The facing that wanted to come out and play.

Yes. Another simple project... I almost feel the need to apologise for the fact that my sewing might seem a bit boring lately. But for me it isn't. No matter how simple it looks, there are always some problems to overcome and when I do, I am quite happy with the outcome. This top is a good example of that (first picture is a bit crappy though...)



 

 

As you can see, my top has no sleeves. Here's why.It all started with a piece of fabric I bought at a local fair for only € 3 ($ 3,80 / £ 2,30). Soon after that the idea came up to sew a trendy, oversized shirt with short sleeves. It took some time to find a matching pattern. (MUST NOT BUY FABRIC WITHOUT A PLAN - I REPEAT...MUST NOT etc.)

This pattern is from a magazine called 'Diana'. (More about that later). When that was solved too it was time to cut the fabric. It was then I discovered a big yellow stain, which eliminated 1/4 of the fabric I could use. Bummer.....

So what was I to do? Start looking for a new pattern (which would cost more time) or make do with what I had? I choose the last option and decided to eliminate the sleeves. I could still use this top to wear under jackets, cardigans etc.

With full steam ahead I started to sew. Then I saw that the shoulderseams were not matching. The back was way smaller than the front. (This probably has to do with the fact that I had to draw a new size between the patternlines of size 42/44 and 46/48). I had to recut and reshape the front neckline in the shoulder area. That meant the facing had to be reshaped  as well.
Once that was done I attached the facing to the, partly ruffled, neckline. Because of the ruffles, the facing was behaving in a bad way. It kept creeping up from behind the neckline and I didn't know what to do. Downstitching the facing meant stitching through the ruffles. That didn't appeal to me at all. I was about to throw the whole lot in the bin when I had a (ahum) briljant idea.Why not give the facing what it wanted - it's own little place in the sun?
And there you have it. The little stripe of fabric you see above the ruffles is the facing, crawling to the surface. It almost looks like a designfeature. As if it was meant this way. Yay!
The facing is stitched down all the way round. I used the 'stitch in the ditch'-technique in the front.

Pffff....problems overcome...very happy sewist!

Because I wasn't going to put in any sleeves, I had to redesign the armscyes as well, but that was a quick fix. I finished them in my favourite way. When hemming, I left the back a bit longer than the front. And from a certain size up, the pattern has bust darts. Nice!

This magazine - 'Diana' - is, I believe, a German magazine but sold in the Netherlands completely in Dutch. The pictures have a Burda-feel to it but the patterns are much nicer and wearable (in my opinion). For example:

Picture taken from sewing-magazine 'Diana'

Can you feel the Burda-vibe of a long, long time ago??

And now, probably with sweet Burda-memories filling your head, it's time for me to go. Next up will be another jersey knit top in quite thrilling colours. And yes, I'm afraid it's simple again ;-)
Better get started.

See you next time.
Lilian