Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Christmas Sewing -- part 2

Last night I attended the Christmas party for my neighborhood ASG group and decided in the morning that I should have a new top that looked a bit more festive than anything in my closet. 

So armed with $4 worth of Wal-Mart bargain table crushed velour knit that I had just picked up two days before for the stash and my TCC software, I printed out a new t-shirt pattern with a bateau neckline.

I had already decided to wear either my rope pearl necklace or my chatelaine that a friend made me a couple years ago.  My pants choices were brown or green -- and the chatelaine is green -- so ... no brainer... the chatelaine it was!  (and ASG members would recognize what a chatelaine actually is!)  Since that would definitely be the "star" of this outfit, I decided on a bateau neckline.

It went together very well.  Based on my Sewing with Knits book by Connie Long, I used 5/8" seam allowances and the Dual Feed (walking foot) on my Janome.  Another tip I used (credit to Linda Lee) was that I pressed up the hem allowances before stitching the shirt.  That was easy to do at the beginning of the project and it made the finishing go much quicker.  Little things sometimes mean a lot when you are under the gun for time.





 The top was very comfortable and just right for the occasion.  Will I wear it often?  I think not ... but now it is in the closet the next time I need "dressy casual."  Since it is a neutral off-white it isn't limited to Christmas.

I need to double check my neck width measurement in my chart and the relationship with the shoulder length measurment.  Looks like I changed one without changing the other and the software thinks my shoulders are wider than they are.  So not the perfect fit that I would like but definitely a better fit for me than rtw since the accurately located darts help add shaping and the top skims the body.

The picture was taken after I got home and had been sitting all evening in the poly gabardine pants -- so all in all a little rumpled .... but "it will do."

No comments: