I need to make a white vest or cami to go under this. Yellow is the lightest I currently own and being see-through means I prefer to wear a vest underneath.
I bought the broderie anglais as cotton but its actually probably polycotton, so I am not so happy about that because I also bought black at the same time. Yet to use that. Still its not so bad I suppose, and was not too expensive really. Though I would have paid less if I had bought some from elsewhere that was described as polycotton. I hate it when you are miss-sold something though. I bought this from poundametre.com.
I have had quite a few problems with poundametre.com recently. They seem to often describe things wrongly or even send a completely different colour out and then try to make you pay return postage when you need to send it back. I actually received one piece of so called "premuim" cotton that was so faded it was unusable. They offered me a 15% discount on my next order in compensation but honestly that was such a rag I would only have used as a dustsheet for decorating so I had to get Paypal involved to get refunded. I luckily always use Paypal to pay so thats easy to sort out this kind of problem, but be aware of this if you decide to go for any of their bargains. Its also worth knowing that Paypal do free return postage if you get something you are unhappy with. I did not realise this until a few weeks ago. Despite all the hassles I have recently placed another order with the same company, because the fabric is mostly ok and very cheap. Usually even if not quite rightly described its still useable and generally I buy fabric with no ideas what to do with it. Anyway, be warned if you choose to buy from this company. I would certainly say do not give them credit card details because you might just need Paypal if there is a problem and Paypal does make life easy when you need to make a claim. It takes months to claim using credit cards and often it has to be over a certain value. Not so with Paypal who do make online shopping very safe.
Anyway back to my top - you can see from this photo that the neck has a tendancy to curl under which is not good:
I started this shirt in July last year and got as far as doing the neck. Then I stopped because I have made a mess of it. Instead of using bias binding - which I did not have in white and also had no white fabric to make any, and there was not enough left over to do so from the rest of the shirt, so I used ribbon.
The ribbon not being bias makes the neck out of shape resulting in a pulling look and this top is 4 sizes too big as well so its not FBA problems here. I will still wear this probably for work, but its a complete cock up round the neck area. Mind you I have yet to press it which I think it needs. Maybe that will help a bit?
It does not work well at all. It kind of sticks up a bit due to not beig bias and it pulls weirdly at the CF point of the neck. I did consider
hand sewing CF down to try and stop it, or even taking appart and starting
again but that is very difficult to do with the ribbn so well stitcheed round the edge and in the end its wearable and I am better to just make a second
perfect version I think and get rid of this one from the sewing pile.
Then because of the neck mess-up I did not bother with this shirt until last Monday when I had to have a day off or I would lose the day as holiday because its the end of the financial year where I work, so what do I do but sew of course.
I have been trying for several weeks to clear the buildup of half made items from the sewing area. I have nearly finsihed now, so its been a good way to go I think, though I have found less excitment involved than usual when I finish something thats been hanging around for ages, than I feel when I make something on the spot. Still these were all once things I decided to make. They all cost money and should be finished.
The pattern for this is from Burda Style October 1981.The magazine is German but there is an english suppliment so you can even do the knits!
The 1980s ( and 1960s and 1970s) burdas are different to modern ones in that the patterns are rarely multi sized.
Hence this is a size 44 when normally I cut a 36. Each design is in one or two sizes only. Of course you can grade up or down and there are online courses - with Burda (that was free) if it still exists after the pretty rubbish recent website updates. YouTube probably has courses as well.
In this case I was slightly wary of the 1980s sizing. I suspect I need to go up one size or maybe two but not as many as I did. I also did not mind if it was loose fitting being an overhead top with no opening and I prefer loose to tight anyway. This pattern only comes in a size 44.
I did not include the sleeve frills and I simplified this because it turned out to have very long sleeves so I just folded over and made channels on the wrists because by then its been waiting to be finished for the last 8 months. I think it actually works rather well and I may even like wearing this despite the defects. I do intend to repeat this one. I think next time I do this pattern I may go whole hog and make it with the sleeve frills as well. But maybe not in broderie anglais. The frill edges are all overlocked with rolled edges which I find quite easy to do nowadays. That used to be such a big deal for me to be moving the cutters and dislocating everything then putting it all back again.
Making sportswear and T shirt tops is very good for me because if I buy RTW thats what I always buy. But thats not very adventurous. Its also not really a challenge any more because I have had lots of practice and usually they work very well.
When buying RTW I simply cannot afford, financially, to take risks. But making my own clothing means generally its less to do than to buy similar RTW. Making things means I also get to challenge myself in my craft, and also my sense of style. A lot of people seem to be making jeans again. Jeans are not so good for me because I hate wearing jeans, and only wear them really when I work in a lab which does seem to happen pretty often, but is down to what jobs are available at the time. My skills are a weird mix to be honest and range from chemical engineering though to administration and even enforcement. Right now I am not doing lab work. I own at least 12 pairs of jeans already, so although they are a challenge to make and seem very popular with the sewing community, I cannot see the point. Shirts and blouses though I will wear, though mainly for work, but they are a challenge. I always find joining the sleeve onto the bodice a challenge. Not so much with stretch knit fabric because in recent years I have really played a great deal with knits, but wovens is my current weak point, so I should I think spend some time making woven items.
It also ticks off yet another magazine which I own where I agreed with my other half to make one thing from each of these magazines taking up room in our not very big house. That then justifies me keeping this one. I have about another 100 magazines to go😉 - thats keeping me busy at least the next 5 or so years!
Yes I do need to press the hem as well but at least its finished. Ah and the trousers worn with this top are my upcycled real leather leggings.
Stay safe
Bracken
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