FO: Sparkle Peony Agnes Top

Sometimes in any hobby, you just need a simple palette cleanser. It's not that I've been working on anything super hard lately - it's just that I haven't been able to work on much of anything at all. So when I finally had a few evenings in a row to sew, I decided to go for a sure fire win :)

This started with me wanting to use this fabric. This is a lovely Art Gallery jersey called Sprinkled Peonies Sparkle that I picked up at The Sewing Studio this past July. This fabric is so soft and I just love the color palette, plus the stamens are actually a metallic rose gold - very cool. I knew I wanted to use this fabric, but I didn't know which top to make. I bought what was left on the bolt, so I only had 1.25 yards to work with. In the end I decided to go with my current puffed sleeve obsession.

Yes, this is another Agnes Top because I just love those puffed sleeves. Technically this pattern takes more fabric in my size, but with some careful pattern Tetris I squeezed all the pieces in and the only change is that the sleeves were made about 1/2" shorter (but really, who is going to notice that?). So now all I have are odd shaped scraps that are too small for any adult anything. That's pretty good in my book :) Since I only had a small cut, I didn't have much choice with pattern placement, but happily this fabric didn't give me any awkward flower boobs.

This fabric performed beautifully in the sleeves of this pattern, which is something I notice and appreciate after my initial let down when using a cheapy rayon jersey.

And I did my usual forward shoulder adjustment on this version, which got everything sitting where it should be. Looks good from the back too.

My only niggle with this version is something I should've known better. I cut the neckband the length that the pattern calls for, which would normally be fine When I was pinning it into the neckline, I remember thinking, "wow, I'm not having to stretch this neckband much at all," but it was more of a passing thought and I just kept going. I know better! I should have stopped right there and shortened that band before I sewed it on. Sadly, I did not do this. I was so focused on getting a finished item in the little time I had available that I motored through. Now I have a tragically loose neckband. This is actually the only neckband I've ever had do this - it actually tips forward away from my body when it's worn. Ugh. You can't see it much in these photos because the shirt hadn't been worn yet, so the fabric was nice and taught still, but believe me it's a problem. I thought I would just leave it, but after wearing this a few times I find it is actually embarrassing that it pulls away. I ran out of my light pink thread I used for top stitching, but I have now purchased more and I will be undoing the entire band and making it shorter. Learn, Megan, learn! Ugh.

So once I fix my neckband, I will be totally happy with this little number :) In spite of the issue, I have already worn this about once a week, so I know it will be a fun item this fall. Yay for easy wins!

Summary:
Fabric: 1.25 yards Sprinkled Peonies Sparkle Knit cotton jersey by Art Gallery Fabrics - $15.99
Pattern: Agnes Top by Tilly and the Buttons
Notions: knit stay tape - $0.25, thread - $1.00, elastic - free
Time: 3 hours
Total Cost: $ 17.24

FO: Flamingo Agnes

So while my last post wasn't very wearable, this version more than makes up for it :) But first, check it out - I made an outfit!

I'll be posting about the skirt I made to wear with this soon, but don't they look cute together?! I love it.

So anyway - this is another Agnes Top by Tilly and the Buttons. After the fit was relatively good on the first version, I immediately cut into this adorable fabric. The fabric is a cotton spandex jersey from Dear Stella and it's covered in Flamingos. I'm hip! But really I just thought this print was adorable. I picked up 1.5 yards of this fabric last July at The Sewing Studio hoping to make a puffed sleeve t-shirt with it. For some reason I decided that Memorial Day Weekend was the time to make this happen. 

So the sleeves turned out absolutely awesome in this fabric. This jersey has a nice amount of body, being cotton, so the sleeves stand up on their own just lovely. The ruching is really just so simple to do, making it all that much more awesome. I will be going on my bi-annual pilgrimage for fabric on July 4th and you can bet your butt I will be picking some other cotton prints to make more of these sleeves with.

Since the fit was so good on the first version, I decided to experiment with a small change I've been wondering about for a while now. I've noticed with my other tops (rtw or handmade) my shoulder seam always shifts behind my actual shoulder. I knew forward shoulders were common, but for some reason I put off actually making an adjustment thinking it would be annoying or something. Seriously? This was basically the easiest adjustment I've ever made. I did a 5/8" forward shoulder adjustment on this version and look - my seam is directly on my shoulder! What a novel idea! I now have this alteration on my pattern pieces, so I really need to remember to do this on other shirts in the future. If you've never done it - don't let it scare you! It's so easy and so worth it.

This top looks pretty good from the back as well. The top may actually be a little long for ths skirt I've made to wear with it - so weird since I usually have to lengthen shirts. It doesn't bother me, but I will probably wear it kind of scrunched like this depending on what I wear it with.

The only thing that didn't come out just like I wanted was the ruching at the bust. The pattern has the larger sizes start the elastic a distance from the finished neck band, which I think looks a bit odd. The smaller sized have the elastic right at the band. I think I will change that on any future versions and just start the elastic where it looks good. Also my ruching doesn't seem to scrunch all that much. I think it's because this fabric has such great recovery - it kind of fights against the elastic and the fabric wins. So it's a cute detail if you look close, but it doesn't pull the neckline at all like it should. It may also be that my elastic isn't firm enough. I didn't have any clear elastic, so this is some old knit elastic and it's very easy to stretch. I'm contemplating pulling this out and redoing it when I get some more clear elastic just to see if it makes a difference.

And here's a close up of those lovely details. And flamingos! I seriously love this fabric, lol. I'm sure it's designed for children, but I do not care. The sketchy style flamingos looks super cute combined with the ruched sleeves. Another change I made due to the fabric being a bit of a firm stretch is that I pulled on the hem a bit as I sewed. I'm constantly having the hems unravel on my closer fitting tops and I have a theory it's because it's too snug there and the bobbin thread pulls out when stretched. I didn't stretch it enough to look wavy, but just a smidge all the way around in hopes of fighting this issue.

So that's my newest favorite shirt :) Flamingos! Hooray! I'll be off enjoying my super puffy sleeves and dreaming of my next version. I'm so glad I finally bit the bullet and bought this pattern. If you're on the fence, this sleeve is so worth it. Have you made this pattern?

Summary:
Fabric: 1.5 yards Dear Stella Flamingo print jersey - $16.00
Pattern: Agnes Top by Tilly and the Buttons
Notions: knit stay tape - $0.25, 1/3" elastic - free, thread - $0.75
Time: 2.5 hours
Total Cost: $ 17.00

FO: Navy Gingham Agnes

Since I will be moving very soon, I knew this Memorial Day weekend would be my last hurrah in my sewing room. I had plans, folks. I had things I wanted to make *spoiler alert - I DID make things*. During Me Made May this year, several pattern companies put their patterns on sale. I've hemmed and hawed about getting the Agnes Top by Tilly and the Buttons for literal years now. I'll have it in my cart to buy during a sale or something, and then I'll talk myself out of it because I'm really just after that sleeve pattern and I can technically draft it myself. I've been planning on doing this for years now. YEARS. But I just really wanted to make a puffy sleeved top and I knew I would not be putting in the time and the trial and error to get the right amount of oomph for quite some time, so during the sale I finally bought the pattern. I figured it was worth $10 to save myself the time and effort of figuring it out. So having this new-to-me pattern in my hands, I needed a muslin to check the fit before cutting into my amazing "real" fabric. This is that muslin.

So as I said this is the Tilly and the Buttons Agnes Top - an adorable and versatile basic t-shirt pattern with optional ruched sleeves and bust. I seriously bought this for the ruched version only, so that is what I made. Wanting to give this a real college try yet also not wanting my heart to be broken if my muslin didn't fit right, I pulled out this adorable looking yet terrible quality jersey. I bought this navy gingham printed light weight jersey from Walmart maybe a year ago simply because the print was adorable and it was $2 per yard. I knew it was light then, but I was blinded by the print and the price. Having made the top I know the true terrible quality here - this stuff hides absolutely nothing. I feel like a bowl full of jelly with this top on. It would look cheap on pretty much anyone, I'm convinced. So while I loved the idea, I very much doubt I will be wearing this simply because the fabric is so awful, lol.

The good news out of this shirt is that the pattern fit great. I used a size 7 at the bust and above, grading to a size 8 at the waist and hip. Also I did go into this hoping it would be wearable, so I gave pattern matching a good try. This fabric was so super stretchy that it was basically impossible to match everywhere, but I'm happy with the even-ness of the neck band and the bit of matching at the sides. One the not so good side, this stuff is so stretchy and has so little body that my puffed sleeves look sadly deflated, lol. It looks nice on a hanger, but not from the front on my body.

One way you might be able to see what I'm saying with the fabric is in this picture. Look at those sad, floppy sleeves! Also see how the area in the middle of my back is a lighter color navy? That's because the navy is just printed on a white fabric and it is stretching at my upper back. Yeah.

And this over stretched effect only gets better from the front. Every time I look at these pictures I think "objects in this top are larger than they appear" - this is not the case at all, but it certainly looks like the girls are too big for their business here. My husband called this my optical boob illusion shirt. 

I do love the ruched details and they are super easy to do - just add elastic and pull. Love it. Also check that neck band action.

So while I'm not comfortable in this, I am happy with what I learned for the fit. This project gave me the immediate go ahead to cut into my awesome fabric that came next :) So not all is lost here. Now I really want to find a better quality version of this fabric, though. It's a really cute idea. Hopefully I can make that happen one day. So on we go toward actual wearable puffed sleeves next time (check back soon).

Summary:
Fabric: 1.5 yards gingham printed poly knit - $4.28
Pattern: Agnes by Tilly and the Buttons
Notions: Knit stay tape - $0.25, 1/3" elastic - free, thread - $1.00
Time: 3 hours
Total Cost: $5.53

OAL2017: Mint Twig Renfrew

To see Part 1 of this series (my sweater), click here.

To see Part 2 of this series (my skirt), click here.

Here's my final piece for the Outfit Along! Part 3 :) 

After I decided against my newly finished black and white striped Renfrew for the Outfit Along, I had to quickly plan an alternative top to pull the other two pieces together. I pulled out any cut of knit fabric that I thought might coordinate and laid it inside the sweater itself, then wrapped the front pieces over to get an idea of the finished look. I posted 4 options on Instagram and Ravelry, asking opinions on which to choose. In the end I went with the one I thought would go but that I would also want to wear a lot, which technically was the most popular choice of others as well :) Always nice when that happens so I don't look like a jerk, ha ha.

So this is another hacked Renfrew - this is exactly like the black and white stripe Renfrew ended up, I just didn't have to reconfigure things on the fly with this one since I already did all that trial and error with the first one. Hoorah! I measured my black striped Renfrew and transferred the new neckline to my pattern and cut this one out. Easy :) I love easy.

The winning fabric was this cotton interlock from the Doodles line at Joann's. It has occurred to me that this is the most popular fabric in my wardrobe since it's really the only brand I'm loyal to as I love the softness and fun prints as well as the price and availability. This print is called Twig Floral in Mint and it's still available to buy. While this fabric line is technically designed for kid's clothes, I find this fabric really bridges the gap between toddler and adult. The pattern would be cute as a kids dress or onesy or t-shirt, but I think it still looks fine on this 32 year old. Also I adore the color - mint is one of my favorite colors to wear and this fabric is a bit brighter in real life (less pastel).

I deliberately made this shirt a bit longer than normal because I know this fabric tends to shrink up a bit more with time. This is also long enough for me to tuck in without it popping out all the time (a constant problem in this long torso'd life I lead). I actually don't feel it's too long even untucked - in fact I'm wearing this top untucked with my gray Melissa skirt as I type this :) So it can be worn either way and I love that.

And again let's take a moment to appreciate that neckline. No bra in sight! Love it. I did the same neckline finish as the black version and it worked out wonderfully. I just love being able to just sew something without worrying about the fit aspect. Because I had just made up this pattern a few days before, I was able to cut AND sew this top in less than 2 hours. That is record time for me. Gotta love a quick and reliable project that will get worn a lot.

So that's my whole outfit for this year's Outfit Along :) It was lots of fun as usual, and now I have 3 (actually 4, lol) great pieces to wear. Interestingly I just realized that all my pieces this year coordinate with all my pieces from last year's challenge. I guess I'm a bit predictable. Ah well, it makes for a cohesive wardrobe.

I can't wait for next year's Outfit Along to come!

Summary:
Fabric: 1.25 yards Mint Twig Floral Interlock from Joann's - $7.50
Pattern: Renfrew by Sewaholic Patterns
Notions: white thread - $0.50, woolly nylon thread - $0.10
Time: 2 hours
Total Cost: $8.10

FO: Striped Renfrew Hack

Back in my Outfit Along Planning post, I mentioned how I wanted to make a boat neck Lark Tee out of a black and white striped knit in my stash. After my wearble muslin of the Lark turned out to be a looser fit then I originally hoped, I had a choice to make. Do I do more work to that pattern in hopes of eventually getting a shirt I like, or do I decide not to reinvent the wheel and just use a similar pattern that I already know fits me well? Can you tell where I'm going with this? Since I would have to alter the Lark neckline anyway to sit how I like, I might as well just do that same alteration to a well fitting pattern (so said my logic, anyway). So I grabbed my trusty Renfrew pattern and got to work.

This is the Renfrew by Sewaholic patterns, but with an altered neck. I used my standard size 16 top, but I tried drafting a slash neckline by following this tutorial by Heather B on Pattern Review. I understood it in theory, but I when it came time to draft the changes I just couldn't see adding extra ease to the bust and neckline. I have a hollow chest and always have to remove excess fabric from this area, so I decided to just use that ease I would normally have removed and call it good. Yeah... I shouldn't have done that. I did the drafting, spent all the time cutting out and stripe matching my lovely knit here, and sewed the neckline first as I usually do when making knit tops. I could barely get my head in the whole. Whoops! I mean, I could squeeze it in, but the tight side neckline plus how high up it came on my neck made the neckline look so closed up that I felt ridiculous. At this point I had nothing to lose, so I just marked where I wanted the neckline to hit, drew the scoop by hand, added 1/2" seam allowance and chopped off the unfortunate slash neck issue. I measured around my new neck hole (25") and cut out a neckband that was 21" long. I applied the neckband in the usual way (right sides together, lightning bolt stitch 1/2" seam allowance, trim down excess), then instead of the methods I usually go with (from the Renfrew or the Plantain by Deer + Doe) I folded the other side of the band in half and then folded it down into the shirt. I top stitched this with a twin needle and used woolly nylon thread in the bobbin. I absolutely LOVE this neckline! You would think it would be bulky with 3 layers of fabric folded right there, but the top stitching really flattens things out. I really dislike not having a neckband on a knit shirt (like on my Lark Tee - that neckline is just folded down and stitched), and having a traditional neckband out on display around a boat neck would just look silly, so having it tucked under like this makes it a little more classy. I highly recommend it :) This was an extremely easy change to make, and the resulting neckline is the perfect size for me. All ready to wear boat neck tops show my bra and garments. ALL.OF.THEM. But this one covers everything up very nicely. I'm hooked, folks!

After my neckline hack, I sewed this up just like you're supposed to. This is my first time using the 3/4 sleeve and it turned out to be the perfect length. I did tighten up the sleeve hem area since I originally planned this to be worn under a cardigan so I wanted the sleeve hems to stay in place. I was very careful with my stripe matching, and this really paid off. I know you can't see it because I forgot to take a picture, but my side seams are matched beautifully. Also check out my stripe matching on the sleeve in that first photo. Oh yeah! lol I'm not very good at pattern matching yet and it always feels like a tedious chore, so I'm pretty thrilled when it turns out how I hoped.

Another fantastic benefit of having a living person take your blog photos - they can smooth out the back of your shirt and get all your stripe lined up. Thanks, babe! You can also see my stripe matching across the upper back at the sleeves. I'm pretty proud of that, I must say. I also made sure to hem this along one stripe. Usually my hems would be slightly curved, but I wanted to keep everything level for aesthetics. I'm pleased with the result. My fabric came from Walmart of all places! After reading on Lauren's Blog that she found some decent knits there on the cheap I couldn't resist checking it out myself. I came away with 3 fabrics including 3 yards of this one. It's 80% polyester, 17% rayon, 3% spandex, which would normally put me off but this had a nice medium weight to it. I find that thinner poly knits cling in unflattering ways on me so I avoid them, but this is super springy and is thick enough to hide bumps but not so think you can't wear it in Florida. Also the stripes are yarn dyed, so everything was wonderfully on grain. I'm really surprised at how much I like this fabric :) The recovery is fantastic, and even though it's a snug fit I don't feel self conscious. Also in spite of it being a horizontal stripe, I think this shirt is quite flattering because it hugs my narrowest areas.

With all my on-the-fly neckline slicing, I did end up with the stripes slightly uneven at the center front of all places. Thankfully I was able to fudge that area when I top stitched the neckband and I couldn't be happier with how that turned out. Let's all just take a minute to appreciate that neckline. Horizontal just at the base of the neck, no bra show on the sides, discreetly top stitched. *Ah* It's a beautiful thing. I seriously want to sew a million shirts with this neckline now. Prepare yourselves.

So the unfortunate part of this shirt is that I did not like it with my other pieces for the Outfit Along (womp womp). After finishing this top I excitedly put on my skirt and sweater only to just not feel right with everything together. Maybe if this shirt was a scoop neck it wouldn't be so bad to me, but mostly I think it's that the bold stripe looks odd against the girly lace pattern in the sweater. Also the V neckline on the sweater goes so deep that it just feels like too much stripe on display. Maybe if it was a scoop neck I wouldn't be so put off by the combination, but as it is now I just don't see me wearing all 3 pieces together. I do love this top with the skirt though, so that's a partial win :) Thankfully I had other knits in my stash that matched the sweater style better, so the Outfit Along entry was saved. So this shirt is a nice bonus to the challenge :)  I love this shirt and I still have plenty of this fabric left for future projects. Hooray!

Summary:
Fabric: 1.1 yards of black and white stripe poly rayon knit - $4.00
Pattern: Renfrew by Sewaholic
Notions: black thread - $0.50, woolly nylon thread - $0.10
Time: 4 hours
Total Cost: $ 4.60

FO: Blue Spotted Lark Tee

Sometimes you need to jump start your sew-jo by just grabbing a project and making it up! I've been in a bit of a sewing funk lately - part of it is due to the state of my sewing room, but part is just that I haven't really known what to do with myself. I find myself crippled by the thought of making muslins, and all the new patterns I want to make up would definitely need some fitting work. I just want to sew! Not fit! I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but it makes it hard to want to start any new projects. In a slight compromise, I decided to sew up a t-shirt with a new pattern I've wanted to try. Knits are so much easier to fit on the fly, so I grabbed my Lark Tee pattern and got to work.

So this is the Lark Tee by Grainling Studio. I grabbed the pattern in a Craftsy clearance sale thinking it would be nice to have all the different neckline options on a nice basic t-shirt like this. I was most tempted by the boat neck since that's one of my favorite necklines in ready to wear shirts but I still had yet to make one. So this is the boat neck with 3/4 sleeves. Going by their size chart, I sewed up a size 16 everywhere except I graded to an 18 at the waist. I did add in a hollow chest adjustment as I traced the pattern, so there is a 1.5" wedge removed from the center front in my version as well. The fit is ok, but I will probably size down in the future - the shoulders are a bit wide, and the neckline gets very bra-showy after an hour or so of wear.

Something interesting about this pattern - it's quite long! Usually I have to lengthen t-shirt patterns because I have a long torso, but this one actually seems a bit too long in the photos (but it's so comfy to wear in this length!) so I may need to go shorter next time. This is pretty crazy since I took a 1.5" hem and cut off the excess already. I also found the sleeves quite long and did a 1" deep hem there, cutting off about 3/4" excess. So this is just made for a larger build than me I guess.

I'm getting a lot of pooling at my lower back on this pattern - I'm not sure if I just usually don't pay attention to it or if this pattern has it more so than others. I certainly don't want to add a center back seam, but there must be another way to correct this. We'll see.

I guess I should mention my fabric, lol. I used this pin dot royal blue rib knit. I usually shy away from rib knit, but this was a great thrift store buy that's been in my stash for ages. It's a cute pattern, and it's a medium weight knit like an interlock, but it's very nice and soft. I had 3 yards in my stash, so I figured it would be worth a try to use it on this shirt. Now I think my "stretching out" issue might be because of the rib knit. 

Also, characteristically of rib knit, hemming with a twin needle stretched out the sleeve hems. This happens to me every time with rib knit! It's so frustrating! I use a walking foot and everything, but it doesn't seem to help. It's not awful on this one, but it does flare at the sleeves a bit. I can live with it on this muslin, and I'll still wear it, but it's something to consider for the future.

So ... I made something! It may not be perfect, but it is certainly wearable :) In fact I wore this out for dinner on my birthday. If I make another Lark Tee, I will definitely size down and make it shorter. I also would like the neckline a bit higher, so I will probably use Heather B's Slash Neck Hack she posted a while back.

Anyone else out there like the Lark Tee pattern?

Summary:
Fabric: 1.5 yards blue cotton rib knit with tiny white dots - $0.50 (thrifted)
Pattern: Lark Tee by Grainline Studio - $6.40
Notions: knit stay tape - $0.05, blue thread - $0.50, white woolly nylon thread - $0.25
Time: 3 hours
Total Cost: $7.70

FO: Deep Teal Boogie Retro Shirt

So you've seen my crazy skirt, now you get to see the shirt I made so that the skirt would work in my wardrobe :) I rarely make "outfits", mostly because I just make whatever I want to keep it fun and that much planning feels more like I'm forcing myself to make certain things (ridiculous, I know, but there it is). This shirt, though, I actually wanted to make. Months ago I decided I wanted to finally make up this skirt, but I wouldn't let myself until I figured out a top to wear with it. So I pulled out every knit fabric I thought might go with it and compared them to the skirt fabric. At first I thought the red I used on my first Boogie Retro Shirt would work, but once you lay those two fabrics together it's glaringly obvious the reds are not the same. The top fabric was much more orangey red while this is a more blue red. I tried light blue, black, and mango orange, but when I pulled out this dark teal fabric I couldn't believe the result: it is the exact color in the middle of the blue leaves! The decision was made and these fabrics started to live together until I got up the nerve to sew them. Now they are a real duo and I love the resulting outfit :)

This is (yet another) Boogie Retro Shirt by Cecelia Theresa Designs, and definitely the best fit I've achieved so far :) Taking all the things I learned from my first two tries at this pattern, I has a list of changes to do this time:

• split difference at sides of neck area (now about 1/2" wider than original pattern)
• cut entire front on fold, negating the bust curve 
• scoop out front under arm of bodice piece 1/2"
• add 1" to length
• remove 1" from each neck band
• lengthen the bust gathers by 1.5"

All my changes worked out really well :) My only gripe now is that I still have some pooling at the arm pits on the sides of my bodice in spite of doing the same alteration as my Crazy Daisy top (which fixed the issue completely on that version so I thought I was good). This fabric is actually the exact same as the red I used for my first try at this shirt, where I also had this problem, so I'm just chalking it up to a quirk of this fabric. It's not keeping me up at night. Everything else turned out really great. You can also see from this side view that the shorter bands totally solved my gaping issue :)

A little wrinkly, but overall I love the relaxed fit of the back. I decided to try sewing the sleeves in differently too - I basically didn't "gather" the sleeve tops, I just kept splitting the difference and pinned the heck out of this. Part of this was from laziness since I had already pinned the sleeves to the body before I realized I forgot the gathering stitches and I didn't want to take it all apart. I wanted to see if doing it this way would help avoid puckers. Spoiler: it didn't, lol. I don't have any glaring puckers or anything, but it wasn't at all easier than the other way. At least I got it out of my system, I guess.

I'm still on the fence about adding to the gathered area on the bust. In person I kept thinking it looked like the gathered area was too high on my red version, despite people telling me that in photos it looked fine. Maybe it's just my brain revolting against the changes I made that made this different from the example, I don't know. I wanted the gathered area to end lower in my bust, so I just started the clear elastic lower there. It is definitely longer now, but now I can't decide if it's too long and looks weird, lol. Goldilocks syndrome, I swear. Happily the 1/2" I added to the sides of the neckline worked perfectly :) No more garments showing, but no more dorky weird scoop neck. Yay!

All in all I'm very happy with this top :) Not only does it go well with Tigeroga skirt, it also goes with my black or purple Hollyburn, among other skirts in my wardrobe. I love a versatile but cute top.

And here is my completed outfit how I prefer to wear it ;) I'm so happy with how this little venture matches. Incidentally I discovered while taking photos of my last 4 makes (all in one session) that they all work as a mini capsule wardrobe, giving me 4 outfits just with these pieces, not to mention what I could add to that number being one of the items is a black skirt. I guess that's the way things go with solids, huh? lol Maybe I'm maturing in my sewing choices. At least it got me some cute outfits.

Summary:
Fabric: 1 yard of deep teal cotton interlock - $1.00 (thrifted)
Pattern: Boogie Retro Shirt by Cecelia Teresa Designs
Notions: clear elastic - $0.15, teal thread - $0.50, woolly nylon thread - $0.50
Time: 2.5 hours
Total Cost: $2.15

FO: Crazy Daisy Shirt

After my not quite successful first try at the Boogie Retro Shirt (seen here), I was curious to try a few things to improve the pattern for me. I chatted with Andrea of The New Vintage Wardrobe on the Curvy Sewing Collective's Facebook wall about her successful shirts. She said that she never had luck with the gathered bodice, and also didn't love the placement of the pleats in the pattern. Instead she would make up the whole shirt, then pleat them as she liked and sew them down. I decided to give this method a try myself, plus a few other minor changes. The result is some good, some not quite, but it's another wearable item :)

Since this was another experiment, I wanted to use a fabric I wouldn't mind being without. A few years ago a friend of mine offered up a bag full of "ugly knit fabric". She was clearing things out, and these pieces had been given to her long before and she knew she would never use them, but thought I could use them for muslins. She was so right :) But proving ever that one woman's "ugly fabric" is another woman's "potentially wearable", I've always kind of liked this particular print, lol. I just have a thing for daisies. The knit itself is cotton interlock, and the daisies are a thick ink style printing on top. The daisies are slightly rough feeling, especially in contrast to how soft the fabric is itself. So it's not the highest quality, but it was perfect to use for a top I didn't know would be wearable or not. So thanks, Holly, for hating this fabric, lol. 

This time around I not only did the suggested "add pleats at the end", I also:

• removed 1/2" scoop from bodice at front arm scye (to fix the pooling of fabric at my arm pit)
• added 1" to the sides of the neckline (to fix the exposed garments issue)
• added 1/2" out at the hip in a curve
• shortened each neckband by 1"
• started pleats lower down on bust (as before they felt too high)

I'm happy to say that the changes mostly worked, but some worked a bit too well, lol. Namely the neckline now has so much added at the side that it just looks like a scoop neck that is pulled down to a slight v. I was pretty bummed to realize this when I finished this top. It's still wearable, but this plus the little girl-ish print makes me feel a bit dorky, truth be told. I do like the bodice pleats in theory, but I don't like my application. I kept wondering if there was too much "cupping" going on under my boobs as I was pleating, but with how I wanted things to sit at the neckline it was what I needed to do. I realize now that I needed to almost have a bit more fabric to accomplish this in the way I was trying. My pleats pulled too much from the bottom of the shirt, making the front shorter than intended while also pulling fabric up between my boobs (creating the cupped effect). It was too late to do anything about it on this make, but I will note that next time. I have another love/hate with where the pleats sit. I do like where the pleats sit visually - it just looks "right" to have them centered between the boobs instead of slightly above them. I don't love that there is a good 1.5" - 2" of fabric above the pleats though. Due to my religious garments, I couldn't dip the neckline lower, but my brain knows that this style is supposed to dip lower so I keep thinking it doesn't look right. It's not bad - I think I wouldn't mind as much had the sides not been quite so wide. It definitely makes my boobs look a bit bigger, lol, so there's that.

You can see in the side photo that the added fabric at the hip is kid of pooling. I actually have slight wings of fabric sitting there, which is surprising. I think the curve I added was just more drastic then my body could fill right there, so I will be scooping that bit out next time. You can also see how the front is a bit shorter in the photo. This is a common problem for me that I always forget to adjust for, but the pleating exacerbated the issue here. Note to self: add more length to the front next time! I usually don't notice until the top is finished and I look at the side view photos. Oh well.

Things look good in the back. On my first version I was feeling a little gaping at the back neckline, which is why I decided to shorten the neckband this time. This alteration actually worked beautifully and the neck on this version feels much more secure. I also like the fit through the back on this one, and I was able to ease the gathers much nicer at the sleeve cap so there are no puckers this time :)

So now I have yet another Boogie Retro Shirt that is just not quite right, but it's a bit closer :) I am determined, folks. I will crack this pattern and make it work for me. Next time around I will remove a little at the neckline and maybe try to eliminate the center front seam (I'm never a fan of front seams on me for some reason, but I did it because of the design here). So expect to see more of this pattern soon. In the meantime at least I have a cute and extremely springy daisy top :)

Summary:
Fabric: 1 yard daisy printed cotton interlock - free
Pattern: Boogie Retro Shirt by Cecelia Theresa Designs
Notions: clear elastic - $0.10, white thread - $0.50, woolly nylon thread - $0.25
Time: 2.5 hours
Total Cost: $0.85

FO: Red Boogie Retro Shirt

This is the shirt that broke me out of a bit of a sewing rut. I was cranking things out pretty well at the beginning of the year, then I took a break, then I had the epic medieval costume to make which caused me to take another break... You know the cycle, I'm sure. This shirt, though, was just cute enough yet easy enough to make me buckle down and sew something again after several weeks. Here are the deets:

I first learned about the Boogie Retro Shirt on the Curvy Sewing Collective's Facebook wall. Scrolling through one day I saw the super cute version made by Andrea of The New Vintage Wardrobe (She hasn't updated her blog in a long time but she's quite active on Facebook and Instagram). I asked her what pattern she used, which lead me to the pattern, which I put down on my list to get in the future. When We Sew Retro had a sale earlier this year, I decided to jump on this pattern and officially make it up.

The Boogie Retro Shirt is a pdf only pattern designed by German sewist Cecelia Theresa. It's a basic tee with a 50s style squared out sweet heart neckline, your choice of gathers or pleats at the bust, and your choice of long or short sleeves. For my first go I decided to make up the gathered bust with short sleeves.

Since this was my muslin and I knew I was making some changes to the pattern, I used this red cotton interlock knit that I picked up in a thrift store for $1, therefore I wouldn't be devastated if the top didn't work out. Spoiler alert! The shirt didn't exactly work, and I was still disappointed, lol. Now I need more red fabric. ANYWAY - so what didn't work, you may ask, on this seemingly cute shirt?

The neckline. I had my reservations about whether this would even be a possibility for my because of my religious garments I wear. I've mentioned them before (and they are one of the reasons I like to sew - so that I can get styles I love that are not so low cut that I can't wear them). The sides of the neckline are actually designed to be gathered up a bit and make an almost triangular neckline that is very wide at the sides. I figured I could just not gather as much and it would be fine, but I ended up not being able to gather the sides at all. I just sewed them on straight, but it still wasn't quite enough for my needs. It may be hard to see in the photos, but it's pretty obvious in real life - the neckline is just barely too wide at the corners and show my garments easily.

After noticing the neckline issue (and being bummed) I also noticed the pooling fabric in the arm pit area, which I think is due to the shape of the arm hole itself on me (I need it more scooped out). And I doubt you can see it here, but the bust also is a little loose - like my boobs aren't quite big enough to fill in all that space - which combined with the garment issue and the extra fabric at the arm pits means I could easily flash people if I lean down. Not fun. As I've grown more used to making my own clothes to my own specifications, I am much less inclined to fiddle with clothing throughout the day that is just not quite sitting right, you know? Constant fiddling is a sign of bad fit. Anyway I was so bummed about the fit issues that I didn't even bother to fix the pucker I got at the front of my left sleeve.

See the pucker? It's pretty glaringly obvious, lol. I also know that I didn't sew the front neckband on as intended. While the instructions are pretty good, the original pattern is in German and the instructions are translated to English. I'm not sure if it was lost in the translation or if it was just my brain not working right, but I could not wrap my head around how the band was intended to be sewn (spoiler alert! I figured it out the next time, lol).

In spite of the issues I had with the fit on this version, this pattern had great potential for me if I could work out the tweaks. I think the neckline is very flattering on me and slightly different but still classy. All good things! So while I can't really wear this one without constant worry about showing more than I like, I did go on to immediately make another. This is a great pattern and it's so quick to whip up! I'm really hoping to figure out the fit so I can churn out a bunch :)

Summary:
Fabric: 1 yards tube of red cotton interlock knit - $1 (thrifted)
Pattern: Boogie Retro Shirt by Cecilia Theresa Designs - $4.98
Notions; red thread - $0.50, clear elastic - $0.15
Time: 3 hours
Total Cost: $ 6.63

(P.S. I did wear this out to dinner with my husband and had no major issues with flashing, so I may just deal with it for this fun color, lol. I'll be fixing that pucker though!)