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Apparently most of us on the same wobbly wavelength as far what we're making last week. Like 5 of you, I'm also making a top, although I hadn't really planned on it. This past weekend was beginning to look like a bust in the "Look what I finished!" crocheting and knitting departments, when I decided I just needed to get a cranking on another Santa Monica Tee using fabric from my collection. I knew exactly what I was looking for when I went fishing in the sea of plastic bags filled with fabric in my closet. I plucked out this particular stretch lace, yet another score from Vogue Fabrics remnants department. It was a small piece ( 1 1/2 yards, 40 inches wide) that tested my creativity and ability to streeetch a piece of fabric in one little corner just so that I cut a complete sleeve. But I did it and I still have plenty of leftover fabric for the bodice on another top. (Incidentally this remnant set me back $4.49 pre-tax sometime in March of this year).Here are more notes on this particular pattern:
- I cut out an extra small on the top and went two sizes up toward the hips. While I know I'm small on the northern part of my figure, a size small would at least give me a little more wiggle room and ease for my arms. Right now, I feel there's negative ease on this tee, but at least overall I'm radiating positive vibes. That's what's most important.
- I'm really happy with the twin-needle top stitching on this top. There's very little tunneling (which makes me think of a prairie dog traveling just a few inches underground) going on. Yes, I dropped the tension to a 2 and I used Lite Steam-A-Seam2 (the 1/2" x 20 yards version) to make the neckline fold under nicely prior to sewing it, I was prepared to get a little tunneling, but this time around I got none. Zippity zilch! A pleasant pre-Fourth of July surprise in my notebook. It might be the fabric, my pre-holiday sewing disposition, the alignment of the planets or who knows what else.
- I trimmed the neckline before I stitched it down just so it wouldn't be so tight in a 1940s "This is so fitted I can hardly breath" sort of way. See any of the blouses from that era to see what I'm talking about.
- The back is inside-out. Oops. Which means the scratchy part of the lace is against my back. Good thing is that the wrong and right sides of this fabric almost match. So no one will notice except my skin. I'm wearing a camisole so it's a little more comfortable. As long as I wear this top over and over again, that's all that matter. Yes, I can proudly say I did sew my "Made by Mary Beth" label inside.
However, the Santa Monica Tee satisfied the need to make something new to wear, but I'm still aching to get started on a knitting project that will take me through the Fourth of July weekend. I need something that I can do while I'm on the super-crowded train to the fireworks on Thursday, idling on a bus to Summerdance on Friday, and then some. It would be nice to have something actually completed knitting by Monday that I could happily upload and say, "It's not a swatch, it's not a bust, ...it's a sweater/skirt/Swiffer cover!" Actually, the only thing that's holding me back is the purchase of the yarn, not ambition. Since I'm determined, I'll probably get something going that gets my heart singing. I'm also thinking about doing some back-to-back days of sewing this weekend at Vogue Fabrics since I'm doing the staycation like so many other Chicago denizens. What are your sewing, knitting, crocheting plans for this weekend?
1 comment:
Kashi at Metro Textiles has some beautiful Italian cotton knits in great colors for the fall. You know, in case you want to make some more of these Ts. I know I do!
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