experimental knit Reef top - by Megan Nielsen patterns

My first Reef experience went badly.  Here's the top.  I didn't like the fit and I didn't like my fabric, and I didn't really like that you end up needing to fit it to yourself at the last minute and cut off a huge seam allowance on the sides.

I've started to notice that when a pattern doesn't suit me, the thing to do is break the rules.  If it's a knit, change something.  If it's a woven, make it in a knit.  So sometime I started to think about making this in a knit, maybe extending the facings or something.

I decided to do a quick attempt just to see what would happen.  I widened the upper back pieces a little and doubled them for a clean finish.  I added a back band to finish the back.  I left the armholes and the neck raw.

The fabric is a lightweight, dubious quality merino from Otara in Auckland.  The fabrics in Otara are cheap so it's great stuff to use on these trial versions of things.

The outcome: it's a win!  I think what I need to do is connect the front and the yoke pieces into one, and cut the front as two pieces with a seam.  That way it would be possible to bind the neckband first, and then use armhole bindings. I also sliced 1 inch off all the side seams of my pattern piece, which was a lucky guess.  I had forgotten the delightful shaped hem on this top.  My remodel has made me like it anew!  I'm not sure I'll go on to make the final product but I'll wear my raw seamed version until it falls apart.

I was going to make a knit pair of Reef shorts too!  (I love my reef shorts, here.)  But then I thought maybe I don't need them.  So for now I'm not going to make them but I'll keep thinking about it. 

Megan Nielsen Reef shorts

I bought the Reef pattern to make the top, but I had some of this fabric left over after making my Grainline Willow so I cut out the shorts (yes in August) on a whim.  However, I didn't have enough for the inside of the shorts hem pieces.  These two relatively small pieces literally held the process up for months, because the main fabric is a spongey, very drapey rayon woven, and I wanted something with the same fluidity.  Everything in my stash was sort of earmarked, and I wasn't sure I had enough yardage, so I waited.

I cut a size XS, and I didn't cut the pockets because I thought they would mess up the lie of the shorts, and anyway I don't need pockets in lounge shorts.

Finally after a possibly bad idea shopping spree online at Mood, I had fabric.  Enter the pale blue Rag & Bone stretch silk.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the rest of it - I'm thinking of making a two-layer Briar...

Easy to put together.  I used french seams on the sides and zig zags on the centers.  I did sew in the ditch for the waistband, very painstakingly, but I admit I'm finally flipping sides on this issue.  Sewing in the ditch invariably misses something.  I like it in theory - I mean, I like the action of sewing in the ditch, but the results are not very nice.  You can see the line of stitching, missed fabric on the inside, and it looks messy.  So I sewed the silk hems up by hand.

I can't say these are the classiest, or that they are the most flattering, but I quite like my haphazard pattern matching, I love the luxury of a bit of silk in there, and they are super comfortable.  Of course, they aren't exactly season-appropriate...and it looks like I'm planning an endless winter this year, so it may be awhile before they become season-appropriate...but they were amazing on my recent trip to Thailand!

Ironically I think I will get a lot more use out of this shorts pattern than I will out of the Reef top.  I'm still kind of puzzling how to improve that top for a wide back, and how to avoid the facings, but for now it seems like too much work to tackle.

Megan Nielsen Reef top

I cut this pattern in an XS based on my measurements 33.5-27-37.
I was going to just make the top but then the shorts somehow appealed to me, and I had some rayon fabric left over from my Willow top.  I didn't have enough for the inner bits of the shorts hems, though, so the shorts are sitting until I can identify a good fabric for this specific bit.

In the meantime I made the top as a muslin.  I really loved this pattern when it came out, but this is partly because I have a piece of shiny Versace stuff that I want to use, and I recently realized it's not stretchy enough to be a Mission tank as planned.  So I was envisioning this as a good tank for wovens. 

The fabric was a Hello Hilo Hawaiian muumuu, made of rayon, that would have fit me pretty well on its own, from Goodwill, $4.  Instead, I got cutting.  I found the instructions good but sort of lost interest in this top as I went along.  I have no idea why.  I had a lot of ease in the side seams and took in 5/8" from each side; the instructions note that the top is made to be roomy, hence the ease in the first place.  But it's a lot of ease.  I would just remove this from the pattern altogether in the future.

I might shorten the front straps an inch next time (will there be a next time?)  Otherwise, I think the fit is ok, it pulls across my back and I think an improvement would include widening something somewhere in my back (no surprise there).  When you sew the facing onto the back, you are sewing through four layers, including two interfaced layers, so keep that in mind if your fabrics aren't thin.  I didn't have a problem with it on this light rayon.

In the end I have no enthusiasm for this top.  The fit is only ok.  The process was not difficult.  I don't like the facings, but they do stay in place.  I guess you're supposed to tack them down somewhere, but I'm not sure where exactly. 

When I find an appropriate scrap I guess I'll move forward with the now season-inappropriate shorts...