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I made this a couple of months ago for my daughter. She was wearing a friend's hoodie and she said she wanted one in a few different colors. I had some gray cotton jersey in my stash and she said that would be good for one. I had just taken a class and learned how to rub off a pattern from a real garment, so I rubbed her friend's shirt and created a pattern. I just wasn't sure if it was good enough to cut up good fabric and then have my picky daughter disdain it. So I went through my patterns, and, duh, found this Jalie, which was very similar. I looked at her friend's hoodie and then looked at this Jalie pattern and looked at my rub-off pattern and looked at her friend's hoodie and back at the Jalie pattern. I went with the Jalie. It turned out so nice! And my daughter loves it. She wears it all the time. So much pleasure in making a garment someone actually likes to wear.
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Let's see. I think I've made this twice. The first time was with this cotton camo print from Joann's. It was a little transparent so I lined it with a poly white knit. I just love this top! I think the colors look good on me and the shaping is nice. Plus, it is warm. Next, I made it in this beautiful rayon jersey from Joann's. I loved the color, though I might have been erroneously swayed by the label, "chili." It's really just true red. Since I'm lazy, I pretreated it and then threw it in the dryer. It was on "delicate"! As I recall, it came out wrinkled. I think I put it back in the dryer with a wet towel and then laid it out flat. So lazy! It was very hard for me to tell where the grain was. Guess where this story is going...I cut it out, sewed it up, put it on, and discovered that the grain or ribs were going horizontally, not vertically. Why could I see this so clearly now and not when I was going to cut? I do not know. So needless to say this top hangs strangely. I look pregnant and the fabric clings a little too dearly to the girls. I kind of don't like how the neckline with this pattern will stretch into a U-shape if the knit is fluid. The camo version is firmer and stays more rounded, which I prefer. So if I make this again, I must remember to attend to the body of the fabric. I wonder if only the binding material needs to have body.
The top was disaster after disaster. It looks wrinkly because it's been in a discard pile. So first I made it according to the instructions. I had to do the neckline three times. I had the cowl on at first but I could not figure out how to do it! I read some reviews on patternreview.com and they surmised that the instructions were backwards. I put it on my way and the seams showed in the back. It just looked stupid. I took the cowl off but did not even try to put it back on Simplicity's way because it made no sense and I couldn't see wasting the time. I bound the neckline and it looked either ugly or boring and shapeless; I can't remember. I took the binding off, put his ruffle on, and put a binding over top. Now I declared it as good as it was going to get. Well, there is the visible seam allowance pressing through the fabric at the top of the shoulder, but at this point I don't care. Not to mention I have no idea how to rectify it. The fabric incidentally is a wool jersey. I just love to wear wool jersey. It is so warm and breathable. I am always cold. However, this top went in the discard bin because I got a color analysis some time after I made it. I am a "cool red"--similar to a winter in the old parlance. This green has too much yellow for me. Fortunately, one of my sisters is a warm orange and another is a warm golden. Maybe one will like this top. Maybe. Maybe it is destined for some lucky person at Goodwill. I will not be making this top again.
Now, I made the skirt a couple of years ago for my daughter. I made it a little longer than the pattern called for. She needed a long concert skirt. It was one of those occasions where I was informed very late in the game about the requirements for the concert. So rather than zoom around town looking for a potentially elusive long black (and affordable) skirt, I decided to make it. I settled on Simplicity 3598. The only suitable fabric I had in my stash was some insanely cheap black polyester I had purchased long back to make a Halloween costume. Well, the skirt looked very nice on her. I think she wore it once or twice and then decided she no longer wanted to do band. I am modeling it to see how it looks in case I want to try one for myself. It's got about 6 gores in it. I think the Hot Patterns Bossa Nova pattern is the same idea but I like it better. Maybe it's not fair to judge because the fabric is not nice and I am a lot thicker than my daughter. The Collette Sorbetto is a free download. People have made millions of these tops and they look fantastic. My version is a disaster. The failure stems from both the drafting, which just does not l0ok good on me, and the hoops I had to go through to get my 1 yard of 45"-wide silk charmeuse to work. Actually, my little Frankensolution didn't look half bad. Mostly it is the shape of this pattern, especially the darts, which I find very strange. Here's a close up of the back. I had to patch the fabric together to create pieces large enough. Then I had to make bias strips. Another disaster was I cut them too narrow! Then I managed to find enough room in the scraps for wider bias pieces and thus could finish the neckline and armhole edges.
I have made this top a few times. The results have really differed a lot depending on the fabric. The first one I made in a stable poly patterned knit from Gorgeous Fabrics. I never buy polyester ready-to-wear garments, so it amuses me that I spend my time sewing it. However, the prints are so cool and the fabric I get from GF is uniformly awesome. This one is no exception. I love the top and thought I had a TNT pattern. The skirt is from a free download from Hot Patterns! I cut a bunch of length off the bottom and lined it in an inexpensive white poly knit from Joann's. I love to wear this skirt; it is so comfortable and swishy. It was very easy to sew. There is an elastic waistband. However, I thought it would be a flattering silhouette for my pear-shaped figure, but I am not so sure now. Maybe it's that I wear it to work but it doesn't project "power." Ha ha ha, I am such a milquetoast that I need my clothes to keep the ruse going. I still love the skirt. I made a second New Look 6901 in some leftover rayon knit jersey I had. It was left over from the Jalie 2806 top I made. Since that one was a disaster, I thought I'd use my "TNT" with this silky red fabric and I could have a splash of red to wear. It's okay. I just don't like how frumpy the fabric looks. Maybe I don't care for it properly. It looks pretty good to me in these pictures. Interesting. The most recent version of it that I made was in that strange white cotton knit that I made the Jalie 2793 out of and did not like. Only I made this one first. I needed a white top fast for my first ever orchestra concert! This is all I had in the stash and I didn't see why it wouldn't work. I wanted long sleeves so I extended them. The neck just doesn't drape the way I imagined it would. I don't know what I was thinking with this cotton. I was so displeased with it that I did not even hem the sleeves or bottom; I just serged them. The top does not look so bad in these pictures and I'm sure it looked fine if you caught a glimpse of me behind the concertmaster, but trust me, it is icky.
I made this in a poly printed knit from Joann's. I really like the fabric. I think the colors look good on me. Unfortunately, I got creative with the sleeves and put a ruffly band on them. I always feel like the Creature from the Black Lagoon because the sleeves remind me of his ear flaps. Maybe I should remove them. They stick out of jackets and sweaters. Just noticed the pattern on the bosom. Crap. Look deep into my eyes... The first time I made this it was a thick white cotton knit that I had in my stash. Actually, I didn't have enough of it and the band I ended up making with a slightly thinner cotton I had. It was intended to be a muslin. The white was stained a little in places. I still wore it lots because it looked so awesome!! I got compliments when I wore it. So of course I wanted to make it again. I've made it three times since. The blue and pink patterned one is a buttery poly which feels very nice to wear. I got the fabric from Gorgeous Fabrics. The top looks okay. Maybe I made it too long. I do like it. I'm just not as nuts about it as I was that first white version. The green version I made with my serger when I first got it. I don't know if I gained weight or serged too wide a seam, but it is slightly tight. Maybe it is the fabric, which in spite of being a knit has very little stretch. I wonder if I sewed it the wrong orientation....??? Will have to check that out. I put it in my discard box and left it there for a year or so. Then St. Pat's Day came around and I needed something green. I pulled it out and it looked great. Still too tight. The next white one I made most recently. I got this white 100% cotton knit just for this. Made it up and pretty much hate it. There's something weird about this fabric! It just has no life to it. It's droopy or something. It doesn't do it for me. I made another top out of it and that one's even worse. I documented it in another post.
I have not even bothered to hem the bottom yet. It is rather long, and in the photo I just folded it up. I am not sure I am going to waste time hemming it. Will I ever wear it? Well, it is white, so it's likely to come in handy some day. I might just rather find a better fabric. I do want 100% cotton and I am not sure how to ensure the fabric properties will be what I want if I buy over the Internet. I made a couple long-sleeved versions of the jewel neckline of this pattern for my daughter. The first was too tight. The second fit great, though the neckline was a little too tight. I scooped it out and put on a new band. It looked totally cute on her! But she's soooo picky! She wanted it closer fitting around the armhole (or something; to tell you the truth, I'm just not that discerning when it comes to the fit, and I couldn't really imagine what sort of adjustment I could make to accommodate her.) Fortunately, we went to Target soon after and found loads of T-shirts and tanks and she was content. Now I get to wear the one I made. It is long-sleeved and made with a burn-out cotton, something I never would have chosen, but in the end I like it. I think I got it from fabric.com or some place like that. We looked specifically for burnout cotton jersey and it wasn't easy to find. I really like the fit of the pattern; however, if I knew I was going to be wearing it, I would have made it a size or two bigger and made a V-neck. I saw this fabric with rows of ruffles in Joann's. I thought it would make an elegant top or skirt, with the ruffles built in. It sat in my stash for a few months while I debated what pattern to use. I was in Joann's again and on a mannequin they had a simple sleeveless shirt made of this fabric. That's when I thought of using the Jalie T-shirt pattern. I made a slightly bigger size and made the sleeves longer. I like the shirt; it fits well and it's comfy. It doesn't have an elegant vibe though. I feel more like a Yeti. I am happy with how the neckline turned out. I had to think a bit about what material I would use. In the end I used the same ruffle material, which I was pleased I could do. I managed to cut a strip in between two rows of ruffles--or maybe there was one row of ruffle. Argh. Can't remember. It was only last month that I made it!
I have made this twice. The first time I made the size that went with my bust size. It was HUGE. It fell off me. The second time I made a smaller size. I made it out of wool jersey. I made the view with the longer sleeves. I really like the neckline and the warmth of the jersey, but the sleeves look silly on me. The color is a bland yellowish tan, but I really like to wear the cream jersey with my purple velvet blazer. It looks and feels kind of regal. But just don't take the blazer off and reveal those sleeves!
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AuthorI am a wife and mother. I am retired: yay! Archives
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