At the beginning of this pandemic in the US, about mid-March,
and prior to the mask making craze, I really wanted something to sew but was
having trouble making decisions. There was soooo much up in the air about what
was going on in the world and how we would be affected. My work table was overflowing with
things that I was getting ready for Sew Camp Wardrobe Week and my brain was
feeling overloaded.
SO a 1-2 punch combination of Sew My Style 2020 March patterns
and The Sew and Tell Podcast (A Great sewing podcast!!) #sewyourroll challenge was just on the podcast so
I decided to just combine the two and not think about it or everything
happening in the world and just SEW!!
It was a bit heavenly to just SEW- follow along with
pre-determined guidelines and make it work. I Think it was a solid fun win.
The Sew and Tell Pod #sewyourroll challenge is a dice game
where you had to roll 3 times and then use those numbers to pick items from a
list. I had no dice so I used a handy number generator online. Basically the
outcome was that I needed to sew:
A WHITE
garment
In a
MUTED shade (I decided texture was the way to
go)
With a
POCKET detail
I had already decided that I was going to use the Gelato
Pattern for Sew My Style March 2020- the Gelato Blouse and Dress and I knew I
wanted to use only fabrics from my collection. I don’t sew with white very much
at all and had 3 white fabrics to choose from. This made it easy to make
decisions. I also took the time to make a sketch using My Body Model croqui on
my iPad. This gave me a pretty good idea of what I wanted. You will notice that
the top is a little shorter in my sketch than in real life. If I made it that
short the flounce ends at my widest point and I didn’t want that.
Most of my sewing is done with my own patterns and my own
designs, this also gave me the opportunity to play with my ‘skills’ of taking
what I know about patterns and fitting and translating that to a new purchased
pattern. I also wanted to point out that this pattern uses a different seam
allowance than I am used to, ½ inch. In order to keep that difference in mind I
placed a piece of painter’s tape across the throat plate at ½ inch.
For full disclosure I made changes to the pattern using my
base pattern and decided to jump in without making a muslin. The biggest changes
I made was to the armhole- totally different. I decided to keep the same sleeve
and just make adjustments to it to increase the width to what I need with a one-piece
sleeve. This was a bit of a gamble because I would be lowering the cap height
but I think it work it pretty good overall. I think a smidge more cap height
would be better but for this testing of a one-piece sleeve it came out pretty
good.
The neckline that I
used was the one from the pattern but I used the one that was the lowest- disregarding
the size. I also added back fisheye darts to keep the fit a bit more flattering
and from having too much fabric pooling around back there. I purposely wanted
this top to be a bit boxier and loose and cool for the summer. Plus, I wanted
to play a little bit with a boxier silhouette BUT still have a shape. In order
to achieve this, I used slightly smaller back fish eye darts and only one bust
dart instead of my normal 2. SO the overall shaping was a little bit less and
an intentional part of what I wanted to achieve. The shape was boxier but NOT
revealing!!
For this white top I played with 2 different fabrics and
gave it a lot of texture and not just look like a flat white wall! The main
fabric is a cotton white textured fabric. It has some small technical give due
to the textured weave. The Sleeve and hem flounce is a very soft cotton lawn
with a large white clipped circle woven in. I will be 100% honest and I don’t
remember where I got these fabrics. The cute white buttons are from my button
stash. I had to adjust the spacing because I had one less button than called
for.
For the pocket detail I added these as hidden pockets at the
front side just under the ruffle. To cut
down on the bulk I cut the pocket as a single piece that was extended right
from the bottom of the front bodice. These were then folded up and side seams
of pocket sewn. When I sewed on the bodice ruffle I carefully stitched just the
top of the pocket. To finish it off I added a bias loop and button to hold the
pockets closed.
Along with this I shaped the front so that it was shaped and
higher in front and angled lower to the back. Sort of giving it an upside down
flattened ‘U’ shape. I’ll admit that I was slightly worried that I this would
make it look a little bit like a maternity top! However, I think it was very
successful!!
In the back of the top I wanted to make sure that I had
enough room for movement. Especially with the fact that there are buttons down
the back. I find that the width of my back varies much more than the width of
my front with regular movement. Since this button placket is not actually
needed I did toy with the idea of sewing it down and making it non-functional.
However, in the end I decided against that and made full button plackets, with
buttonholes and fully functional, even though I don’t need it to put the top on
or off. I also added one of my last little white labels.
I am actually very delighted with my white top! I didn’t
think I could pull it off :) It really makes me smile every time I put it on and smiles are precious right now!
