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: SOS Knit Along Meadow Stripes Socks

It seems I have caught the sock knitting bug, folks. I know this because I live in Florida yet I have managed to make myself 3 pairs of wool socks (yes, THREE) in just a few months time. Considering I only even wear socks a few times a year as it is, never even considering any made of wool, that's an exponential increase in sock appreciation. What can I say? They are a small project that is easy to see progress on, that are easy to carry around with you, and in a pattern like this they knit up very quickly. How can I say no to that?! Plus, these socks are WAY more fun than the rest of my drawer (except maybe my long socks with squirrels printed on them - squirrels!). Anyway, I present my recently finished pair of socks :)

I hadn't even thought of making more socks until I saw Susan. B. Anderson was hosting a knit along for her latest pattern. Last-pair-of-socks-ago, I was on the hunt for a simple sock pattern with an afterthought heel so I wouldn't break up my stripe pattern. I didn't manage to find anything that appealed, so I decided to wing it and they turned out ok (I'm referring to my Arne & Carlos socks) but after wearing them I noticed that the heel still tends to slip down telling me that area isn't long enough. It's ok since I will probably just be sleeping in these come winter time, but still. I wanted to find a pattern that would show me what I did wrong. Smooth Operator Socks by Susan B. Anderson is just such a pattern.

The knit along was a super fun group of folks all making socks. It was very low key - you didn't even have to complete any socks to win anything, just hang out on the Ravelry board and have fun. While you didn't have to finish, I had set a personal goal to do so since these are such a simple knit (seriously, it's just stockinette stitch) so I did manage to finish before the August 22nd end date. I find myself with very little knitting time lately even though my sewing has been surprisingly steady. Maybe it's the blistering heat and soaking humidity (ugh, please end already...), but I digress. My lack of knitting time meant that I took 3 weeks to knit these up, working almost exclusively on Sundays at church - this in spite of the fact that the first sock only took me 3 days to make.

The pattern is really handy and you choose your size based only on the circumference of the widest part of your foot and then just making every section whatever length you need or choose. The real reason for buying this pattern is the heel instructions. Susan gives a really good tutorial on how to make the heel along with tips for making sure you don't break up the stripe pattern of your socks with the heel either. Once making the heel, it's done with just k2togs! Crazy how simple it is, but it works. This is my first time every managing to get exact matching socks :)

I think the heel turned out pretty cool on these. I dug through my stash of sock yarn to find an appropriate striping yarn to make mine up in only to see how lacking my stash was in self striping yarn (lots of variegated and solid, but only a few striping). In the end it came down to a beautiful skein of Opal Le Petit Prince yarn that I'm hoarding for the perfect pattern and 2 skeins of Patons Kroy Sock in the Meadow Stripe colorway. I went with the Kroy yarn to treat them as a pattern muslin. I wanted to make sure I really liked this pattern before I use my beloved Opal, you know? Funny enough I was inspired to get this colorway of the Kroy after admiring a pair that Susan made for herself earlier this year, so really it was meant to be. The colors are so fun!

I'm seriously so proud of the fact that both socks match! I mean they are completely identical - even when I ran out of yarn in a few spots, I actually made sure to begin the new yarn at the same place in the color pattern to keep with the design. I have several tiny balls of yarn leftover, but I also have a matching pair of socks :)

Now you get a couple creepy ballet position photos, lol. I was trying to be visually creative here. Too bad the right sock slumped down a bit *sigh*. The pattern now even includes an alternate heel and toe variation that does not involve kitchener stitch if you are so inclined. Personally I enjoy kitchener, so I made these with the original instructions.

And there you have it - my new pair of socks :) I'm actually pretty impressed I was able to wear these socks for photos out on my porch in the middle of the day and not feel like I was walking through a fire, so that's something. I'm really happy to have found this pattern and participated in the SOS knit along. I now have a great go-to simple sock pattern for striped yarns! Hooray!

*I just found out today that I won a prize in the knit along! Yahoo! It was just drawn at random, but I won a lovely skein of Morning Bright fingering weight yarn in a light gray. I can't wait! Yay for knit alongs!*

Summary:
Yarn: 2 skeins of Patons Kroy Sock in the Meadow Stripes colorway - $10.00
Pattern: Smooth Operator Socks by Susan B. Anderson - $3.50
Knit With: Knitter's Pride Karbonz size 1 DPNs (love these!)
Time: 3 weeks
Total Cost: $13.50

FO: Stripey Plan-Frew Refashion

You guys - I made my first ever striped shirt! And it's a refashion!

Here is what the shirt originally was purchased as:

It was a Bobbie Brooks rayon/poly size small maxi dress. It was a fine enough (if poorly made) dress to begin with, but I am no size small and I liked the fabric. For $1.00, I figured it would be a good opportunity to try out stripe matching.

I've been really into a looser fit on striped shirts lately. I have 2 thrifted shirts that I love the fit of - this one was my example. I started off with the Plantain pattern since it's loose at the waist, and I compared the pattern to the cut of this shirt. I ended up adding in a 1" wedge to the side seam at the bust line. I also did my usual change of raising the neckline. Then I started cutting. The fabric is a light weight sweater knit that stretches well horizontally, but had zero vertical stretch. This meant it loved to roll at the edge, plus it wanted to unravel. I took my time cutting everything out so I could match the stripes.

I started off by adjusting the body pattern to be closer to my inspiration shirt. I simply folded that shirt perfectly in half, then laid the plantain front pattern piece over top to see what the difference was. I ended up adding a 1" wedge to the top of the underarm on the body, then did the same thing to the back pattern piece. This way I get a slightly looser fit at the bust and the rest of the pattern is already flowy enough to match the inspiration shirt.

Here's the stripe matching on my side seams. One side is perfect while the other is just ever so slightly off. I don't think anyone will ever notice, but I wish I had been a bit more careful. Oh well, it's way better than ready to wear clothes (especially considering this dress had zero stripes matched anywhere) and it will not keep me from enjoying it.

Here's my matched sleeve seam. I used the method of stripe matching that Sarai put out with the Dahlia Dress where you match it at the notches on the sleeves. This worked out great at that point, but it is a little off on all the other stripes :/ Oh well, you can't have everything and it's at least slightly off in the same way on each side so it looks symmetrical. It matches pretty well at the bust line, but you can see how it starts to veer apart. I think next time I will try to match it up a little higher so others can visually appreciate it, lol.

I decided to play with the stripe directions and cut the neckband on the cross grain. I was a little worried about i tat first since this fabric has absolutely no stretch in the cross direction, but the original dress had it so I thought it must work ok. Only after cutting out and piecing the neckband together did I notice the original was on the bias :/ It worked out ok though, and I lined up the seam I had to piece on the stripe edge so you would never know it was pieced together - score! The neckband certainly has less give than my other shirts, but I kind of like it that way - I don't have to worry about it sagging when I sit down. My other big change I made to the pattern was to raise the neckline to the Renfrew height and use that neckband pattern piece (thus the Plan-frew title). I love the height of this neckline!

My favorite part of this shirt is that perpendicular striped neckband - it's just so cool looking! I don't think I've ever had a ready to wear shirt that made this design choice, so it feels fancy I guess. 

I'm really happy with this little experiment, and I feel a little more confident in my pattern matching now while still learning things I need to change next time. 

Summary:
Fabric: thrifted Bobbie Brooks rayon/poly maxi dress - $1.00
Pattern: Deer + Doe Plantain with Sewaholic Renfrew neckline plus fit hacks
Notions: black knit stay tape - $0.15, thread - stash
Hours: 3
Total Cost: $1.15