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Tuesday, April 25, 2017

A Close Call

Faye from Faye's Sewing Adventures is currently having a Tops That Pop sew along.  I decided to participate so I made the below red and navy striped top.  The fabric is a cotton jersey purchased from Mood.  The fabric is medium weight and has stretch but not very much stretch.  I was originally inspired by the top made by Lori from Girls in the Garden.  It is just so cute on her!

Self-drafted knit top with Ginger Skinny Jeans
I originally made a simple fitted T-shirt top but when I put it on, I discovered that I cut the armholes in too deep (think narrow shoulder adjustment gone wild).  This resulted in the sleeve being too tight along the sleep cap and there was pulling across my upper chest since the sleeves were pulling out at that area.  The top was uncomfortable.  (This is a self-drafted pattern.  I made a mistake - oops!)


As I was considering whether to declare it a wadder, I realized that I could save the top by making it a cold shoulder top.  The armhole was just right for that type of top.  So I unstitched the sleeve cap of the sleeves and folded it down.  I basted down the sleeve cap and then topstitched from the front along one of the navy stripes.  I then cut away the excess.    For the sleeve hem, I wanted as much sleeve as possible so I folded it up by only 1/4 inch and topstitched from the right side.  This alteration alleviated the pulling across the sleeve and upper chest and now this top was suddenly a fun on trend top.


Jersey fabric curls to the wrong side and that is what the fabric was doing along the exposed armhole edge.  To prevent this from happening, I fused a strip of fusible tape along the armhole edge.  I did not want to make the armhole go in any deeper by turning it under so instead, I used a decorative stitch along the edge to further stabilize the armhole and also help keep the tape in place should it ever loosen in the wash.


I used a strip of the same fabric for the neck finish and I attached it using the technique described in a previous post.  For my figure, I always need to sew darts even for knits so I used the method described in a previous post, Sewing Darts in Knits.  I used a ball point needle and a stitch length close to 3.0.  I serged the side seams and neck band.

This top was not the look I originally wanted but I am nevertheless happy with how it turned out.  Sometimes mistakes bring about the best results!



Happy Sewing!

30 comments:

  1. This top looks great on you Tomasa. What a great save -you made it so stylish !

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    1. Thank you so much MaryEllen. I wasn't expecting to make such an on trend top but there it is.

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    2. Hi Tomasa-I do t have an email for you . I emailed Kyle for some suggestions for must stop stores in the Garment district. I'll be going June 7-13. I'm planning to go Thursday June 8 . Any suggestions would be great-thanks

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    3. Hi MaryEllen, I posted a comment on your blog. Email me and I will send you my suggestions - thanks!

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  2. Such a wonderful save and a great fitting tee Tomasa. Thank you so much for joining the sewalong!

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    1. Thank you for running the sew along Faye. Just what I needed!

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    1. Thank you Raquel. What a most perfect way of thinking about it - a happy mistake!

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  4. Great job on fixing that T. It fits perfect now. I have some of the same fitting issues as you being a busty broad but not very big anywhere else. I'm always trying to make things without doing an FBA but really I need to just bite the bullet and learn it.

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    1. I resisted doing FBA's on knits but I hated even more that awful fold on the side pointing to the bust that I gave in. Although I wish my knit tops didn't need a dart, I have accepted that I need darts for a good fit. I certainly understand how you feel!

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  5. Great save and very wearable and on trend look now. Well done.

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  6. I love it and what a clever way to save the top. Cold shoulders are still very fashionable. You'll get plenty of wear out of this cute top!

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    1. Thank you Tany! I look forward to the warmer weather so that I can wear it.

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  7. What a great save and I love your stripe top

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    1. Thank you Lori and thanks for the inspiration as well!

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  8. I really love this, Tomasa! I was so inspired by your work. It's beyond original:)

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    1. Thanks so much Eli cat. I am glad you like it.

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  9. So cute.. Smart way to fix it.. Happy sewing.

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  10. I think a narrow shoulder actually woks best with a cold shoulder ... your top looks great

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  11. GREAT save!!!! Looks fab and I had no idea it all stemmed from a mistake!

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    1. Thanks Kyle! I am glad I was able to embrace this mistake. It worked out for the best.

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  12. You'd never guess this was a rescue operation! What a great style, and I think your happy accident made the top!

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    1. Thank you Elizabeth. Yes, I agree. It became a more interesting and fun top after the mistake.

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  13. What a transformation! And what a great save too. I like it even better with the cold shoulder. (oooh and I had a lovely flashback tingly feeling when you mentioned Mood!!)

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    1. Thank you Dawn! Yes, the mistake resulted in a more fashion forward top. We had a fun time at Mood that cold January day didn't we!

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  14. Nice save--what a clever and fashionable fix! Lesser sewers (*cough* like me *cough*) would have called it a total loss and run away screaming. ;-)

    -Abbey

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    1. Thanks so much Abbey! Oh don't say you are a lesser sewer - you are not! It is all about experience. The more experience you have, the more ideas will come to you since you will be able to figure out what can and cannot be done. It is a journey and we are just at different points on that journey.

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