Upcycle a la "Antipast"

"Antipast" is one of several designers carried  by shop in Charleston, S. Carolina that also has a website. It is called Worthwhile.  I saw this top and fell in love with it. I can't seem to find a price for it but haven't found anything in their store under 395.00. We're talking 695-895.00 for skirts. I originally saw this on Pinterest and thought, "what a great recycle." While I still think it is nothing more than a recycle it is not being marketed as such.

   This top is basically a tee made from voile with a sweater cut apart and appliqued to the top. As I said I love the concept but the execution of a garment selling for over four hundred dollars is horrible. Check out the side vent:

 

So duly inspired I am attempting to make my own interpretation of this garment. I have a white crochet top that shrunk horrendously but I don't throw out anything handmade. It seems to have sort of felted because cutting it is like cutting iron and it doesn't seem to fall apart despite being cut. I was taking all sorts of precautions when I cut the first slice but quickly realized  I could just slice into it then stitch away. Here is how I started. 

First I picked my pattern. I decided to use my now TNT top pattern that I just made the pintucked damask top with, Simp 2192, a Cynthia Rowley design.  Once that was decided it was time to cut the crocheted top.  It was easy . This is a rough cut. It will be fine tuned later.

Here is the fabric I am using for the tee. I wanted a lot of texture in this. I also wanted something with the sheer factor fairly obvious. I decided on this 100% cotton batiste with some flowers on it.

I added center front and center back seams to my pattern. I liked seeing the seams between the sweater parts. The CB and CF seams and also the shoulder seams were put together with french seams. This fabric has been really nice to work with. Aren't all totally natural fibers?  The next thing to do before adding the sweater parts was to finish the neckline. At first I thought I might do the Kenneth King tiny hem and then over wrap it with perle cotton for more texture. Then I remembered I had a mess of entredeaux. So I finished the neckline with a simple traditional application of the entredeaux. I love entredeaux.

 I trimmed 3/8s of an inch off of the neckline seam, leaving me a 1/4 inch seam. I cut the entredeaux edges back to a quarter inch as well. Then I just placed right sides together, raw edges matching, and stitched right up to the entredeaux with my edge stitching foot. You can see the blade running right next to it. This was then pressed to the wrong side of the neckline and once again using the ES foot and 3 clicks to the left I topstitched the entredeaux on the right side.Then I removed the remaining batiste from the entredeaux.

Once this seaming and neckline were done I had a pallet to work with. I put the top on my dress form and played with placement of the sweater parts. I decided the best look would be to cut around some of the circular shapes of the sweater parts. I also wanted a good amount of batiste showing at the hemline. I started snipping and pinning till it fulfilled my vision. Right now I am in the process of hand sewing the sweater fronts to the fabric with size 80 cotton thread. It literally is invisible. So in this top so far I have french seams, entredeaux, and appliqueing with heirloom very fine size 80 thread. It will be different looking than the inspiration but I think will make a fun light summer top.

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Blogging and sewing have been sporadic. White shirt number two has been in a lump on my couch with a pile of buttons sitting on top. I just haven't gotten to it, but I will soon. My darling hubby is not doing well and his situation is worsening. He is not in a life threatening situation but is in extreme pain and other nasty things like total bed rest. We will leave northern NY this week for Beth Israel/Deaconess hospital in Boston and hopefully resolution and recovery. I am not sure when the next blogpost will be but will try my hardest to make it as soon as possible. Sewing and blogging connect me to the most wonderful people and give me the most satisfying feeling. It would be hard to give up anything that special. So, I will be back hopefully soon but probably not too predictably....Bunny