An Imby Plus Chiffon Upcycle! Can you translate Mandarin?

 

                 Pardon no makeup and eye puffs. Still dealing with blefaritis. 

This top had  a story, as most upcycles do. First, I love the results. My base came from Goodwill, a couple of years back. More on that in a moment. I never knew what I would do with the resource, just that it was beautiful and one day, inspiration would strike. It did, in the form of a competition. Being from a large family, competition is part of my DNA, and I always enjoying upcycling, I finally moved on this textile beauty. Inspiration? One of the various monthly competitions that is held by Pattern Review. It involved upcycling a pre-existing garment/s  into something for an adult, no kids or pets. It could be an accessory or garment. Immediately my resource came to mind but what to do????? Let's get this story and review going and fill you in. 

Pattern:  

For this top and it's ethereal fabric, I immediately thought of the Imby Flowy Top from Karmme Apparel.   It is a FREE pattern. The pattern is designed by Imby Lagenbach. She is not, and stresses this, a pattern designer. She designs handbags and fabrics, gorgeous ones. She has less than a handful of garment designs to motivate you to purchase her fabrics, which are beautiful. She apologized for directions, which are fine, and sizing, which is one size fits all, sizes 8-14 Australian. Oz sizes run two numbers larger than US sizes. On my second and third efforts I removed one inch from across the bodice with a simple slide over. I figure this gave me a size four. I did not adjust the bodice length. You could easily adjust this pattern either way with a muslin effort and simply sliding. I believe the sleeves and bodice have so much volume that they will fit anyone. My skirt was 76 inches wide when completed. This is not a difficult pattern. 

Fabric:

I was doing my semi-monthly visit to GoodWill a couple years back. I often head straight for the more formal dresses in the plus size area.  This dress, which sure did not look plus size, was on that rack. I checked the size tag, not that it mattered. I was desiring the fabric. All tags were still on the garment and in an Asian language. The only thing in English was "3XL". I don't think so but again, didn't matter. 

There were massive amounts of fabric in this beautiful border print. The colors were amazing. Was it silk? Turned out to be poly but no problem, still beautiful. 

You can see the waist and sizing above on me. I would guess maybe a size 14. The waist measured 36 inches. The skirt, 76.  I got it home, stared at it a few weeks, machine washed it, and hung it away. Then the upcycle contest arrived 2 years later and I knew it's moment had come. It was made for the Imby top. 

My only problem was the lack of fabric for the entire top. I didn't want a total chiffon top, anyway. I thought and thought and then decided to make this top more wearable I would make the yoke have a strong contrasting presence. It would be denim! I went to my stash of cut up jeans and was able to salvage the yoke, with pieceing from a couple of thighs, thanks to some jeans my husband could not fit into any more, too big! I don't think he ever liked them anyway. He hardly ever wore them and gave them to me a couple  years previous to use for mending. 

I measured my pattern pieces and  would JUST BARELY make my plan with the skirt fabric. I would make my ties from the waist band. It was all a go now. This is what I had left. 

Construction:   

This pattern is pretty straightforward.  There are two things to point out about the Imby top. There is a unique and very clever way to do the slit with tie on the Imby. 

The bodice/yoke has no facings or bindings, yay. It is two layers, being self-lined. First you make your ties. This is ONE long piece. Do not cut into two ties. Set aside. Next lay your bodice lining and bodice together,  then right sides facing and stitch the circular necklines together, NO SLIT SEWING, JUST THE CIRCLE. Trim and grade as normal. Don't understitch yet. With wrong lining side facing up, draw in the slit as directed. Now,  I drew the slit an inch shorter due to my height issues. Lift up the lining. Take your tie and place the center of the tie across the area directly below the neckline stitching at center front. Pin into place. That tie is tucked right up to the neckline stitching. Place the lining back down.  Baste or pin the slit area so it won't slide. Starting at the neckline edge with a 1.5 stitch length for an inch or so then back to normal length, stitch down to the point, two stitches across, then stitch back up the other side of the slit to the neckline edge again. When you approach the bottom of the slit click down the st length to 1.5 again an inch before and after. When you approach the neckline, do the same again. At the neckline edge you have sewn across the tie without even trying. Now cut down the center of the slit and grade, press and understsitch the neck and slit as much as possible. Don't force here.  You will have a tie on each side when done, sewn in with the 1.5 stitch length. It will turn the corners out beautifully. 

The only other challenge here is the meeting of the three pieces at this corner above.  This is not a pattern with a square skirt and square sleeves. There is definite shape to both, curves. There is also an angle where the yoke, sleeve and skirt meet. It is VERY, VERY important to sew only to the dot, not the edge of the fabric. Don't sew across the seam allowance here. You won't get the clean corner you see above if you do. This makes it very difficult to serge ahead and/or use French seams.  The seams are finished with serging after they were machine stitched together. Trust me on this. 

Being petite, I knew I would have to reduce the length or all this fabric could overwhelm. I removed 2 3/4 inches from the length at the hem. I first hemmed this top with a deep hem but found it flared and disturbed the drape of the fabric. I cut it way back and did a serged and machine stitched half inch hem. It draped better after that. So what you see on me is shorter than what you will see from the designer. The sleeves are the same. 

I did a bit of topstitching and decided it really added nothing to the party. I did no more. 

In Conclusion:

This is my third Imby top. I really like this pattern. It is a great fabric show-off-er. It works best with drapey fabric. I've seen it made beautifully with recycled saris. The yoke is just aching to be embroidered or painted, or to just be a foil to a wonderful border print. I think it was a great choice for my Good Will fabric. I never wanted to make that pretty dress into a dupe for me.  I just wouldn't need it. This I will wear a lot. I can see it fitting in well with my life. The denim really made the difference. Contrasts are good. We need more contrast in our life.......Happy Sewing, Bunny

The "Imby Flowy Top"

 

I absolutely  L O V E my Imby Flowy top. Can you tell?

This was such fun to make, so easy and quick. It is also so very comfortable to wear as well. Add in the fact that it was a free pattern made from upcycled fabric and how can it get any better?

Pattern

This is the Imby Flowy top from Karmme Apparel. It is a free download and the designer does sell a few other patterns as well. Unfortunately, within the past day, the pattern has been taken down with a note that it will be back up. Perhaps with a sale price? I will keep you posted. I can tell you the designer is self admittedly not a pattern designer and asks for your understanding (?).  She does design apparel fabrics and clothing and is based out of Australia. She says the pattern is "one size" and fits size 8 to 14 Australian. I've researched and found that in the US we run about two sizes smaller than Oz. There is a conversion chart in this article that shows you the difference between Australian sizing and many other countries. Since I often wear a 4 in tops this worked out. 

ETA: It appears to available again. Here is a link: The Imby Flowy Top

This PDF pattern can easily be adjusted to accommodate larger sizes as well as smaller ones. There is no fit other than the yoke and any concerns about the length of hem and sleeves. It is VERY full and that is what feels so nice.  All the measurements provided are in meters. The directions provide a sheet showing them all quite clearly. I put the imperial measurements in by hand to help myself.  All seams are 5/8ths.  Two closure options are available. One is a back slit and tie. The other is a deeper front slit and tie. 

Fabric

In my resources is a big, plastic tote full of fabrics for muslins. It is 95% solid colored sheets and such. All I needed was a small piece to test out the front and back yoke. As I dug I noticed an odd piece of fabric with color and print. Surely it didn't belong there. I yanked it from the tote, out of curiosity and recognized a shower curtain I had purchased fairly recently. It was far too bright and vivid for our bathroom tastes and I took it down from it's life as an outer shower curtain and evidently threw it in the muslin tote. Dang, this could make the whole top, never mind my muslin yoke. I pulled it out. It was still a shower curtain and 100% cotton. It was slubbed, very soft and light and draped beautifully. This would work. I did a test lay and discovered I could get all my piece out of the curtain and still play with it's border effect.  But a shower curtain for a blouse? 

 

Everything about it was perfect, the fiber, the drape, the border print. I went for it. Will I tell anyone but dear sewists like all of you where it came from? Only upcyclers, friends, only upcyclers. 

Fit

As mentioned,  the only fit concerns with this garment are the fit of the yoke and the lengths of the sleeves and hems. I kept the sleeves as given. I reduced the length of the hem by 2 3/4 inches and took a 1 1/2 inch hem from that.  This gave me the higher hip effect I wanted. I took a scrap of cotton batik and cut out the yoke. There is extreme fullness here as you will see in an upcoming back shot so no concerns for FBAs or large darts. There really is no underarm fit. The skirt is 70 something inches around.  My personal concerns, beside the width of the shoulders, were also the depth of the V neck slit in the front. If you look at the pic above there are three arrows.  The bottom arrow is where the pattern wants to end the slit. The middle arrow is where I ended the slit. The top arrow is where I  thought  I should end the slit.  I cut back the armscye seam, the side of the yoke, 3/4 s of  an inch. I highly suggest you make a yoke muslin first before cutting out this top. It takes minutes of only sewing up the shoulder seams and no more. Another question, which shown from the tops on IG was where the horizontal empire waist seam would land. It was in all sorts of places depending on the body. Mine landed right where I hoped so no changes there, across and a little above the apex. 

Construction

This was so easy to put together and the instructions given, while conversational, get you there well enough. The designer has a youtube video of the entire construction which I highly recommend. I was originally lost a bit with the installation of the ties but when I saw the video, it was brilliant. I had never seen ties attached in that manner and now it will be my go to.  Imby Video

A pic is worth a thousand words so check out  the back of this shirt. 

The large sleeves are gathered only half way across their caps. The front of the sleeve caps get the gathers. The back of the sleeves are smooth which you can see by looking at the back yoke here. The sleeves then have an angle that meets at the sleeve under seam. It is flat also and matched the skirt which has the same angle on its ends. All of the skirt gathers are directly below the front and back yokes. You can see why this top is so very comfortable and why only the yoke requires fitting care. 

The cuffs are gathered but you could easily do a binding if desired. About gathering: Here is a shot I did according to directions, two rows of gathering within the SA. 

Pleats are uneven and that did not sit well with me. On this next pic you will see better pleats on the front yoke. I did one row of basting within the SA and one beyond, in the garment. 

Tiny pleats, falling where they may. Sigh.....it's the smocker in me. 

Mark your garment well. The dots are critical. You will be meeting these three angles at this corner. You do NOT stitch to the edge here. Just stitch to the dots. I chose to topstitch my yoke. It looked nice on the slub cotton. 

Finally, the cuffs, just turned and stitched.  All seams were machine stitched and then serged, nothing fancier. The hem was machine topstitched an inch and a half up in a double row. 

In the end, I think it is a rather elegant little top, clearly designed by a real designer with a great eye for balance, style and detail. I highly recommend this pattern.  I have seen a couple similar among indie designers but none have the  more elegant lines of this one. I have fabrics for a second one on my table waiting for cutting!!!......Happy Sewing,,,,,,,,,,,Bunny