Selfishly Sewing in Spring

Despite my best intentions, I normally miss the boat when it comes to participating in sewing series but due to the confluence of Selfish Sewing Week, Spring Top week, Me-Made-May and Need Moar Long Sleeves Year I've got a make that fits all four!  Step forward low scoop Trifecta Top in XL stripes.

These stripes are the best because I have both red and royal blue jeans to match, but I find sewing stripes more laborious for trying to get them to match over the side seam.  I think I've cracked it, though: rather than matching them up perfectly when you run them under the serger, shift it so the stripe on the top falls a teensy bit below the stripe on the bottom.  The feed dogs will push the bottom layer forward while running it under the foot and suddenly they're aligned!  Caveat lector: this is true with my machine, perhaps not others.  So focussed was I on matching the stripes that I completely dropped the ball on the neckline!  That tiny bit of blue on the left side drove me demented and I could not leave it as such.  A seam rip and fix the next day and all is well in the world again.

I'm not getting very many 'proper' photo shots of my Me-Made outfits recently- I even made a dress for a wedding last weekend without getting pictures. Sad!  Steven really hates being the recipient of this face taking my picture.

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The Spring is Cruel Top

Despite my best intentions to participate more in the Spring Top Sewalong over on Made by Rae, the pool closes in a couple of hours and (just like last year) I have a single last-minute entry.  Next year, right?

I get pretty jealous of all these lovely lightweight and / or sleeveless entries by people who live in less cruel climates.  Right after these pictures were taken my arms got frostbite, gangrenous and then fell off. Continuity-buffs, you will also note that my hair got be-ponytailed during the picture taking. This was due to extreme wind whipping my hair across my face and interfering with that soul-searching look I am sending you through your computers.

But nothing says Scottish spring more than inappropriate attire and clouds, so this top gets two ticks for both style and theme.

PS. Thanks so much for all your sweet comments on my Missoni dress. I would have responded to everyone individually but I was too busy blushing.

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If Darwin was alive today he'd probably write about this evolution

Holy moly, guys... I only made the final four in the Spring Top Sewalong! I totally wasn't expecting that. I don't want to totally spam my blog talking about this top ALL OF THE TIME, but please forgive a tiny bit more navel gazing... The Train To Crazy mentioned on Twitter that it might be interesting to post the Evolution of The Never-ending Dress Quest (which culminated with the Spring Top) so here goes:

It all started with this Jamie dress, straight off the printer with no alterations:

After rotating the straps to vertical and removing most of the gathers along the neckline, I had this:


Then I removed all of the elastication from the neckline and lowered it heaps:


I didn't like the gathers, so I draped it to form darts. I also made it a v-neck instead of a scoop neck:


For my final(ish) dress I took it in as far as my body would allow without asphyxiating. I then failed to take proper pictures:


Don't worry this one is pretty much identical:


And, finally, I made it into a top with a lot more ease and greater neckline modesty:


So there we go then. Go forth and cast your votes! The other tops are fantastic so it's a real privilege being a finalist :)

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I've made the cut!

I'm beyond pleased that my 'If it Ain't Broke' blouse has made it through to the Voting Round of Made by Rae's Spring Top Sewalong! How exciting is that? Heaps.


So, please head over to vote. I'm in a really strong pool, so I'll understand if you don't vote for me. I will, however, harbour a very bitter grudge against you. Kidding. Ish.

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The 'If It Ain't Broke' Top

Well, colour you all shocked to see another incarnation of the Never-Ending Dress. Wouldn't it be funny if I sign up for every sew-along going and adapt this pattern for it? Next thing you know, I'll be signing up to an Overall Sew-along and throwing some legs on it.

A picture for those of you of the head persuasion. Nothing shocking and / or amusing is happening to my right, I promise. I'm just a little bit harrowed from sewing this blouse manic style on the deadline day. Too harrowed for make-up and hairbrushes. Let's see... changes from Never-ending Dress: it is not a dress (obviously), neckline raised a bit, straps shortened / narrowed a smidge, fabric has no stretch so ease added all over the place, and waistband given a curve at centre front under the bust. Some things have remained: Mega-darted bodice front (three below each breast, one to the side *sigh*), v-neck back bodice, smooshed waistband, and.....................

That's right, I zipped it all the way through this time! I'm hoping the metal zip tones down the OMGGirly print. But refrains from burning me when it's hot.

Spring Top Sew-along, forty minutes to spare :)

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A Big Girls' Square neck smocky top

Well, this looks a bit familiar, doesn't it? It's a grown up version of my square neck smocky top. Pedants will be thinking, 'Amanda, you've got that apostrophe all wrong in the title!' Actually, I meant Big Girls' because, woah... busty from the side.

From the front though, the combination of pull out clumps of your hair tissue thin jersey and lots of gathering means some pretty nice draping.

The most notable difference (or not, because you can't see it in the pictures) from my little girl's version is that the neckpiece is not a pre-squared piece, it is mitred strips. And it doesn't have inset sleeves, they are raglan and follow the seam line of the mitred neck. Like the bodice front and back, the sleeves are very gathered to make the end result fluttery.

I didn't use a pattern, I based it on a top I already had in my wardrobe. Normally if I am replicating something, it's a fairly straight-forward trace around each piece and then add seam allowance but with all the gathering I had to do a bit more measurement-based drafting. If you are interested, the process I used is here:

• Draw a picture of your item of clothing with all it's different pieces. Optional but recommended: draw it terribly.
• Take all the important measurements like seam lines, and heights / widths of various pieces.
  
• Break it down into pattern pieces and summarise their individual measurements.
• Draft the pieces onto paper, adding seam and hem allowances where required and making any adjustments to fit that you would like. I ended up giving my top more of a shaped waist than the original. You will have to do a bit of guess work as to how much extra to add for gathering, but a general rule of 1.5 times final (gathered) width for light gathering and 2 times for heaps is a good rule. I used just under 2 times but that was probably surplus to requirements.
  
• Turn your original garment inside out and study the seams. Write down the order and manner they were constructed. For example, I learned that the when making the (self-faced) neck piece, the seam allowance was understitched to the inside facing. That's a good idea.
  

I had big plans to make spectacular tops for Made by Rae's Spring Top Week and the deadline is Friday so it's looking more and more unlikely. What do you think, is it worth submitting this one for sh*ts and giggles? Based on the competition, I needn't be making room for a trophy. Which is totally fine, I don't have any space for one anyway.

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