Off the Clock

I know I haven't posted in well over a month, but that's just a sign of the time of year.  Yes, things get crazy in December.  I did manage to do a little sewing but I didn't get any pics.  Everyone in the family got jammie pants and I repaired my stepson's snowmobile cover.  That counts, right? Anyway I went to the fabric store to buy another ruler cutting guide this week and I saw this purple knit faux leather that I just had to have.  I could immediately see it as contrasting sleeves on a (what else) New Look 6735.  I wasn't even deterred when I read the label that said hand wash only.  I took in the top a bit in the sleeves and the bodice because I keep finding my tops are stretching out after being washed once or twice.  The bodice is actually a much nicer fabric than what I usually buy so that may not be a problem here but I took it in anyway.  It looks great in the front, although it shows my bra lines in the back.  Hmph....

Vogue 8669 & New Look 6735 Nothing for three weeks and then you get two posts in one day. After yesterday's success I was really excited to experiment a little more with tee necklines.  I have quite a few knit top patterns I haven't tried yet, mainly because every time I try a new one I decide I don't like it as much as my basic New Look 6735.  I guess I'm just a basic tee girl at heart.  I have Vogue 8669 in my pattern stash waiting to be test driven, but I am not in love with it.  As much as I like a nice cowl neck this one seems a little frumpy to me.  The tee is a loose fitting top with a very shallow cowl.  I've seen a number of interpretations online and haven't fallen in love with any of them - they just aren't my style.  When looking into cowl necks I found  this tutorial from Threads Magazine  but I'm a little bit leery of starting from scratch.  In the end I decided to take my TNT NL6735  and frankenpattern ...

NL6735 Bodice B5493 Cowl First up is this pretty blue and white number.  This is a mashup of New Look 6735  and Butterick 5493 .  I Bought 5493 because of all the different neckline options.  I didn't realize it was intended for a stretch woven fabric, and all  the PR reviews  talked about it being quite a loose fitting top.  I wanted to use these collars to add variety to tees so I decided to adapt my TNT (tried and true) 6735 to accommodate the collar from 5493.  It turned out pretty good, don't you think? I really wrestled with how to finish the edge of the cowl neck.  The pattern calls for a double folded very narrow hem.  I played with the idea of using the coverstitch to do a single fold hem but thought that might be a bit big for the application.  Then I did a sample with a serged rolled hem but I thought that would be too obvious.  I even thought about leaving it raw because it is a fine knit but the edges wan...

I know I made a dedicated post for New Look 6735 , but I just had to show off this fabric.  It's one of the fabrics I bought with my coupon from Fabricland.  It is a medium weight knit synthetic of some sort with a bit of lycra.  It feels beautiful to the touch and is a nice weight for a fall/winter top, but what I love most is that colour!  I would call it a burnt orange, but it is absolutely delicious. I took the time to trace the grainline because (a) I really like this fabric and didn't want to screw it up and (b) because I thought it would be obvious if it is off grain because of the microscopic striping in the knit.  Having said that the striping made it very easy to trace the grainline (actually the cross-grain line) with the use of my lighted magnifying glass. The other change I made was to shorten the pattern.  Now that I have a coverstitch machine I find I only use a 3/4" hem turned once rather than the 1 1/2" hem allowance on knit patte...

I'm not very happy with two recent tops I've made. Both of them have bust details and both of them look a little... frumpy. When comparing them to my standard tee they definitely left something to be desired. If I can't feel good wearing them I won't wear them. So I pulled out my pattern for NL6735 and started hacking away. First I decided to have at New Look 6940 .  I began by taking in the sides to match 6735 which meant taking it in by more than an inch each side for a total of 4".  This really helped keep the empire seam where it is supposed to be instead of it riding up.  Then I shortened it by about 4".  I probably should have only chopped off 3" but it's done now and I can live with it.  I think it is much better proportioned. Then, feeling inspired, I decided to take New Look 6977 in an inch each side, again for a total of 4".  And again, the bust gathers seem to sit better without riding up so much.  Not to mention that...

The busy pattern of the fabric makes it hard to see the details of this outfit, but trust me when I say that it looks fabulous in real life.  I have wanted to replicate Angela Wolf's twin sets but haven't been able to find a pattern for a cardigan that fits like hers. Jalie has a couple but one has huge built in pockets and the other has pleats.  I just want clean lines.  Angela says she is hoping to release a pattern at some point but I am too impatient to wait so I came up with my own.  Or rather, I modified New Look 6735 . I used the tee pattern (a tried and true pattern for me) for the sleeveless top and cut off the 5/8" seam allowances at the sleeve openings.  I then took off a further 5/8" from the top half of the sleeve openings.  I finished them with banding the same as the neckline. The cardigan in this pattern is pretty big and mostly shapeless, using a belt to bring it in at the waist.  The sleeves are a bit wider than I wanted, pres...

I have decided to put up a dedicated post for New Look 6735 .  Because I have made so many versions of it, it really doesn't require a new post every time I make one.  This will make it easy for me to track my projects with this pattern.  I have made this up now as the 3/4 sleeve tee, the cap sleeve tee, a sleeveless version and the cardigan (although heavily modified).  The fact that I have certainly got my money's worth out of this pattern makes the cheap bastard in me very happy!  So here we go (with newest versions on top): With narrower neckline Blog post Blog post Blog post Blog post Blog post Blog Post Blog post Blog post Blog post Blog post Blog post Blog post Blog post

Edited July 12, 2014: After washing and drying this top seems to fit better than it did around the neckline.  I think I will leave it as is for now to see how it wears. New Look 6735 I'm sure you must be sick of seeing New Look 6735 but I have a couple more incarnations of it to show you. I had the sewing bug the other night and was up until 1:30 finishing up these two tops. It's funny that no matter how many times I make up this pattern I keep learning from it. That's a good thing, I'm thinkin'. So What did I learn this time around? It is amazing how much different fabrics affect the fit even though I am cutting out the exact same pattern. The first one shown above was made with a mystery knit from my stash. This was something I bought probably ten years ago and I am guessing it is just cotton. The recovery is not that great as there is no lycra in it. When I use a rayon/lycra blend I end up with a very fitted top. But the above pic shows the to...

Me, the one who never wins anything, actually won a $100 gift certificate from my LFS. Woohoo - go me! So Mom and I went stash shopping. I ended up with fabric for four short sleeved tees, four 3/4 sleeved tees, and two dresses. Not a bad haul if I say so myself. I prewashed all the fabric and made up another version of New Look 6735 . This has become my go-to tee pattern. I love the shaped back, I think I have the neckline fine-tuned to be work-appropriate but not too high (I hate a neckline right at my neck), and I am happy with the overall fit. I have previously made this top up here and here . I'm even playing with the idea of a colour-block one for leftovers once I get through a few more of them. We will see. I used Jenny to coverstitch the hems. I did run into some problems doing the neckline. First I sewed the neck band to the top with a straight stitch on Phoebe, then tried to coverstitch to contain the raw edges on the inside. To put it bluntly I made a dog's...

You may remember my Rosie tee that I tried to frankenstitch last month. Well I picked up the sad remains again last week and literally had it wadded up holding it over the garbage pail when I had a change of heart. At first I thought maybe I could salvage a tank top out of it. There was not enough fabric left for sleeves or even to be long enough. It would be great if I were 30 years younger and could get away with a shorty top. Once I brought it back to the sewing room I had an epiphany - what if I could match a colour from the pic and make sleeves in that! Off to the fabric store I went. I had my heart set on the yellow but couldn't find a good match in a solid when I ran across this yellow camo. It was perfect! I used New Look 6735 again and had literally just enough fabric for the bodice as long as I was ok with using the camo to get the length. There wasn't even anything to cut off on the sides in a couple of places as I laid out the pattern. This would have been ...