KnipMode - extra edition Spring/Summer 2019 - Wrap top (2x)

For many years my motto was: ‘Why use a pattern more than once, if you have so many nice patterns to choose from? Life is too short!’  I just never did. All the patterns I tried were thrown away after using them. (I’m talking about the patterns I traced on paper, the patternsheets I still own.)

Now I just don’t get what I was thinking back then.

If now I find a pattern that I like and ,with a few (or a lot) alterations, finally fits me well, to me it’s a blessing I can use that pattern again without any fitting-hassle.  I must have had unrestrained energy in those days, that I was not afraid to ‘reinvent the wheel’, over and over again. Or I must not have had many fitting-issues…hmm…that’s probably it.

This pattern has been on my want-to-make list ever since it appeared in Knipmode. Now I finally got round to making it. Not once, but twice! And I see more of them coming in the foreseeable future.

The top fits nicely (after alterations), is easy to put together and is a great addition to my wardrobe.

(Note to self: must make nice denimskirt to wear with these.)

When deciding how many fabric I need for a project, I always add extra length. But somehow I miscalculated this time because I wasn't able to fit the patternpieces on the fabric. That was a bit of a scare because I bought 2 pieces of fabric with this top in mind. So I ended up doing something I actually never do: I placed one big patternpiece upside down. I checked if the fabric didn’t change in colour and it didn’t. The long frontfacing also was a problem, so I cut it into 2 pieces. That way it didn’t take up much length and that little seam would be hidden anyway. And hey, just like that, the problem was solved!

I started with a size 46 and made the following adjustments:

- Lowered the waist by 3 cm. and added those cm to the length
- Graded out to a size 48 at the waist and back to a size 46 at the hip.

- Lowered the bust-dart 3 cm

- Did an FBA

- Widened the sleeves at the hem to accommodate for my larger biceps. I wanted to keep the  

   looser fit.

- Lengthened the pattern at the bottom by 4 cm. (6 on the blue version, altough you can hardly tell).

SEWING-TIP

A tip for anyone who wants to sew this top:

It can be a bit of a hassle to put the interfaced facing to the frontpiece. (One does stretch, the other does not.)  I made it easier for myself by putting corresponding nodges at 3 places on the patternpieces of both the facing and the frontpieces. (You can do more of course). When pinning the facing to the frontpiece you first pin the corresponding nodges together. And then you’ll find that pinning the fabric between those nodges will be much, much easier!

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I hope you are all well in these crazy times! Next tuesday we will hear more from our government about the Corona-measures for the following period. Will there be an extension of the taken measures or will they become less strict? Will schools open again or will they be shut until after the summer? There’s even talk that the summerholidays may be shortened to help students who have fallen behind in their education, to catch up. Personally, I would very much like to know when we will be able to start working in the office again. But I’m sure everything will be phased in at first, so it will probably be a combination of working in the office and working from home, rotating with colleagues. That’s fine by me.

Take care, stay safe and keep on sewing my friends!

Lilian