I started in on my New Look 6735 top today. It's been painfully slow going for a simple knit shirt. First off, I left my pattern pieces spread out on the dining room table, and the puppy got hold of the front and chewed it up (this was one I had previously done an FBA on). So I ran out to Jo-Ann for a replacement.
Then, after spending almost an hour tracing my pattern pieces, re-doing the FBA, and trimming all the seam allowances to 3/8" (because the last time I made this up, I forgot that only the neckline SA was 3/8", and I serged the neck trim piece to the neckline using a 5/8" seam allowance. WAY too low cut, even for me.) I finally laid out the pattern on my fabric. It's this lovely knit from Emma One Sock:
I made sure to keep the big round medallion-looking things off my boobs, but I realized I had only ordered 1.33 yards, and I needed 1 3/8 for the 3/4 sleeve version. (And, of course, the fabric is sold out now - right after I realized how nice a matching skirt would be...)
I have enough to cut one full sleeve, but I'm short a few inches on the other piece. It's a very busy print, so I think I can get away with piecing the sleeve, but I'm not sure how best to do that so it looks like a design element, and not a major screw-up on my part. (Any thoughts? Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments below.)
Also, I'm thinking of adding some ruffles to the neckline with the very tiny amount of leftover fabric I have, sort of like this Marc Jacobs top:
(Yes, the fabric has a very similar color scheme to the EOS knit print.) Anyway, I'm feeling a bit discouraged at the moment. In theory, this should have been a 90-minutes-from-start-to-finish project. I think I need to take a break (before I do something I'm going to regret) and pick it up again in the morning.
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Thanks for your comment on my blog. :) I'm not too keen on mom jeans even for myself ... finally donated mine when we moved to this house .
ReplyDeleteI have exactly the same problem sometimes and have to piece bits together ... I think your best bet is to have a vertical seam somewhere on the sleeve besides under the arm ... depending on the pieces you have available, -- if they are long enough to do that. If you are lucky you might be able to hid both seams under the arm ... if not, you could see how putting a seam down the top of the arm would work.
Neat that you have drafted patterns for your daughter! I haven't learned how to do that yet but would looooove to - did you take a class? or trial and error?
I had thought about a vertical seam, but my fabric just isn't long enough to do it. :-( I was thinking perhaps a diagonal seam of some sort, or a horizontal seam with some sort of angle or curves; I'm just not sure where I should place the seam so it looks intentional. I'll futz around with it some more this weekend.
ReplyDeleteI've studied pattern drafting in college, but my go-to resource for pattern drafting for kids is a book called Kids Clothes Sew Easy by Rene Bergh. It assumes that you have a basic understanding of clothing construction, but I've found it to be very user-friendly as far as the drafting instructions go.