Tiger trimmed Tie Dyed mesh top

This is truly a stash busting project. I made the mesh top from some fabric that has been hanging around for a few years and I could not decide what to do with it. 

The tiger trim is Minerva fabric ( which matches my leggings and cycle shorts as well as my track pants/PJs - because I cannot decide what they are best used as!) but not too sure where I bought the mesh from.  I have another 3 pieces of it in different colours yet to find a use for. I love mesh tops though but wanted this one to be different and also better made than some of the ones I made before . I just need a change. Ages ago I copied the Frieda Petrenko top. 

 

Its just got bands added to the sleeve and neck edges and its a great finish for mesh. In this case though there is not a pattern. Its another self drafted "squares" top like my many versions of this kind of top. You can get directions here.https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2015/12/8-dark-navy-top-with-step-by-step.html

I made this one much longer - dress length because I want something big and baggy rather than figure hugging and maybe I can wear a short slip dress under this -  sadly no more orange tiger velvet to make a dress though I have many offcuts which I need to find a use for but I am thinking they will be more knicker sized than dress sized even if I mix with something else like black velvet. The sleeves are also tapered out at the wrists to make them baggy. Before I added the cuffs they had a kind of witchy mediaeval look but it was no good for real life hence the cuffs.

Also for this top I decided though to use a T shirt pattern (Butterick 5562) for the neck shaping here and then just added narrow offcuts of the left over bits from the recent leggings, cycle shorts, track pants and my ruched sleeved top to make this. 

And I love it though to be perfectly honest there is a mistake in this. You cannot tell from the pictures but in an effort to encourage anyone who might make a similar mistake: I wanted a selvedge for the hem edge rather than my usual overlocked look for this top and never thought about the fact the stretch will then go down not across the top widthways. Yes I got my selvedge edge but I should have been less lazy and hemmed it or just left it as a raw edge or overlocked edge like the rest of my tops. It still fits, being a large baggy top, but its not how it should be. 

The stretch is really best going from side to side accross  the top. Never mind. Next time I will make it with the right direction of stretch! I have other colours of this fabric in my stash and I like this enough to do something similar but with different edging ( since I| do not have that much more of the tiger fabric). Though this is my only piece of tie dyed mesh. The other pieces are plain colours.

I have worn it several times so the stretch issue is not actually a problem since its so wide anyway but if I had made a tight fitting top like my original navy self drafted top this would have been disastrous!

Well you can't win them all!

Thanks for popping by my blog

Bracken

black mesh Frieda Petrenko inspired top

I watch Holby City most weeks. Not because I like it because generally I hate hospital soaps, but my other half comes from a family of nurses which is I think why we have to watch it. He is not himself a nurse but his Mum, Sister etc etc are all nurses and by the sounds of it he grew up watching these types of TV programs. So I watch.

For the most part I am pretty bored and get on with cleaning the kitchen or similar essential mundane stuff. One character I have got into though is Frieda Petrenko played by Olga Fedori. She is very much a Goth and wears some really nice gear. Petrenko usually wears mesh or lace tops under here Doctor's scrubs. They just kind of peep out. The tops tend to vary over the weeks and try as I might I cannot find a picture of this top that inspired me to make todays post.

This one particular under top is made from wide mesh and unlike most tops of similar designs I have come across it has a "normal" T shirt neck and possibly wrists.


Well mine has wrists anyway. I did not really want to sit through several episodes of Holby to check that small detail because I know the last time she was seen on screen wearing tis top is 3-4 weeks ago now so it would mean far too many episodes just for this blog post. The top in questions seems not to be in any easy to find internet posts.

So my wrists and neck edges are black lycra fabric left over from something else I made. I used the Its always autumn free pattern for this top - one of my internet favourites which I have used several times before.
Great pattern. I seriously recommend it. You can see some of my previous versions here http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/25-comparing-free-raglan-sleeved-t.html
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/26-more-free-raglan-sleeve-tshirt.html
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/36-raglan-sleeved-black-and-blue-top.html

and a hack of it here:

http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/68-joe-browns-inspired-upcycled-tunic.html

Stupidly this time I made it bigger to accommodate as much fabric as possible rather than have a few left over scraps which would go to waste. That was a mistake. I am sure Petrenko's original is tighter and more Tshirt like. I may have to make another but with some fishnet which I have in my stash.

I bought the fabric full price on my birthday back in July so its kid of precious and I virtually never buy full priced fabric so this was for me expensive at £7 a meter. I wanted absolutely no waste. Well its worked out bigger and more baggy that it was meant to but I reckon still looks OK.

That is until I show you this:

Looks like some reject from the market eh?

I cocked it up.

Its all twisted and lop-sided!

It happened because I sewed one sleeve with the fabric on the wrong side. You can just about see here:

Its actually very difficult to see which is the right and wrong side but there is a difference so what I have done is make the back and front of one sleeve the wrong way round if you see what I mean so the lower front neck ends up on the back and the higher back, on the front, but only on one side so the final result is I have twisted it.
Because its so hard to see and to sew as well, because sewing is a bit tricky, so I actually had a larger than usual seam allowance to ensure I caught all the ends of the cut bits of mesh into the seams, so I really do not want to cut this appart and resew.

I could resew but it looks perfectly Ok on me and is comfortable and if I take it all appart I could wreck my precious and expensive fabric so its staying just as it is. The mesh is very forgiving and I think other than me most people, probably all people, will never realise the sleeve on one side is sewn on inside out.

 Sorry about the toast. These were taken when I was not planning on being a model yet.

Well being someone who has grown up wearing cheapo discount and market clothing that's not so bad and it looks Ok on me I think so I am not that worried. I just kind of find it a bit funny. The hem I have so far left unhemmed and raw which I quite like although depending on how it wears I may yet get round to hemming that. I prefer it raw. It works with the look I think.

Its a bit of a shame the neck is so wide and unlike what I set out to make but in all its a success because I am very sure I will be wearing this lots. Its just my kind of garment.

In case you were wondering I also made the leggings.
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/38-side-panel-leggings.html

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave comments

Bracken

28: Bug Dress and Mesh Top

I made this dress some time ago now from Ikea bugs fabric. I have never worn it till today. I decided to wear this at last since it seems such a shame to just leave it hanging in my wardrobe. I am also gaining confidence now that the clothes I am making will be wearable and not just fall to pieces once I step out of the house.

Its a basic shift dress with front and back darts. You can see it better here:

It is meant to have an invisible zip but I used a recycled one from another garment so its a normal zip in this dress not an invisible one and to be honest I do not yet kow how to put in an invisible zip. Its on my "to learn" list. I think it was a pattern which I got free with some sewing magazine or other. Possibly with Prima because I bought it for a while just for the free patterns before I discovered Burda which I think is much better value for money. I do not tend to buy "women's" magazines normally and am more likely to shed out my cash for a gardening mag but I do like Burda in recent years.

Anyway this was the very first dress I have made in about 25 years so I think it was quite an achievement. I also made it on a very dodgy old sewing machine which kept losing tension whilst making this. I have a better machine now.

I also made this mesh top: 

Its a kind of lacey ladder design mesh which you can see a bit better here:

It is made in the same way as my:

7: Dark navy top with a step by step tutorial guide to making
so has overlocked edges and hems and is really easy to make but surprisingly warm. I expect its that "string vest" effect where string fabrics are meant to make you warmer by trapping the air in the holey bits.

I think it goes quite well with my Bugs Dress. Means I can wear it on these nice spring days we have been having recently. My dress is a bit too summery really but with an extra layer it is far more wearable.


Thanks for reading. Hope you come back again soon,

Bracken