Another drape-front cardie

I wanted a quick break from my Burda makes (plus I needed to pre-wash the fabric I wanted to use next), so thought I would make a cardie - I need a few more cardies, as most of my favourites are looking rather tired now. I remembered I already had this pattern drafted from aaaaaages ago, and it only needed minor tweaks.

You may recognise this from the first version I made back in April last year, and wore in Me-Made-May '12. I will confess: I never wore it again... Eek! It was just such an awful fabric, and there were problems with the fit of the shoulders and the sleeves annoyed me. Oh, and I didn't like the length.

The original draft mostly followed Lauriana's tutorial on the BurdaStyle website. For this version, I made the following changes:

• Added 10cm to the length.
• Altered the shape of the lower front so that the drape wasn't so long at CF.
• Narrowed the back at the hips and at the waist.
• Added 1cm each side to the length of the collar at the top edge at CB.
• Shortened the sleeves to three-quarter length.

I used a rayon-poly blend sweater knit from Fabric.com, and this time stabilised both the back neckline and shoulder seams with fusible tape (and an extra line of stitching at the back neckline). This has helped minimise the stretching that caused the first version to fall off my shoulders. I also stabilised the corner on the front pieces between the collar and shoulder to stop it fraying when it was clipped during construction.

I used a 4cm hem on the sleeves, and a 1cm hem around the main body and collar. Both of these were stitched using a three-step zig-zag. The wrong side shows on the drape when worn, so this gives a fairly neat finish. We will not mention the balls-up I made when I was sewing in the label and made a hole at the back neckline. No, we won't.

I'm much happier with this version, it looks like a proper cardie, rather than some weird shiny droopy thing. I think it could still do with a tweak to narrow the shoulders a little, but I know it will be worn lots this winter.

A silk Sorbetto

Yet another Sorbetto variation for me (See my previous versions here, here and here), made before the previous peplum top, but I'm very behind with my blogging. This one is back to the original shape, but without the front pleat. I used the fitting refinements at the hip that I made for the V&A Sorbetto, and remembered to finally add the seam allowance on the centre back... I'm not going to do a full on review for this, as I think you must know all my thoughts on the standard Sorbetto by now!

Part of my sewing plan is to make more pretty "going out" tops, so this was made to help fill that hole in my wardrobe. It's turned out to be quite versatile as it's cool enough to wear when it's warm (i.e. when summer returns, or currently in the overheated Swiss winter interiors), but also works for layering when it's cooler.

The fabric is a very lightweight silk crêpe de chine from Fabric.com with a lovely subtle sheen. It's actually slightly sheer, so I tend to wear it with a cami underneath - I didn't want to interline it as I didn't want to lose the fluidity. Although a little fiddly to sew as it's slightly "bouncy", because of the crêpe texture it's not too slippery, and it presses beautifully. (As an aside, I'm really quite hacked off with Fabric.com lately - has anyone else had problems with them? They used to be excellent, but now everything is so slow, and half the order has gone out of stock by the time they send it... Ah, I will save a whole post to rant I think!)

This top is sewn with French seams, and the neckline and arms are finished with bias strips. I missed off the side slits at the hip as I couldn't work out how to do them with French seams, but it would have actually benefited from having them. If you follow me on Twitter, you will already know that the binding was... fiddly. I wanted it fairly narrow, so I cut it 2cm wide: 1cm plus 2 x 5mm seam allowance. However, it didn't occur to me that the crêpe would be very very very stretchy on the bias, meaning it became very narrow as I sewed it. Urgh. This meant it was super hard to control when making the first pass to sew the binding to the bodice, and impossible to turn under and press as usual to sew the second pass by machine.

I ended up doing an awful lot of hand basting: sew the first pass by machine, right side of the binding to wrong side of the bodice, stretching slightly but not too much; press the binding away from the bodice; fold the binding to the outside and baste close to the fold; press; fold the edge under and baste; slipstitch down; remove basting; press. I didn't take any photos of this process. I was too busy swearing. At least the benefit of doing so much handsewing meant I could sit at the dining table and watch Masterchef whilst I did it...

The hem was also sewn by hand: pin up about 7mm; press, removing pins as you go; fold up again to enclose the raw edge and baste; press lightly; slipstich the hem, picking up only a couple of threads on the bodice each time; remove basting; press. I'm actually quite glad I ended up finishing it by hand, as it's pretty invisible so gives a very clean finish.

I used a couple of new techniques with this top. The first was using the walking foot for my machine. For the rest of the sewing I used the teflon foot, but when I was staystitching the neck and arms, I just couldn't get the tension and feed right when sewing a single layer and the fabric was just puckering up. The walking foot stopped this completely, but I think next time I will try using tissue paper to stabilise it whilst sewing, as I found the fabric very difficult to control with the walking foot, especially when sewing curves. Those who use them regularly: is this something inherent to walking feet, or is this just something I will improve at with practice?

The second new thing was a revelation. Normally when basting, I use cotton basting thread as it's super cheap, and breaks easily which is useful when removing it. However, it's also quite thick, so there's a limit to the smallness of the needle you can use before it is impossible to thread. Here, I wanted to use a fine needle with the delicate fabric, so I dug out the silk thread I'd bought ages ago for basting (partly after seeing that it is all Melissa uses), but had never used (mainly as it seemed very expensive to "waste" on basting). My goodness, I don't think I'll go back to cotton! It's so much smoother to use - none of the catchiness when pulling it through or removing it. Now I just need to find a reasonably priced source to buy more.

This top is definitely a success. It's super comfy to wear but also very pretty - it's had several outings already! I just need to remember to take some photos of me wearing it...

Christmas gifts

Hello everyone - I hope you all had a lovely Christmas? I made a few gifts this year, and even managed to get them to the recipients in time for them to open on Christmas day...

I started knitting a scarf for my sister way back in September. Despite this attempt at organisation, I still ended up rushing to get it finished in time!

The pattern is from Lion Brand Yarns (it's a free pattern, but you need to make an account to see it), and is knit in pure merino wool (I ended up needing about 7 balls for this, so it was rather a luxurious gift...). The pattern was easy to remember, but fairly slow to knit because of the cabling. It also needed fairly aggressive blocking to open up the pattern. I'm super pleased with this scarf, and fortunately my sister likes it too!

Most of the other presents to my sister and nephew were food themed, so I decided to make them matching aprons. I used a graphic tomato-print quilters' cotton bought online from eQuilter.com.

My sister's one was copied from the previous apron I made for myself, but with a couple of adjustments to size, and improvements in construction. I made this one double layered, which as well as making it more durable, is much quicker and easier to sew than hemming or binding the edges - you just sandwich all the straps between the two layers and sew around the edge, leaving a small opening to turn it.

I also made the neck strap adjustable using two D-rings, and added one of my labels as a hanging loop.

My nephew's apron was based on this pattern and tutorial, but drafted to appropriate measurements for him.

The neck band is elasticated and the waist strap closes with velcro so he can put it on and take it off by himself (he's extremely independent and strong-willed, so I think he'll like this). I also added pockets, as two-year-olds like pockets.

The last present I'll show you here is another scarf, this time for my dad. He's very hard to buy presents for, and also always cold, so I figured this would work out well! I didn't follow a pattern, just knitted an appropriately wide strip in moss stitch.

It is 80% wool (I think), and very soft and warm. It wasn't originally going to be a circle scarf, but I only bought three balls of wool, and it looked a bit short to wear "normally". I figured the scarf itself was classic enough for my dad not to feel it was too "trendy" for him, and besides, circular scarfs are very practical as they aren't as draughty and can't fall off. I think he does like it (although my mum had to show him how to put it on...)

Of course, there were presents I had planned to make that I ran out of time for: a lightweight scarf for my mum, and most importantly, a shirt for my husband. I brought back some lovely cotton from Mood in NYC for a shirt, and also bought some more shirting cotton recently, but I didn't want to rush it, so this (plus the scarf) will be a New Year present!

Finally, here's a little preview of my Christmas outfit (well the top half at least - Burda 08/2012/113). Those of you who follow me on Twitter will have already seen a picture of this on Wilma, but it looks much better on me, especially with added Christmas dinner...

London twice in a fortnight

Well, it's that pre-Christmas rush of seeing family (and some friends too), so last week was spent in London, and I will be back again this weekend. Sadly no time last week for fabric or notions shopping (although I did buy some bayonet lightbulbs for the anglepoise in my sewing room...), maybe this time?

Incidentally, does anyone have any news on Goldhawk Road/Shepherd's Bush Market? I'm hoping to have a moment or two to pop into Classic Textiles and buy some coating.

I have actually been doing a fair amount of sewing between travelling, some things more successful than others. I'm currently working on (yet another!) Sorbetto in silk crêpe de chine - here's the fabric I am using:

I've got a little more finishing to do, but this will be worn this weekend in London - and I will be showing you something other than Sorbettos soon!

V&A Sorbetto

So this top is something I've had in mind for a while, but have only just got around to making it. I'm semi-pleased with it - I made some stupid mistakes so it's not quite perfect, but I still quite like it. I've yet to get any photos of it on me, (although I have worn it).

Pattern description

A variation of the Sorbetto top: contrast yoke with V-neckline, cap sleeves, and side hem slits. (See my previous versions here and here.)

Fabric used

The printed cotton is a Liberty print that I bought at the V&A quilts exhibition a couple of years ago (the fabrics from the exhibition are still available to buy in the V&A shop, but are only available in fat quarters, half metres or one metre lengths - I bought a 1m length, and used about half of this here). It's a quilting cotton, but it's much softer and has a better drape than most quilting cottons normally are. The yoke is plain black cotton - I think this was described as broadcloth when I bought it, but it's more like a heavyweight lawn.

Did it look like the sketch/idea when you were done?

Erm, sort of. Due to some sewing errors, the armscyes are a little too wide, causing some problems with the sleeves, and the V neck cut-out isn't quite right. However, the general impression is just what I intended.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made/Drafting details

I decided the line of the yoke by marking it with pins whilst wearing my leopard print Sorbetto and then transferring it to the paper copy. I moved the shoulder seam forward 5mm at the neckline and 10mm at the shoulder point and scooped out the front armscye 5mm to allow for my forward shoulders, and lengthened the top by 10cm. Something I had noticed on the previous versions was that they flared out way too much at the hips, which wasn't very flattering, so in this version I reduced the flare at the hip by about 7cm (distributed between the side and CB seams). I raised the back neckline by 8cm and cut the back yoke on the fold. I raised the front neckline by 3.5cm and marked a V-shape opening that would be 4cm wide at the neckline, with the bottom of the V where the yoke joins the lower piece. The sleeves are effectively ovals, but drafted using the article in Threads Magazine issue 164. I drafted these to come past the start of the underarm curve as I wanted that bit covered (see below for details of the issues with the sleeves...), and they are cut on the bias.

Construction details

The yoke and sleeves are lined. The neckline, front V and armscyes are stabilised with fusible interfacing. I fused this to the facing pieces rather than the top of the yoke as I was concerned about bubbling/show-through as the fabric is slightly sheer (and I remembered to use my press cloth so no gluey iron!). After construction the facing actually looks much better with the support of the interfacing, but I think part of that was the, ahem, issues I had with seam allowances. In hindsight I should have also staystitched the neckline and armscyes on the top facing as well.

I used a slightly modified version of Trena's very helpful tutorial for lining a sleeveless bodice with no centre back seam to minimise the handsewing I needed to do.

Construction order was:

• Sew and finish CB seam in lower bodice.
• Sew top yoke to lower bodice. At the centre front V I applied a small piece of fusible interfacing to the centre of the lower bodice to provide some extra support where the yoke joins it. The two halves of the yoke were then sewn to the bodice, lining up the centre fronts and stopping stitching at the seam line of the V, leaving the seam allowance free to fold back.

• Sew the bust darts.
• Sew and finish the side seams of the yoke facing/lining and the outer bodice. On the outer bodice side seams I stopped 10cm before the bottom to allow for the side slits. The seam allowance past this point was pressed back along the continuation of the seam line.
• Trim a couple of millimetres from the armscye and neckline edges of the yoke facing (so that the seam would roll to the inside). Then, right sides together, sew yoke facing to yoke at neckline (stopping a few cm short of shoulders) and at armscyes (I stopped at the mark where the sleeves join, but I would recommend not sewing right up to the point where the sleeve starts to allow some room for manoeuvre). This is where things started to go wrong... I'd drafted the yoke with 1cm seam allowances on the neckline and armscyes (rather than the 1.5cm everywhere else) as I figured this would make them easier to manipulate and less to trim around the curves. However, when I sewed these seams, I forgot about the smaller SA. Not too bad just yet, but I was at this point wondering why the point of the V didn't meet in the middle.

• Sew and finish shoulder seams on yoke (not facing).
• Right sides together, sew sleeves to yoke, matching shoulder and end points. This was rather fiddly, and my mistake with the seam allowances earlier caused the biggest problems here. The larger SA on the armscye meant that the seam line was longer than it should have been. However, I drafted the sleeve with a 1.5cm SA, so this seam line was the correct length, so when they were matched up together I ended up having to ease the yoke into the sleeve a bit, thinking all the time, "what the hell is going on here?" This has meant the yoke doesn't lie entirely smooth, unfortunately especially on the top layer as this isn't directly supported by the interfacing. Why didn't I correct this? Because I'd already sewn everything except the last couple of steps below (and trimmed and clipped various seam allowances), and I really didn't fancy unpicking and redoing all of this.

• Sew and finish the shoulder seam on yoke facing.
• Trim/clip and turn under the unsewn yoke facing edges at the neck and armscyes and sew closed by hand.

• Finish the bottom edge of the yoke facing, turn up, and stich down. Well, that's what I intended to do anyway. Because of the SA issues, the V in the centre didn't quite come together, so I had to sort of fudge it a bit in the centre front (I didn't want to clip the bottom bodice piece in case I get round to replacing the top section at a later point), and decided to just finish the yoke facing bottom edge with the serger and topstitch it down.

• Finish the bottom edge of the top, turn up the hem and topstitch (I didn't bother with mitering the corners at the bottom of the side slits).
• Topstitch around the side slits.

Would you sew it again?

I really like the fit of this version of the Sorbetto so I will definitely use this shape again, although I need to fix the issues with the sleeves and yoke first.

Conclusion

Hmm. I'm really rather annoyed at the silly mistakes I made with this, as they've slightly spoilt this otherwise very pleasing top. Having worn this, I think it is worth redoing the yoke and sleeves as they make it slightly annoying to wear, but as they require pretty much complete recutting this will have to wait until I've completed a couple of other things I have in the pipeline. I'm not entirely happy with how the sleeves turned out - they are a little, um, space age... When I redo this (or if I make another version) I will reduce the outer length of the sleeves a little (by overlapping the slashes more). I'm slightly concerned that this is more of a summer top too. The sleeves are moderately cardie-friendly (fine under a large cardie, but annoying under a more fitted one - and for now it will be worn under a cardie). I might try it with a long-sleeved T-shirt underneath.