Style Arc Trio (Fay, Nina & Ann)

I bought this gorgeous printed jersey recently at Spotlight. The colours are so vibrant, and I had the Style Arc Fay Skirt in mind, as it is such a simple pattern...perfect to let the fabric shine. The skirt is self lined, which makes it much less clingy or revealing than a single layer would be and it has an elastic waist. This is my third version of the Fay Skirt. You can see the first one here and the second here.

I agonised over the print placement in this skirt. In fact, the fabric lay spread on my cutting table for several days while I dithered over the best area of the print to feature on the skirt.

I think it turned out alright in the end. I am wearing it here with my latest Style Arc Nina Cardigan in a black merino knit from The Fabric Store Online. This is my fourth Nina Cardigan and so it goes without saying that I love this pattern. 

The white top is another Style Arc pattern... the Ann T-Top which I previously blogged here. I am a little disappointed with this outfit after seeing these photos. The top is far too baggy and long. A shorter, more fitted top would have looked so much better with this skirt. Does anyone else find that photos reveal far more than just looking in the mirror?

Happy Sewing

Jean

Style Arc Sammi Pants Success

Continuing on with my quest for sewing pants that fit, I have tried the Style Arc Sammi Pants.

Style Arc Sammi Pants

I made a straight size 12 with no alterations. The fabric was purchased from Spotlight a few months ago. It was labelled as Panama stretch suiting in Pewter. It really has no stretch to speak of and is very synthetic. It looked like it would be hard wearing and good for a pair of work pants.

To my utter amazement, these pants fitted me without any alterations to the pattern at all. Here is the description from the Style Arc website:

SAMMI WOVEN PANT:This is basic pant woven pant which sits just below the waist line, featuring a buttoned waistband which is contoured and a fly front.  A slight boot leg makes this pant very flattering.

This description is spot on. These are basic, but comfortable pants with a flattering cut.

Back view

I am wearing them here with my Style Arc Nina Cardigan blogged about here.

Close up of front showing fly and waistband with buttons.

Close up of back showing darts.

These were plenty long enough. There is a 4cm hem allowance on the pattern, but I had to take them up 7cm and that's to wear them with high heel shoes. I am 172cm tall (5'8"). I hand stitched the hem so it would be invisible.

Here are some photos of the inside:

The inside of the waistband was turned under and secured by stitching in the ditch from the right side. I usually have trouble doing this, but this fabric behaved very well.

I used a metal trouser zip and I followed the Style Arc directions for inserting the fly. I did have to read over them several times and scratch my head a bit but they finally made sense and it turned out really neat.

Underside view of fly. All seams were sewn on my sewing machine and then finished off with the overlocker.

The only issue I had with the construction of these pants was that I attached the interfacing to the waistband facing instead of the waistband. I didn't realise my mistake until I had completely assembled the waistband and went to attach it to the pants. As the two front pieces are different lengths, my error meant that the waistband was back to front. I had to recut and reconstruct the entire waistband (so annoying) but I have made a note on the pattern for next time.

I am pretty happy with my Sammi Pants.

I was running late for work so these photos were a bit rushed as you can tell by the look on my face.

Happy Sewing

Springtime Style Arc Nina Cardigan

I have made myself another Style Arc Nina Cardigan for spring.

Spring has sprung in Australia and I have been enjoying the sweet scent of the wisteria growing on our side fence. Thought it would be a pretty backdrop for my purple Style Arc Nina Cardigan. Style Arc are an Australian pattern making company based in Melbourne. I have made a few of their patterns and have been very pleased with them all and I have noticed lots of favourable reviews for Style Arc on Pattern Review as well. Check out Anne's blog Clothing Engineer for lots of reviews of Style Arc patterns.

Nina Cardigan

I have made this cardigan previously (pre blog) and posted a review on Pattern Review. This review has a lot more construction details and detailed photos.

I love the flattering front folds and draping of this cardigan. It has a very slimming shape which is great for my rectangular figure (not much of a waist).

For this one I used a light to medium weight jersey with a lovely drape. Not sure of the fabric content. I sewed this mainly with my overlocker and finished the hems using Lite Steam A Seam 2 and sewing with my twin needle. I did have one major blunder while overlocking the seams. When you use the overlocker you lose a lot of control over keeping the layers of fabric perfectly together. This resulted in the centre back seam being very badly matched with the waist seam. I didn't realise this until I had overlocked the entire seam and I was not going to attempt to unpick all that stitching. This bugs me to no end, but I have since found a helpful tip to avoid this problem over on Karen's blog Did You Make That. I will definitely be using this tip next time.

Hope you are enjoying sewing for the change of seasons...Autumn (or Fall) for the Northern Hemisphere and Spring for us "down under".


Happy Sewing

Cute Cowl Tops

Back in the summer I made this cute cowl top.

 It’s New Look 6470 View B.

Unfortunately, I cut my usual size 12 (as I do in knit patterns, going down 1 size from my usual size 14) but this pattern must run a little on the small side. And to make matters worse, (in my attempt at efficiency) I had cut out two tops at once, before I realised the sizing problem. They are just wearable, but I feel very self-conscious wearing them, because they are very clingy and show every spare tyre round my middle. Probably not a great look. Also, I feel they would look better on me if I lengthened them about 5 cm (2 inches).

I was careful when cutting out to avoid placing the green circles directly over my boobs.

I love the zebra stripe fabric

Closer view of cowl

Back view ( far too tight for my liking)

I did use a tip from Mazzygirl on Pattern Review for widening the cowl facing. http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/readreview.pl?reviewnum=70311&readreview=1

Widening the depth of the cowl facing and catching it in the armhole hems worked well to keep everything in place.

I then had a third attempt at this pattern, with some alterations this time. I added to the side seams to get a looser fit and increased the length. Here is the result:

Adding to the length was a definite improvement.

Can you see the new problem I created?

I have learned an important lesson here. If you add to the side seams, this will make the armhole bigger too. Not always ideal. Next time I will add the additional width at the centre front and centre back to keep the armholes the same, or maybe I should just make the bigger size?

This view on my dress form shows how much the armhole gapes and shows my bra.

Another mistake that I learned from:

Always leave needle down whilst sewing to avoid steps like this.

I guess this top looks OK with a cardigan and it feels much more comfortable with the extra room.

Love it here worn with my Style Arc Nina Cardigan

As soon as the weather warms up (it’s now the middle of winter down under) I can see myself having another go at this pattern, and I anticipate achieving far greater success, now I have worked out what not to do.

Happy sewing.