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