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FO:Sludge coloured top - Burda Raglan Shirt 02/2013 #127

This top first appeared in MMM13 and is a top that I started during a quiet patch in the Wedding sewing.  I had a short period of time where I couldn't do much on my sister's dress until she had tried it on.  She very kindly, at my request, bought the February issue of the Burdastyle magazine for me as my local WH Smiths doesn't stock it. I had had a flick through on previous trip, and dithered about it, but I kept thinking back to this top and a couple of variations in the magazine.



I used a slinky, olivey sludgy grey viscose jersey which I bought in Goldhawk Road towards the end of  2011. I think I had a little over a metre but it was very wide and managed to squeeze the top out of it. During this quiet patch, I cut out the top and gathered the appropriate section of the sleeves.



Wedding sewing picking up again, so this was put to one side for sometime. It was a reasonabley quick sew taking a couple of evenings . I started sewing it on my overlocker - I sewed one sleeve piece onto the back, and then reverted to sewing the rest on my sewing machine and just finishing the seams on the overlocker. I was a bit nervous about making an mistake with the blade down and the jersey was so slinky I felt I couldn't control it through the machine properly.  I ended up sewing most of the seams with tissue under the fabric to stop the sewing machine eating it up.

I sort of followed the Burda instructions, known for being on the incomprehensible side. By which I mean that I did what I thought I should do, read the instructions, thought 'oh good, done that bit then', and moved on. The neck was a bit more tricky. I read and reread the instructions and then used Melissa from Fehr Trade's instructions for putting on a neck band as described in her post about the top she made from this pattern. 

 

I never know at this point, whether to do the top stitching of the neck band with a zigzag or straight stitch.  The neck is wide enough that it doesn't need to stretch over my head, so maybe next time I'll try a straight stitch.

Youngest took this picture which explains the dodgy angle

I had noted from Melissa's post and a couple of other people's that it was very long in the body and sleeves.  I really like long sleeves, so thought I would wait and see on the length of the body.  Having done everything except the hem I tried it on and was initially very disappointed.  It made me look a bit frumpy and matronly (Ohhh, Matron!!). I then showed it to Husband, who took one look at it and said 'there's something wrong with the length'. As soon as I tucked the hem up and had it at hip length rather than top of thigh length, it made all the difference.  That difference was roughly 10cms, possibly more. If you look at the picture below, the original length would have been to the bottom of the back pockets.

not sure what I am doing in this picture!

I have worn it a lot, although it was mostly covered up during May due to the miserable and pretty cold weather that we had. I recently packed away my winter wear for a couple of months, but I will be keeping this one out to tide me over on cooler summer days.

When I joined Rachel and all the other sewists for the epic London meet-up, I found another bolt of the same stuff (or possibly even the same one) and nearly bought some more. Instead I found some brown and sparkly striped jersey knit especially to repeat this top for the autumn. Look out for the next one (with my record it could be some time!)

Me-Made-May round up #5

The last round up of  MMM 2013!

May 28th:

Fleece Renfrew.  Miserable day weatherwise. Top worn all day to include family trip to the cinema. Husband and I saw the new Star Trek film and the girls saw Epic. The afternoon included a fab coffee at South Street Pantry, and a pretty dismal chinese buffet.

May 29th:

Fleece Renfrew (no picture). For the evening I changed into a new un-blogged make to go to a Private View of an exhibition at Mall Galleries.  Thomas' cousin Barley, and his girlfriend Ellie graduated from Wimbledon College of Art last summer, but this is the first exhibition we have manged to see apart from his degree show. It was fantastic to see their work in a proper gallery space. We went armed with a cheque book, but all the ones we liked were already sold! After the gallery we went for dinner at a small tapas place called Andalucia, on Panton Street.  Many (ok, 16) years ago this was the wine bar where Husband and I met!

May 31st

Stripey Lydia top (no picture). In fact I wore the same outfit as May 9th, minus bright red accessories.  Worn to lounge around and relax at my sister-in-law's amazing house on the north Norfolk coast.

 I have no major thoughts on the month really. I realised that I wear my me-mades quite regularly anyway, without out having to think too hard about it. I have made a lot of tops over the last couple of years which has held me in good stead and if the weather had been better there would have been more variety!  I love looking at other peoples pretty dresses, but to be honest for my lifestyle of being a busy SAHM my wardrobe needs to be more on the practical side, and that seems to be what I have made - so far! I stuck to my pledge of 3 items a week - the hardest thing was remembering to take the photos. Thank you Zoe, for organizing these months - it has been great fun and I have enjoyed following your own challenge this time round. How I wish I sewed when I was pregnant!

I also realised that I am very behind in blogging my makes recently - I have at least three if not more items to blog about fully, which I shall endeavour to do in the next couple of weeks.