A Stripey Coco Top

My blogging mojo has been non existent over the winter. I find it hard to get good photos when the days are shorter and I seem to have gotten out of the habit of even trying. That doesn't mean that I haven't been sewing. I have lots of sewing to share with you and now that Spring has arrived, I can feel my blogging mojo returning.

Tilly and the Buttons Coco with contrast yoke.

To kick things off, I have made another Coco. It is no secret that I love this pattern, I have made several versions of this pattern already. This time I was using up some ponte left over from previous projects so I thought I would try a Coco with a contrast yoke and pocket. Tilly has a tutorial on how to do this here.

It really pays to take your time and plan your garment carefully when working with a striped fabric. Stripes that don't match at seam lines can look very amateurish and I am constantly amazed to see this in RTW clothing quite often.

I am glad that I spent the extra time matching my stripes at the side seams and on the sleeve seams. I also chose to join the contrasting yoke on the striped fabric so that the white stripe was a constant width.

The contrast yoke is also on the back. I made a straight size 5 as usual, with no changes to the pattern. The seam allowance between the yokes and front/back pieces were top stitched to keep them lying flat.

To avoid stretching out the neckline I sewed a line of stay stitching just inside the fold line. I then applied Vliesofix Bondaweb Tape, purchased from Knitwit, to the edge before folding over and stitching with a twin needle. This is the first time I have used this product and I couldn't be happier with the result.

The hems were secured with a twin needle too, which I continued up and around the side slits. You can still see the pink marking pencil dots I placed to indicate where to turn. It is a little tricky getting neat turns with a twin needle. I raise the needle, carefully turn the garment and then lower the needle so that it matches up with the previous stitching as close as possible. 

The pocket was a bit of an afterthought. I felt that the red needed to be repeated on the shirt to tie the yoke in and create a balanced garment. 

Love my new Coco top and it has been a very useful addition to my casual weekend wardrobe.


Happy sewing