm not sure how to improve it, or whether it was because my pattern piece was distorted by tracing.  I suspect this version would work out in a knit somewhat better. It pulls across my back as well, although it doesn't limit my range of motion like the Scout does.

Version 3, the sleeveless one, is somewhat better.  I french seamed it, despite knowing ahead of time how that would cause trouble with finishing the arm holes. Then I tried out a bunch of things with bias and hem tape and they all look really bad.  Don't use bias tape on rayon!! It just doesn't have the same texture and ruins the neckline.  I can imagine doing a repeat version of this in silk though. With such a simple shell, it's tempting to think of how you can push your comfort limit with perfection, right?  I will probably repeat this (and although I do very dislike making bias tape, I would probably make bias tape for a silk version.)

Overall I think that this pattern is still a work in progress from a new company.  The PDF could have been more densely packed and I was grumpy with it, hence not wanting to tape.  I wouldn't print out the instructions anyway but I feel like they treated beginning sewists a bit like idiots.  I suspect the info could be seriously shortened and simplified.  However, having lots of binding treatment options is great for a newbie and is totally what I would have liked two years ago (well, probably would have helped now if I had read it.) It would be nice to have that info on just a few pages, or maybe a short sewing instruction, and a long sewing instruction, so you can choose which you need. (The Lady Skater had dual options like that and was great.)

Also this pattern is basically not available if you live in Europe.  I had my friend in the US buy it for me...