A recent wardrobe purge brought home the scary realisation I have few very tops for spring and summer. You may have noticed I' ve been testing patterns and sewing tops for a while now- primarily because I need those most. I have a few pairs of trousers and skirts, but no dresses (yet) and a big gap in the comfortable and stylish top category. I think I've found one top I'll be making again and again though.
After hunting for a sleek cowl neck top for a while, I bought the Kwik Sew 3740 pattern that has had rave reviews at PR and added My review at PR
This is a nice fast little top to whip up, I made mine from relatively inexpensive "seaspray' knit from a certain chainstore that has infiltrated most major cities and towns, squeezing out small independent dressmaking suppliers. I would prefer to shop elsewhere locally if there was a choice. The knit is 90% cotton, 10% spandex and I know it keeps it shape with laundering, although it doesn't keep its colour overly well in the long term. Perfect for a knit toile though.
And unlike the Simplicity cowl neck top in lovely cotton knit print that I made last year, with far more work involved,
this one shouldn't prompt ladies of the older generation who just don't get modern clothing design trends to ask excitedly when is the baby due! Response? "Noooooo, I'm just round thanks to having had twins". I don't think it occurs to them that their comment could be interpreted as being rude.It sewed together beautifully. I love the cowl neck that has a smaller less wide under cowl, that pulls the larger top piece seam edge under, so there are no seams in sight. It sits just right, not too low, not too high-is easily arranged, and the side seams have a nice bit of shaping.
I shortened the pattern sleeves by 1 inch and lengthened the bodice by 1 inch, and added as insurance 1/4 to each underarm and tapered back to the original about 3 inches from the underarm sleeve. Other than that, no other alterations. It has a very RTW look in all the right ways.
I used my overlocker for construction except for using the sewing machine with a walking foot to topstitch the neckline seam to the garment body - to stop it from twisting up into view- using a stitch length of 3.5 and width of 0.5, Coverstitched the hems after finger pressing in place with water soluble Wonder Tape. Its good stuff for taming hems for a very stable finish for coverstitching. Finally I found an Aussie business who sells it and mail ordered some- thanks Punch with Judy!
My only minor niggle with this pattern is that like other Kwik Sew patterns I've tried recently, the shoulder seam sits a tad wider than I'd ideally like, but hey- for a toile this worked well enough to wear and collect compliments from my quilting buddies, DH and kiddies. More fiddling with this, there is a singlet version and I've got plans to shorten the sleeve and do a different neckline, raised or even a V neck to make it into a different top, possibly shorten it a little...get some real mileage out of it.
Last week I fiddled with a McCalls OOP (out of print) bias cut skirt pattern designed by Nancy Zieman, see it here to alter for my waist and thought it was about right- cut from ramie fabric from an op shop find to test sew. Well, I like the skirt but determined that my alteration was too much and I needed barely any extension of the side seams to fit well. Its a really nice pattern with a slimmer hip fit and gentle flare that isn't too wide, very flattering. But, be quick if you like it as its no longer being printed so once they sell out, its goodbye nice pattern unless you pick it up on ebay or whenever someone sells their copy.
The down side to my skirt adventure was when fusing some interfacing to the quite narrow hip yoke I found a stain on the fabric. A nasty blueish-black, almost transparently greasy stain. I checked the other side- and it had gone right through. Clearly the reason it had been ditched to the op shop- and I'm annoyed at myself for not seeing it in the dim store lighting- because I really, really liked the fabric!
Oh well, it was a very inexpensive way to test a bias cut skirt! Hopeful but in vain, I checked the body of the skirt front and back and they were worse! Some things weren't meant to be.
Silver lining- it allowed me to refine and check my alteration, and once that happened it was into the bin, bye-bye to bad fabric, no guilt!
I had originally planned to make this skirt from a soft red blended with white linen I picked up on clearance which is a little prickly- so a cotton lining is in order so its comfortable. I will probably launder it a few more times and see if it softens any or it too may be ear tagged for toile tests. I'm a bit of the princess and the pea, if the fabric isn't smooth then I will line it well or ditch to avoid chaffing.
Hanging on my laundry rack ready for pressing is some pale pink cotton drill for a Kwik Sew jacket toile...can't wait to see what it turns out like.
Happy Sewing and Quilting,
Stephanie
3 comments:
Another convert to KS3740 - you know you have been bitten by the bug now and will not be able to stop sewing this great pattern!
Yes Sue, why would we sew only one of a good thing? Just you wait, that Simplicity 2599 will nibble at you too!! I bet you'll make more than the two of them.
I really want to play with this pattern and alter for some different looks. Good thing Kwik Sew patterns are printed on sturdy paper...
Great top Steph! I really like the blue one...the fit is really good and you look smashing as well. :D That skirt pattern is very nice as well. To bad the fabric was damaged, but as you said bargain bad fabric no guilt.
Post a Comment