1) Half circle skirt in blue mixed cotton. At least I think/hope it's part cotton... I bought the fabric ages and ages ago, and half of it became the first sewn garment featured on this blog (a pleated summer skirt). I've had loads of grand ideas for the 1,5 metres left of this fabric, but nothing has ever seemed right. This may not be a fancy fabric, and it has a shady content, but it's grease and dirt-resistant, it hardly wrinkles and the pleated version is one of my most used items. Hence; another half circle skirt! =) This time with an invisible side-zip.
On a side-note: now I understand the whole shebang about using invisible-zipper feet. I'd only tried it on very thin and flimsy fabric, and thought it was a big hoax. But on this sturdier fabric it worked great!
2) Jersey top. Not much to the naked eye, but a big deal to me as I've adressed and - keep your fingers crossed - conquered the fitting issues in my previous makes! The excellent advices I got on my post really summed up to one thing: a modified SBA. What?! I'm an E-cup, for heavens sake. A very new situation to me... However, my starting point was my sloper for wovens. That sloper has undergone serious alterations, amongst others an FBA. Protruding things stretches jersey more than flat surfaces, meaning that what would in woven have been needed extra fabric for my bust, was in jersey surpluce.
Not wanting to alter the length of the sideseam or the shoulderseam, I reduced the overbust, the neckline and the underbust-gathers. I cut up the front bodice along these lines:
And then overlapped the desired amout (meaning: I made a rough estimation by testing the last top and tested by pinching how much it made sense to reduce over the actual bust. So, I guessed). It worked out darn well!
I also reduced the sleeveheads so the sleeve is inserted flat.
3) Time to test the new top-pattern as a dress! This is a real Frankenstein... The skirt and midriff is from the chevron dress (with 1,5 cm added at center front of midriff-piece), the back bodice is from when I altered the chevron-dress pattern for a V-neck dress that didn't get made, the front bodice and the sleeves are from the new TNT. (And I traced all pieces so all patterns are complete! Quite shocking...)
I've skipped the stabilizer in the underbust seam, but kept it for the shoulders. The waist is helped by an elastic inserted in the overlock seam. I messed it up a bit, though, as I sewed in the elastic wrong (forgot to stretch it and put it on the skirt side instead of on the midriff side) so this dress will be best to wear with a belt. The elastic may also get a bit better after washing. Ah, well, this was the test-run dress =)
New solution to finishing the neckline: cut a 4 cm wide strip and treat it like a mix between biastape and waistband. Attatch right side to right side...
...fold over the overlock-seam so it's engulfed by the band and top-stitch with a zig-zag just next to the seam. Setting my machine on a narrow zic-zag, I can use my zipper-foot (or whatever it is, that's what I most often use it for) and get really close. The finished band ends up a bit round, but I like the effect.
All the hems are folded under once and then top-stitched with a narrow zic-zag.
That was my three easy starting projects; fast to make, versitile and easy to wear. Now it's time for a couple of more jersey projects on the summer SWAP!
Love, Erika
9 comments:
You've been productive! I love it! Especially the half circle skirt. It reminds me that I can use another one too. The one I have is made of wool and not suitable for summer.
It must feel so good that you have improved your pattern!
vad fint det ser ut! jag gillar mest kjolen, det är nog dags att jag syr en liten halv-cirkel kjol till mig själv, de är ju så fina! jag tror att de blir väldigt användbara plagg för sommaren.
Loving your blue skirt! It's cut brilliantly.
Very pretty. I'm going to start some jersey projects soon.
Love circle skirts - they are so versatile. I have four and don't plat to stop making them anytime soon :)
Anthea; thank you so much! Half circle skirts are so nice to wear =) I hope you do sew one for summer, it's a great wardrobe staple.
It feels wonderful to finally have a fitting jersey-pattern!
Joelle; tackar så mycket! Jag har några stycken nu, både i kjolformat och som kjoldel i klänningar, och det har blivit en klar favorit. Så snabba och enkla att sy dessutom! Men så är jag ju då superlat och klipper bara tre stycken (frem, bak, linning).
Thank you, Millie French!
Foster; thank you! I find jersey sewing to be so rewarding, five hours and Voilà! A finished dress! Got to love it =)
Jen; me too =) This half circle kind of skirt has quickly become an everyday favorite.
Härligt att se resulat! Men du har inte tänkt på att kanta nackhålet som om du sydde en i en resår? Dvs vika dubbelt och overlocka? :)
Charmeuse: Thank you!
Kitten: Tackar! Alltid roligt när det faktiskt blir något av tygerna i skåpet och planerna i huvudet =) Tidigare har jag använt en remsa av tyget som en mudd, men funnit att i så här tunna jerseys så blir kanten väldigt instabil. Dessutom stör det mitt ordningssinne när den overlockade sömmen (som ju då ligger lös) flaxar omkring och viker sig åt olika håll =) Med lite tjockare tyg eller en coverstitch-söm som kunde hålla overlocksömmen på plats så skulle det nog funka bättre med en "mudd"...
Wonderful job on all three. Dark blue looks incredibly lovely on you - it really brings out your beautiful hair and skin tones, dear gal. Awesome work on all three pieces.
♥ Jessica
*PS* Thank you very much for your tremendously nice comment on my post about nostalgia. I was nodding in agreement with you from the first word to the last. I'm the polar opposite of a hoarder, but I believe that it's important to hold onto certain things that have deep meaning to us as well. In a way, when I hear people say that they're going an extreme minimalist route, I almost feel sorry for them, because surely it must be tough not to surround yourself with a lifetime of memories and mementos of wonderful times? Thank you again, your comment was so eloquent and in keeping with my stance on such things completely.
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