Let's Make a Teal!

I'll be blunt, my original result from this pattern screamed, "Up, up, up and away in my unusual balloon....". This pattern seemed to be drafted much above anyone's size, based on the measurements printed on the back of the pattern envelope.

I made several adjustments to achieve the look in my most recent pic.

Pattern Description
I made the blouse with the tie-front.

"Good times indeed in these flattering and versatile pieces, inspired by a great collection from Diane Von Furstenburg, and designed for drape-y knits like merino or cashmere wool, viscose, rayon or silk(y) jerseys. Relaxed-fit styles have a slightly dropped shoulder, back boat neck and a gently shaped waist. We’ve given you three different sleeves, necklines and lengths for maximum fashionablity. Sleeves can be cap, below elbow or wrist-length with a ruched cuff, and choose from a classic boat neckline, the half placket or tie-front.Top finishes on the high hip with a deep band;Tunic ends at mid-thigh; and the Dress hits *just* below the knee. Tunic & Dress have deep stitched hems, optional side seam pockets and tie or in-and-out belt. Wear these lovely pieces year-round: in light weight jerseys for the Summer, layered over a skinny sweater or T-Shirt for Spring or Fall, or in heavier weights for Winter. Fabulous."

Size
6-26. I made a "12" instead of my usual "14" from the big 4.

Even after sizing down, I found the blouse very, very roomy and obviously did not look like the illustration. I would not agree that it was relaxed fit.



Fabric
"Italian Teal Ovals", a two-way rayon-lycra knit jersey from Emma One Sock, which sold out moments after I placed my order about a month ago. I like the texture and the drape. It sewed very nicely.


Favorite Features
* Tie front
* Neckline depth is non-Burda-esque
* Ruched sleeve above the wrists. From the inside, a 5 1/2" piece of 1/4" width elastic is stretched and sewn on the top seam of the sleeve, between two markings on the lower arm.


Not-so-favorite Features
*Notches are faintly marked.
*Before my modifications, nothing like the illustration! My top turned out much longer and ballooned out quite a bit. I should have had my 6 year old daughter snap a pic of how the top looked before my needed alterations. Her first reaction was "Mom, am I having a brother or sister?"

*Top had no shaping, was boxy and voluminous.

*Due to my short torso, the top's original length looked like a tunic on me.

*Some bunching between upper arm and front upper yoke. I am not certain if the top was drafted that way.

*The shoulder seams of drifted away from the neck, widening the v-neck, whereas in the illustration, they hugged the neck more.

*Sleeve construction: The sleeves consists of the same piece used for the front and back, forming a top seam. The top of the sleeve is straight and is sewn flat to the straight edge formed by the upper front and back yokes, continuing to the sides of the front and back, past the armscye. There is some bunching below the arms that is not depicted on the pattern envelope.


Pattern Pieces
I re-acquainted myself with the fact that HP Patterns unlike the big 4 and Burda do not have pattern piece numbers.

I cut the pieces the night before I started the fabric cutting and sewing. I referred to the cutting layout to make sure I was situating the pieces on the fabric correctly. The triangular notches were not well defined and the line segments marked on each piece showed the stretch of the fabric, not the straight grain. However, I intended for the upper front yokes to go in a different direction.

* Upper front yoke (with ties): 2
* Upper back yoke: 2
* Lower back on a fold: 1
* Lower front: 1 on fold. Oops! I mistakenly cut two and made a center seam which worked fine.
* Sleeve: 2 pairs. Each sleeve consisted of a front and back piece which will be joined to form an upper seam.
* Hem band: 2 on the fold. The bands will be sewn to from two side seams and folded lengthwise.

Geez....... I felt that the cutting alone was more extensive in comparison to my previous project, my Burda knit top with flounce sleeves.


Modifications
* Took in the side seams by at most about 1". My Burda knit top with flounced sleeves served as an inspiration for the contoured side seams.

* Shortened the top (above the hem band) 1 3/4"

* I ended up decreasing the width of the hem band by 1/2" when I re-attached (for the second time hand-basted and machine-stitched) it after taking in the side seams, shortening, and slightly gathering the lower edge of the top.

* I lengthened the tie by 1", which I did not have to do in the first place.


Directions
On a scale from 1-10, a "5". There were some areas that I understood fine and others that were an enigma. For the steps that I abandoned or did not understand, I used "intuitive" sewing. Some of the bare-bone sketches seemed like rebuses due to the + symbols between the pieces, showing what needed to be shown together. I did not follow half of the steps because they did not make sense to me, especially in the area of attaching the back yoke to the lower back piece. There were also steps missing (maybe automatically assumes the sewist knows) such as applying a little interfacing and/or reinforce stitching at the little gap below the ties.


These seams go on when I close my eyes...
--------------* Here are the general steps that I used *--------------
* means a step listed in HP
** means a step that replaced a HP step that I did not understand or that HP did not include.

*Sew upper front yoke (contains the tie) to the back yoke at the shoulders. Also sew the other pair which will be the facing.

**Sew the upper yoke facing over the visible portion (from previous step), right sides together, at the neckline but CONTINUING (not mentioned by HP) to the the upper parts of the ties until the little vertical notch which determines the center of the upper yoke and the lower front.




* Turn the upper yoke and facing inside out.

* Gather the top of the lower back piece between the notches

**Sew the visible upper back yoke to the gathered edge of the lower back. I did not "get" what HP meant by rolling the yoke into a sausage not a patty, which sounded like breakfast terminology to me, so I used my intuition again. Then I slip-stitched or handstitched the facing to the inside over the seam.

*Gather the lower front between the two pairs of notches, one for the left side and the right side

**Sew this gathered front to the visible upper front yoke and handstitch its facing to the inside seam.

**Reinforce the little opening below the ties (not mentioned by HP)

*Sewed the front and back pieces of the sleeve together and attach the narrow elastic along the inside seam (between placement lines)of the lower arm.

*Sew the sleeves in flat and sew each side seam as one continuous seam

*Create the hem band and ease the lower edge of the blouse to the band.

There was no mention of gathering the edge prior to attaching the hem band. After I attached the hem band and tried on the top, the hem band looked odd serving no purpose.


Conclusion

My original rating was "pattern not drafted as expected and so did not work on me" (not on the list of PR ratings). My current rating is "it now nearly works after several changes, but I am not fully sure about the style on me..." The back gathers do not flatter my frame.

Since this style is distinctive, I plan not to sew the top again, with my goal of pattern stash reduction.

If you are interested in giving this pattern a try, I would recommend making a muslin or a wearable muslin to suit your personal preferences or to make it look like the illustration.




We just came back from two days of fun (and not so much sun....) at Disneyland. We visited the California Adventures and Magic Kingdom theme parks. I have not been to Anaheim's Magic Kingdom since the mid 90's. Much has changed. I miss the Disneyland of yesteryear. Heather and I also had fun wearing our RTMW outfits.



RTMW: Right from The Magical Wizard.

The Magical Wizard: a.k.a my sewing machine.