Three tops and more to come!

 

I have three tops to share with you, made between Thanksgiving and New Year's , I think. With the old year behind us, much is blur. These are part of last year and I am now working on this year's projects in earnest. You have seen me make these patterns before. They are tried and trues. I like to think the fabrications are unique and make them worthy of a second look here. I've tried different techniques each time. The first that you will see are two new Eureka tops. I believe they are number 6 and 7.   A search will bring up the others. The Eureka top is a very basic cut on sleeve tee shirt from the Sewing Workshop. It is the simplest of designs, therefore lending itself to all sorts of interpretations and play. It is large, boxy and so forgiving of fit. I highly recommend it. I did a bit of research and found that McCall's 7721, view B,  is nearly exact to my ruffled sleeve version presented here. I think it may just be a bit less boxy. 

I could wear it now with a turtleneck underneath but will save this for warmer weather. The fabric is Lady McElroy and it is called "EPIC Spectacles". Make sure if you order it you ask for Epic as you may get the tiny faces as I did on the first purchase! Stone Mountain and Daughter carry it and were the ones to eventually provide me with the Epic version and were great to do business with. For the ruffles I simply cut a six inch wide strip the length of the sleeve opening and made that double the length of that opening. Next I sewed the short ends together. It was then folded in half, pressed and then gathered and applied to the opening, very simple basic ruffle technique. Seams on here were French seams except for the ruffle attachment which were machine stitched then serged. 

The Eureka pattern has no closure. I wanted one and I also made the neckline opening a bit  wider. 

I made a simple facing for the slit area and backed it with woven interfacing. Because I did not want any bulk to show through, I zigzagged and pinked the edges of the facing. No bulk! I did a simple thread loop by hand for the tiny vintage button and applied a bias binding as I always do.   I think this shirt is great fun and can't wait to wear it in the warmer weather. 

With the second Eureka, the party is all in the back. 

Pardon the photo. For some reason the fabric is really shiny. IRL, it is not. 

On this Eureka I did the sleeves as directed in the pattern, with a simple fold-up cuff. I always cut the extra small size.  This is a big garment and I like it.  

 

The back got a square cut out and I tied it across at the top  to prevent gaping. I also didn't want it hanging open for viewing to the public as I moved  around. The facing was understitched but also held down with French knots all around. I also ran a strip of boning in a channel across the bottom edge of the square cutout. It fits in very snugly and you don't even know it's there. Its snug fit keeps it in place and I can easily take it out for laundering. The cutout square stays nicely placed on my back with the weight of the bone and no facing rolls out. I gave it a trial wear to make sure.  What type of boning did I use? A white electrical tie, cut on the ends in a curved shape so not to irritate. 

The fabric was the fun part here. It came from a floor length tee shirt dress that also had white ribknit neckline and cuffs, Think golf shirt. I got it at Good Will and  was size XXL. On my first trip there in a long time, I saw it and fell in love with its hand painted water color style. I left it on the rack. I went back a couple weeks later and it was still there so I grabbed it. It was a very cold day and this type of garment would not be moving easily out of the door into the winter's cold right now. I brought it home. The fabric is all poly, I know, yuk, but I felt the lovely print would make up for any issues I might encounter with heat. The design of the top and its  loose demeanor make me think it won't be too hot. I really like it. 

On to top #3!

Oh, how I love the Imby top by Karmme Apparel! I didn't use a shower curtain to make this one! I did use a lovely fabric. It is a rayon slub, near sheer,  leftover from a prior project. You can see more on the original project here. 

The bodice lining/collar were made of a really nice rib knit. 

 The bodice was topstitched pretty much everywhere and the lining was understitched with a triple zigzag up to the shoulder seams. I hand stitched the collar down with a hemstitch underneath. It just kept wanting to turn back. If I did it again I would interface the turnback area. There is no interfacing in here now. The Imby top is a lot of fabric and should be heavy but it looks best with a light fabric making up the skirt and bodice so is very comfortable to wear. I think it will be delightful this summer and great with white jeans. I need to get some of those! (that fit)

The Velvet Bomber Jacket is c'est finis! I am just hemming the lining area by hand. This was not difficult, just extremely bulky to work with. The ribbing was like working with a rubber tire. Add in the heavy lining and fashion fabric and it tried my patience at times but I got it done. It could be better and I think it was one of those patterns you had to work thru the first time and then get it right the second. I'll review as soon as done, hopefully in the next few days. Then it will be on to sewing for summer and my vacation at the end of June. Happy Sewing..............Bunny

This Tee Journey Is Not Easy!

All photos have been wicked enhanced for contrast because of the black fabric. This makes for weird shadows and I apologize. 

The Tee Shirt Quest continues................and this was a story unto itself as well. I haven't hit the Holy Grail yet! I do have lots to say about this pattern. You may be thinking to yourself "she is really getting grouchy in her old age." Maybe I am but I don't think so. Yes, after a certain age our lips and what comes out of them do get a little looser but I am not getting crabbier. I just have a lot more experience under my belt at this stage and perhaps expect more because of that. The sewing world is changing and I am not sure quite what is going on with it as you will see in my review. Let's get started. 

 Fabric:

The first thing my husband said when he saw the tee was, "Wow, that is gorgeous fabric." It really is and makes a great tee. It had the stretch needed and was from ancient stash. This fabric, which I think is a rayon/poly blend interlock, came from the Fabric Fix, an awesome Mom and Pop fabric store whose owner hit the Garment District every couple of weeks and brought back killer bargains on designer fabrics and sewing notions. I think I paid 3.00 a yard for this and bought tons. I made a voluminous skirt from this fabric that I wore to death for years at work. I still have the skirt to recycle its fabric. I wish you could see it up close. It is lovely and a delight to sew. It topstitched and eased beautifully. 

Pattern: 

This is where it gets interesting! This is Simplicity 9229, cute little tee shirt number from "Something Delightful" ugh. You need to really look at this pattern envelope closely, the model and the back. I bought this pattern on a big pattern sale at Joanns about a month ago. I bought 4 tee patterns. Two were Simplicity with S before the number on the patterns and dated 2021.  Now I don't know what is going on with Simp, if they were sold off, acquired, owned by CSS, or Design Group, or Something Awful or what but things are different. These 2021 versions have a confusing guide on the back. It says Sizes and then underneath European. You take a look and tell me what that means. 

OK, maybe I needed more coffee, but I thought size 6 had a 32 inch bust.  Luckily for me I always flat pattern measure. Seems it was only 30 1/2. Now, for about 2 1/2 decades I have been achieving pretty decent fit with the Zieman method which put me into a size 6 with an FBA , not a big one. This pattern was way too small all over. I knew negative ease was involved and I don't like negative ease but this was beyond that. I ran to Pattern Review. Low and behold, the one review was having the same experience I was. I will let you judge for yourself here. The envelope and others like it also have no description of the garment which I found frustrating. I would think a description acknowledging the princess seams would be nice. In the photo above you will see that the cutting lines for side front are wrong for the size 10. They put the size 10 lines on the size 6 cutting lines. I did end up cutting  a size 10 and did an FBA and did a MAJOR bicep adjustment. Since I stopped working I am more active plus those health issues and have lost weight.  So my 107 pound frame jumped up in size, and after losing weight (only a number)  then I needed to add a lot more to that to get it to fit my bicep. There is just something wrong here. Read the PR reviewers comments as well, including those below her review. 

So I don't know what is happening at Simplicity but for the first time in forever, their sizing is not working for me like it has for years. 

I will be the first to admit it could be me but the PR review does give a bit of validation. I have remeasured myself and cutting out another tee right now with another pattern and we shall see what happens. 

Construction:

This fabric was delightful to work on. The pattern did call for inserting sleeves in the round so I went with it being my first try  but next time will be in the flat. Between the last tee and this one I stumbled upon Sara Veblen's method of inserting neck bands and used it for this shirt. Wow, her tips helped me get perfection. I am really happy with my results and you can see her video here on the Threads website.  The pattern did not call for it but I stayed the neckline with fusible tricot interfacing.  Before I inserted the sleeves and after doing the neckband, I pinfitted the sides and they were fine, plenty of room. It did seem to need a bit of a sway back adjustment but I would catch that on the next make.  Sleeves went in. I did the hems and done. I tried it on and it did not fit. I don't know where the fit went but once the sleeves were in it totally changed and I had no extra seam allowance to play with. I was not going to wad this shirt. I loved the fabric too much. I ended up cutting gussets for the side seams.  They were shaped like picket fence stakes adding one inch to each side and terminating in a point at the armscye. Worked like a charm but took time, ugh. Size ten did not fit at ALL. You can see it does not have negative ease, but neither does the triple size 0 model on the cover of the envelope. Is it not fair to expect my ease to match that of the photo on the envelope? With no description saying "close fitting" or anything else, I thought mine would fit like the model's, at least in regards to ease. I hemmed the sleeves and hem with my usual manner. That means a fusible tricot applied to the full hem width and stitched on the edge and again about an inch further up. 

In Conclusion:

I don't recommend this pattern. It required me to rethink a method of fitting that worked for me for decades. I feel the pattern itself is faulty and it shows on the poor guide on the outside of the envelope as well as the printed tissue.  Upon further investigation of the back of the pattern you get a "6" size, a "32" European and a "34" in Francaise. Is Francaise not European and are these measurements or what? I think those may be just representative of further turmoil within this company and if so they better get their act together as their competition is nipping at their heels with foam dripping from their mouth. This pattern is not one I will make again. I have one more I will try on the cutting table as we speak. This five foot tall, 107 pound woman cut a size 12 based on my measurements. If it fits perfect, so be it it. Numbers don't bother me. Change without explanation does.  Maybe they took lessons from Nancy Zieman and redid their pattern slopers.  We can only hope..............................Bunny

I've changed my mind!

 

I have said it more than once and I know others agree with me. "I can't be bothered to make a tee shirt that I can pick up for 3 dollars at WalMart." The truth is I extremely rarely buy a tee shirt and rarely shop at WM. I have tons of tee shirts. I used them as underlayer foils against the cold when I worked and they all have some sort of text or logo on them. They are the tee shirts that are "affiliated". I hide the affiliations under layers or wear them in the garden in the summer. 

I recently watched several  youtubers looking for well fitting tees. One really appealed because it was not skin tight and it still showed a women's shape. No boxiness here!  I thought I might have  the pattern in my stash and I did. Before this I had been thinking  maybe I should get on the tee wagon and search out a great pattern, one that I could whip out over and over, one that did not have letters on it, one I could actually wear to a friend's for a glass of wine.  I was currently looking for my next project and this sounded like a good one --- finding the Holy Tee!

I dug out the pattern that I remembered the  youtuber used, even if I couldn't find it on Youtube again. I looked up reviews and got to work. Here is my review:

Pattern:

This is McCall's 6964, an oldie but a goodie. My envelope says 2014. The interesting thing is that this pattern has actually been re-issued by Something Delightful (???) as Butterick 6848. Who knew?? Hopefully the directions have been updated as well. It has several neckline styles and a tank version as well. The tank version uses the exact same armscye as the tee shirt. Hmmmmm..... I chose View C, 3/4 length sleeves, my fave, and a rounded out neckline. 

I like to follow a pattern pretty closely the first time I use it. This made for an interesting ride. Open it up and there were 7 pages, to be expected but not quite fitting with the "easy" description on the front. It is all about fitting and I can see this blowing away a newbie but they might not get their hands on this OOP number anyway. 

The first page starts with the classic pics of views then one column with a small blurb about creative ideas and more on "tips for knits". One tip was to stabilize the shoulder seams. I thought this would have been more appropriate on page five where you actually sew the shoulder seam. This pattern broke a lot of knit rules for me. I expected more finesse from such an acclaimed sewing expert. No stabilization of neckline, shoulders or armscye was shown. The side seams were stitched closed before the neckband was put on, which drove me nuts and I also thought a bit unusual. I get that you baste the side seams to check fit but I would have pin fitted as I have done with my current tee project. I soldiered on. The sleeves were installed in the round "for better fit." You know me. I am a traditional sewist. I am a total round sleeve type sewist, but not for knits, people! It's a knit tee shirt. So there was that making the simple tee more complicated as well.  Then the final clinker was, and we are sewing with knits here that don't ravel, right?  The final clinker was turning the hem under a 1/4 inch on the raw edge of the hem and then stitching. Really? Knits only are specified on the pattern. Every step of the way this garment was made more complicated than need be and that did not include any of the fitting instructions. 

Now for the fitting. There is a lovely shape to the side seam and that is what makes this garment work. That is why the youtuber loved the pattern. If you have followed me a long time you know I am not a fan of negative ease. I cut wide seam allowances here and petited the pattern to make it work for me. I've lost a few pounds lately (unintentional) and there is more ease on me than what you see on the form, just a bit but it is exactly how I like it. The shoulders fit great on me. On the dressform, the nature of dressforms, the sewn shoulders don't seem wide enough. They are. I was concerned about the bust in this pattern. I usually do an FBA for a C cup. With the weight loss I did not need one but I read through the pattern to see what to do before I measured myself for my own needs.  If I needed that C cup, I had to add a dart!!!! Really??? This is a knit tee shirt.  Anything higher than a B cup is suggested to add a dart and the pattern shows how, a complicated process for any newbie on their own. If I needed that FBA I would have just done a cheater version bumping out the sides and easing it into the side seam, done. 

Fabric:

My fabric is a lyocell jersey with a bit of spandex. It is in a color that does nothing for me but will go with several things I own and I can make it a more flattering piece with a scarf or jacket on top. 

Construction:

Well, you can tell from the pattern instructions that I would have gone about the construction very differently. I would have taped the neckline with  a fusible tricot tape. I would have used a more traditional knit method of construction, leaving the sides open until the neckline and sleeves were installed. I would never have turned a knit under a 1/4 inch at the raw edge of the hem, choosing instead to just trim back to the stitching line, which I did. 

In Conclusion:

I think this pattern could really flummox a beginner sewist. However, due to the really nice shape of it I would recommend it to those who are experienced with knit sewing and can follow their own method of construction. I also recommend it to those who prefer a top without negative ease. This skims and nicely. In the end, I like the look of my top and the shape. I did not like the pattern instructions at all.  I do hope the second generation re-issue by Butterick is more user friendly in it's directions and has a bit more finesse in it's directions for sewing and fitting knits.

I have already started another tee, another pattern and will have that review soon.  It is beautiful black knit I had in my stash and I am loving it. Above are a couple more knits that might make the tee project as well. Heavens, this last pattern bugged me. The current one is delightful, actually, Something Delightful, ha ha ha!!............Bunny