I have made another Sewaholic Renfrew. This time I made view B with the V Neck.
Fabric used was a grey cotton jersey. This was quite a stable knit and sewed well. The neckline is pulling a bit in this photo because of the way I have my arm positioned.
You can see how well the neckline sits when my arms are by my side.
And here is the back view. I am quite happy with the fit. The sleeves are a bit long but being cotton there may be some shrinkage, so I was allowing for this.
I was very happy with the V Neck. The instructions were very clear and made this quite easy. I finished the neckline with a twin needle rather than zigzag as the instructions suggest. I think this gives it a more RTW finish and stops it looking home made.
I have finally parted with my overlocker and sent it off for a well needed service. Therefore, I sewed this top entirely on my sewing machine, finishing the seams with a zigzag stitch.
This will be a great casual top for the weekend.
Top No. 2
Dolman Sleeve Top from Cation Designs which is a free pattern.
This a great little pattern that has been popping up quite a bit lately. I have made this previously (Pattern Review) but the neckline was a complete disaster.
For this one I changed the dimensions of the neck band from 24" x 1.25" (61cm x 3.2cm) to 21" x 2"(53.3cm x 5cm) This worked out much better. I also used the length and the hem band from the Sewaholic Renfrew. Fabric used was a jersey left over from my Wrap Dress.
I finished off the neckline using a zigzag stitch which I thought suited the fabric design better than a twin needle finish.
This is a great addition to my weekend wardrobe and a great way to use up some leftover fabric.
Top No.3
This one is a combination of the Cation Design Dolman Sleeve Top and the Sewaholic Renfrew V Neck Top.
Fabric choice can make a huge difference. The fabric I used for this top was a very fine knit (unknown content) that had a lot of drape and not a very good recovery. This had sat in my stash for a while. I didn't quite know what to do with it so I thought it would do, to try out this pattern combination.
See all that fabric pooling at the back? This is exactly the same back pattern piece I used for Top No. 2 (except for the neckline), and I didn't have any fabric pooling problem with that one. Also the sleeve bands are too loose. You might notice that the hem band is a little narrower too. I cut the original one off and removed nearly 7 inches before reattaching it.
This fabric is really tissue thin. I purchased it online, thinking it looked like a sweater knit from the online photo...I was bitterly disappointed. I guess that's the risk you take when ordering online.
You can see how thin it is in the shot above where the flash has picked up my bra through the fabric.
One thing I was really pleased with was the V Neck on this top. It turned out really neat, so I guess I will be making a few more of these easy tops in the future. (Just have to be quite careful choosing the fabric).
Happy Sewing
