Lucky Ring Collars and Charms

I just found the opportunity to make the ring collared tunic, which I shortened to a top. This top reminded me of a dress that I made from a 60's pattern last year!





Vanity pics:



Pattern Description
"Misses'/miss petite dress or tunic with yoke variations." You also have options for embellishments such as bows, jewel trim, and buttons.

Directions
Four pages worth of clear and concise directions and reliable illustrations. The directions for the the sleeveless dress or tunic come first followed by the sleeveless yoke, "yoke with flat sleeves" and its corresponding neck band, "yoke with flat sleeves and slit openings", "yoke with flat sleeves and band", "yoke with gathered sleeves and band" and its corresponding neck band.

I interfaced the sleeveless front and back yoke pieces and stitched them together at the seams. I sewed the corresponding facing pieces (sans the interfacing) the same way. Then I sewed the facing to the interfaced yoke pieces, right sides together at the necline, armhole edgesand reinforced the inner corners with a few repeat stitches and clipped the inner corners. I also edge finished the facing.

On the last page, common to all versions are the directions for stitching the rest of the dress which includes stitching the front and back to the sleeveless yoke and the other yokes. I was not really impressed by the directions to insert a zipper. I could have omitted the zipper because I had more than enough clearance to slip the dress over my head.







Fabric
Last sewable remnant of my stretch cotton fabric, orignally purchased at Gorgeous Things.


Likes
*Easy to cut and easy to sew.

*The ring collar and sleeveless retro style

*Self-faced

*Versatility of pattern in terms of the types of yoke, sleeve and length options, and embellishments.




Dislikes

*The tunic/dress had quite a bit of ease. I could have done away with the zipper and stitch the back center seams. With the zipper closed, I was able to easily pull the top over my head.

*I cut a "14" which was somewhat baggy, which I would rather have than skin tight. I probably would have been better off with a "12."

*I did not like the instructions for the zipper. I find that Burda WOFS have invisible zipper tutorials that are decent.

*I did not like slight bagginess in the back caused by the gathered backs attached to the front and back yokes. I would redraft the back to eliminate the gathering, and to lessen the ease.





Modifications
* I shortened the tunic into a top because I was running out of fabric.

* I attached the zipper before slipstitching the facings over the seams created by the front and back yokes stitched to the gathered front and back of the dress. The directions have you slip-stitch after attaching the zipper.


Would you recommend this pattern? Would you sew it again?
Yes, I recommend this pattern if you like something simple to sew and if the styles on the pattern envelope appeal to you. If I use this pattern again, I would sew the same version, doing away with the gathers below the front and back yokes.

Conclusion
I found the sleeveless style the highlight of this pattern.

Pebbles and Wilma Are Home!

Jalie's very easy-to-make twist top!




Going solo!


Me and my mini-me!


After seeing and "flipping" over Shesflipped very cute top, I just had to make one and another!

Pattern Description
Women's twist front top with a spaghetti-style ties at the back of the neck, sleeve variations (sleeveless, short sleeve, three-quarters), an optional flounce along the center front seam below the bust, and an optional modesty panel if you are conscious about the low-neckline. I sewed the short sleeved version.

Size
Multi-sized child to adult. After making Heather's top (correlates to a girls' size "5") and seeing how easy it went together, I could not help but make mine right afterwards!

Fabric
Girly giraffe print in polyester/lycra jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics.

Directions
They are available on the pattern sheet and downloadable from the Jalie site. They seemed clear enough for sewists of any level. I relied on the illustrations when I thought the directions were insufficient or unclear.

The front piece (I cut 2 for the left side and right side)is curved below the armscye tapering into a large rectangular piece (panhandle-looking) that when cut, extends to near the entire width of fabric folded in half lengthwise. Referring to the illustrations before the twist step, there was what I call a "jump" notch located on the the neckline. I figured that this is the point where the neckline finishing stops for each front side.

The twist front is very simple to sew once I figured out that from the inside of the blouse, the left wrong side's under bust seam was created by taking the bottom curve and folding it into a sideways "U" or loop, matching the notches, and sewing right sides together, leaving a 2 cm opening from the center for the other front side to pass through. The under bust seam of the other front piece is sewn the same way, stopping as close to the twist as possible. The front center seam is formed by sewing the two fronts together below the twist. This is clear from the printable directions.


Likes
* I worked with only three pieces: the front, back, and the puffed short sleeve.
* Easy to make once I figured out how to create the seams under the bust and the twist front.
* The 3 sleeve options to get a variety of looks.
* The front neckline on Heather's version was very appropriate
* The neckline did not become wavy or gape after folding under the raw edge and made tiny zig zag stitches.
* Great style for any figure!




Dislikes
* I omitted the thin back tie since I did not care for it.
* The v-neck came about 1" lower then what I feel comfortable with. I wore a camisole underneath.


Modifications
*I redrafted the low neckline at the back by raising it about 3/4" to eliminate the need for the back ties.

*I raised the neckline by about 3/8". I wanted to raise it much more. However, I noticed that I would have to raise the under bust seam more to compensate later for the twist portion that would inevitably and naturally by construction pull down the neckline. Since I did not want the under-seam bust to be any higher, I could have left the neckline as is. Now I understand why Jalie includes the optional "modesty" panel.

*I omitted the bottom sleeve binding for the puffed sleeve version. I prefer the natural drape of the sleeves.


Would you recommend this pattern?
I definitely recommend this top which really comes together easily and quickly! The top can go from casual to dressy depending on what type of fabric you use and could easily be drafted to become a dress. Since this top does not take much material to make, it would be an ideal project for knit left over from previous projects.

Conclusion
Heather liked this twist top a lot(her first one) that she wore this top on her first day of kindergarten! Now, we have a new household favorite !Jalie earns a high mark for this pattern!

Seeing spots and a bit of stripes!

My-KEA Jacket

I now have a penchant for jackets with banded, puffy sleeves!

Take some daring print and colors...

...combine it with
Burda WOF, May 2008, pattern #123:



Technical drawing

....to get a "My-KEA" jacket. The moment I saw this fabric on IKEA's website, I wanted to purchase it immediately! It is bold, eyecatching, and looks attention getting! I enjoy making a fashion statement.

I really like the "hip" style of this jacket, but so what if does not exactly work with my figure type!

Happy Star Spangled Day!

From the review gallery, the fabric markings emphasized my figure in the wrong place, if you know what I mean, oops!

Although I sewed a jacket from an individual packaged Burda pattern a few months ago, I hereby officially call this my first Burda WOF jacket! I felt daring enough to venture out to "2 1/2 dotted" territory!

Pattern Description
"Short, sweet and stylish! This cropped blouson-jacket has short puffed sleeves and elegantly rounded lapels/revers on its unusual double-breasted front, with two buttons at the waist." Because do not have the model proportions of these Burda-ettes so I used two instead of four buttons.


Size
Sizes 36-42. I sewed a 42. I remembered this time to include the 5/8" seam allowances for each pattern piece (except at the armscye.....) and to cut out 3 rectangles (2 for the sleeve bands and the 1 for the casing at the bottom. I wanted to make sure I avoided such things as my collar and facing pieces coming out smaller due to forgetting the seam allowances!


Fabric used
Bold red/white home decorating fabric from IKEA. If you have been to IKEA recently, you most likely have seen it hanging somewhere throughout the store. The name of this fabric is "Fialena."


Likes
*The style of the slightly rounded collar and lapels.
*The puffed and banded sleeves which balances my figure
*The jacket's construction was not really that difficult. Omit the bottom casing and the jacket is simple to sew as a basic shirt or blouse.


Dislikes
*The elastic casing did not work with me as I had hoped for. The jacket would be roomy if I omit it.
*The sleeves felt slightly constricting due to riding higher on my shoulders than what I feel comfortable wearing. I wonder if this resulted from not adding the seam allowance to the armscyes of the front and back pattern piece. I prefer to wear sleeves with the sleeve heads situated to emphasize more shoulder breadth. By the looks of the technical drawing the sleeves seemed to be gravitating so much more inward than what appears on the dressform photo at the Burda website.


Directions
Surprisingly satisfactory! There are still some steps that could have been reworded for clarity. Maybe I have been acclimated to Burda's notorious curt and cryptic directions. I also made sure to include all the markings (asterisks and others) The steps for creating the triple casing for the elastic (two rows of topstitching the bottom band), attaching the collar, the front facing, and the back facing were sufficient for me to figure out, but would be big mystery if I lacked experience needed to make shirts and jackets.

Here's my list of experiences with what I call "Burdage Verbage" found in the patterns' directions.

* Burdage Verbage : "Cut elastic into 3 equal pieces and insert elastic into casing." Hmmmm.

There was no procedure mentioned on how do to this. I usually take a safety pin or my Dritz elastic threader to insert the elastic through the casing. After I passed my first strip of elastic through the first casing, I had a more difficult time with the next two strips due to the tightening of the casing (more so due to the nature of the fabric). I should have threaded the separate pieces of elastic through all casings simulaneously as I did in two or three of Heather's dresses to prevent the bunching. Oh well.

* Burdage verbage: "Pin facing right sides together with jacket. Build a little extra fullness into corners of lapels....".

My translation (or my wild guess!):
"Do what you can to prevent bunching at the corners."

From the technical sketch, I noticed that the collar edge and the lapels seemed fully disjoint. I carefully made a tiny clip at the corner and reinforced it with back stitching. The steps to face the lapels seemed fine ["stitch facing to hem edges, front edges and edges of lapels up the marking (corner)"] and I appreciated the fact I was told where to start and stop. The tricky part was to face section joining the elastic waistband. I looked at the outside and the inside just to make sure I was attaching the facing correctly at the front edge joining the casing of the elastic waistband. I encountered some tiny clipping at the corners and little positive ease due to the fabric. Also silly me, forgot to add a little more seam allowance to my front facings (which were cut from the extension of the front pattern piece) !


Creating and attaching the collar went smoother than what I had expected. The collar landed right in the middle of the front facings at the shoulder seams. I made sure that the facings remain above the upper collar before stitching.

* Burdage verbage: "Lay back facing up and stitch seam allowances together, close to collar joining seam."

I attached the back facing to the shoulder seams of the front facings and sewed it to the collar at the neckline (right sides together).


* Burdage verbage: "Lay facing down. Sew inside edge of facing to shoulder seams and hem band."

I turned the back facing in, tacking it along with the front facing to the shoulder seams and tacking the facing at the "hem band" (where it joins the elastic casing).


Modifications
*I stitched a sleeve band (right sides together) to the gathered bottom edge of a sleeve before sewing the sleeve seams. I trimmed off excess band length because I omitted what Burda calls the "underlap" for the button/buttonhole feature. Then I folded the band in half lengthwise to the inside so that I could slipstitch or topstitch the folded raw edge to the seam with the sleeve's edge. If I had included the "underlap" I would pivot from the seam of the sleeve and stitch the top of the band's excess then pivot to the sew the end seams.
*I used two pairs of large snaps instead of the two buttonholes
*I used two instead of four buttons. Somehow a combination of fabric, elastic waistband issues, and especially my hard to get rid of portion of my figure changed the front closure.


Conclusion
I definitely recommend this pattern if you like the cropped jacket look and would look great to wear over many of the cute dresses in this May 2008 issue. By the looks of my jacket, it would be ideal for the holidays and Valentine's day. Maybe I'll be daring and wear something blue underneath to celebrate the 4th of July! I probably will sew this again, omitting the elastic casing and lengthening it so that it is at or slightly below hip level. But overall, I had a pleasant instead of nerve racking experience with this jacket!