Take That, Anthropologie!

I can sew doo-dads onto my clothes, too! When Anthropologie first became popular, I remember thinking "Why do I want a bunch of nonsense sewn to my clothes that will require repair after the first wash?" Since then, I have kind of come around really like the look of some of the embellishment, especially ones like this:


Except....there's always an exception isn't there....it's a bit too much. I mean, I'm not that sweet. I think something like that would look comical on me. So, I decided that I could make a more subdued version. Fortunately, on the Hot Patterns website, Trudy has provided a video for spiderweb roses, which look very similar to the roses on this top. Watch the video, you will be amazed at how simple these are to make!

I had also recently purchased the Weekender Sunshine Top pattern, so I decided to give it a shot with a piece of black ITY knit that I had in the stash.


I started with a size 16 at the shoulders and graded out to an 18 at the hip. I had a little trouble with the instructions for the neckband so I just kind of did it my way. I sewed the interior and exterior neckband together along the inside neck, trimmed the seam allowance, turned it, and topstitched the neckline. I then treated it as a single piece in serging the neckline to the shirt. It does leave an exposed seam on the inside, but since it is serged, it doesn't matter. Were I doing this without a serger, I would sew the outside neck to the shirt and then use the inside to hide seam by turning under the edge and handstitching it to the seam allowance.

This knit was super-slithery (although for the drapes in the front, this is what you want, not a beefy knit) so I hand basted a lot. I did all the gathering by hand and then basted that to the neckline, as well as basting all the way around the neckline to hold the three layers together while I was serging. I am still not great with the serger, so I do this a lot just to keep my work from looking insane. The seam around the hem band is totally insane, but that is hidden by the blouson, so I guess that is ok.

Here is the finished product:


Initially, I was concerned about the gathers as they went across the bust and into the arm pits...I thought, uh-oh, I made the gathering extend to far. How did I manage that? It didn't look like that on the pattern cover. However, the pattern cover is an illustration, not a photo. So, I went and watched the videos for this shirt on the Hot Patterns website and realized...oh, mine looks just like the one on the dress form. One one hand, I could crab that Hot Patterns only uses illustrations and not photos, but then I would have to lodge the same complaint against Vogue, Butterick, and McCalls...who also often only use illustrations. And I still happily use those patterns. So, I have absolutely NO complaint about the illustrations, but just find the videos very helpful to illustrate the details of how the finished garments should look.

The fit on the top is excellent, no FBA required. Using the drapey knit, the top lies close to the body, and the gathers do not add extra bulk. I decided to do a subdued version of the spiderweb roses on the neckline, in approximately the position that you would wear a corsage. Here is the finished product:


I realized after I uploaded my photos that it looks like there is a tuck in the shoulder seam. There is not. The seam is caught on a pin I had shoved into the dressform. Now, I could go back and retake the photo, but that would require undressing (yes, I am wearing the shirt), charging the camera which is now dead, and reloading the photo. So, due to my laziness, you just have to imagine that it is not there.

To make my roses, I cut strips about a foot and a half long on the cross grain (so they stretch) from the fabric the shirt is made from. I cut them about 3/8 of an inch wide (not that I measured, I just took the rotary cutter to a scrap). I made a total of 9 roses all packed closely together on the shoulder. I may go back and add some more extending them further towards the center front, but for now I think that it is fine.

I also wanted to take a moment to answer a question from my friend Leezra. She had asked in the comments of the last blog why the black thread in the bobbin makes topstitching "pop." When the machine makes a stitch, there will be a tiny bit of the bobbin thread visible on the "right" side, because of the way that the stitch is made (for an animated illustration, click here).

For that reason, you can create a separation between each stitch by using a different color in the bobbin thread. For topstitching I use two spools of thread on the sewing machine (my 401 has two spool pins, so this is really easy), running them both through a single needle. Here are some samples of topstitching. The three rows on the top has beige thread in the bobbin, and the rows underneath those have black. The difference is small, but makes for a very clean demarcation between each stitch:


When topstitching, I set my machine for 10 stitches per inch, longer than I would use for construction seams. Wherever the end of a seam may be visible (like the hems) I don't reverse, but instead pull the threads to the back and tie a knot. To do this, grab the bobbin thread and pull it, the top threads will then be visible on the back, grab that little "loop" that they make with a pin, and pull the threads to the back. Tie them in a knot, and if you like add a drop of fray-check. For those seams that will be hidden in a seam allowance or otherwise under or behind something else, I go ahead and reverse the same way I would with a construction seam.