This is my second completed garment in "The Crazy 8 Wardrobe Plan - Vogue 9286."
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I bought this pattern last summer because I liked the big slouchy top. I thought it would work well over a turtleneck or crew neck top and some jeans or leggings. That it would add a little polish to my casual work wardrobe as well as a little warmth during the winter season.
Normally I put my pattern conclusions at the bottom of my post but I've moved this one up to the top of the post. Why? Because as usual a Vogue Easy Pattern is easy to sew but not easy to fit. I made the classic mistake of looking at the measurements and thinking wow, with all of that space I won't have to make any adjustments for my abundant abdomen or bodacious booty...ummmm wrong! I cut out the largest size an XXL and I should have started with a size L instead of the one I chose. It was just toooooo much fabric on my body!
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Materials ~
Pink Boucle fabric from Fabric Mart (purchased December 2016)
Black Ponte remnant
Design Plus Bias Tape Fusible Stay Tape
Two 1" black covered snaps
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Pattern Alterations ~
Originally the only change I made to the pattern was to lengthen the front and back pieces by 3" at the lengthen/shorten line. I wanted my top to be more tunic length than top length. I like my abdomen and some of my thighs as well as all of my bottom covered.
Because the sleeves are off the shoulder, extra large and gathered into a cuff, I didn't need to make any changes to the pattern. That was a plus for this pattern.
Construction Techniques ~
Since I was using a very ravelly boucle, I needed to serge finish the edges of the fabric as quickly as possible. But I didn't want to stretch the neckline or armholes out by handling the fabric too much. So I ironed fusible stay tape to the neckline, the shoulder seams and the armholes. Sewed the pattern as per the pattern instructions and then disaster struck!
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I tried the garment on and it was huge...HUGE! As I said above...I chose the wrong size to begin with so because of that I had to take the top apart, cut it down and sew it back together. The first change I made was to was the front. The v-neckline was flopping around since there was just too much space. To solve this challenge, I cut it down the front and sewed it back together with a 1" seam allowance. Even cutting down the facing and reapplying it. This change allowed the neckline to lay flat.
The second issue was that the sleeves were hanging too far down my arms. Luckily, I'd only basted the garment together to try it on. So I removed the basted side seams and the sleeves from the body of the top. I cut 1.5" off each side of the body. I added the bias tape back to the armhole, serge finished it and then sewed the sleeve back on. This solved the problem of the drooping sleeve. However, I still had to cut 1" off the bottom of the sleeve because it made the cuff droop down my hand.
Since I'd basted the sides with a 1.5" seam allowance, I trimmed off 5/8" and then sewed the side seams with 5/8" seam allowance. Yeah alot of work right?! If I'd just believed that I needed a smaller size, I wouldn't have had to jump through hoops to make this fit.
The last touch was to add a strip of black soft fusible interfacing from Fashion Sewing Group to the hemline after assembling the garment.
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The cuffs are button cuffs but my fabric was thick and I just didn't feel like wrangling it under the sewing machine to make buttonholes, so I added black covered snaps to them.
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A few pictures of the topper ~
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Conclusion ~
The construction of the garment is easy just as the pattern says, it's the fit that you will need to be careful about. I did add a few extra steps because of my sizing issue. Also I chose a very fiddly fabric to work with so I needed to do a little more work to preserve the integrity of the fabric. Then I added a piece of the selvedge as trim in the back yoke seam to give it a design element. But looking back on the process, that was the easiest part of the design.
It's a cute oversized top that will work with a turtleneck under it but I have no plans to use this pattern again. I purchased the pattern for the top only and it wasn't talking to me as I was working with it. Not sure if its because I chose the wrong size, or if this is just one of those designs that you only need one of...anyway I'm moving onto the next garment on the list for my Crazy 8 wardrobe!
...as always more later!
Normally I put my pattern conclusions at the bottom of my post but I've moved this one up to the top of the post. Why? Because as usual a Vogue Easy Pattern is easy to sew but not easy to fit. I made the classic mistake of looking at the measurements and thinking wow, with all of that space I won't have to make any adjustments for my abundant abdomen or bodacious booty...ummmm wrong! I cut out the largest size an XXL and I should have started with a size L instead of the one I chose. It was just toooooo much fabric on my body!
Pink Boucle fabric from Fabric Mart (purchased December 2016)
Black Ponte remnant
Design Plus Bias Tape Fusible Stay Tape
Two 1" black covered snaps
Pattern Alterations ~
Originally the only change I made to the pattern was to lengthen the front and back pieces by 3" at the lengthen/shorten line. I wanted my top to be more tunic length than top length. I like my abdomen and some of my thighs as well as all of my bottom covered.
Because the sleeves are off the shoulder, extra large and gathered into a cuff, I didn't need to make any changes to the pattern. That was a plus for this pattern.
Construction Techniques ~
Since I was using a very ravelly boucle, I needed to serge finish the edges of the fabric as quickly as possible. But I didn't want to stretch the neckline or armholes out by handling the fabric too much. So I ironed fusible stay tape to the neckline, the shoulder seams and the armholes. Sewed the pattern as per the pattern instructions and then disaster struck!
I tried the garment on and it was huge...HUGE! As I said above...I chose the wrong size to begin with so because of that I had to take the top apart, cut it down and sew it back together. The first change I made was to was the front. The v-neckline was flopping around since there was just too much space. To solve this challenge, I cut it down the front and sewed it back together with a 1" seam allowance. Even cutting down the facing and reapplying it. This change allowed the neckline to lay flat.
The second issue was that the sleeves were hanging too far down my arms. Luckily, I'd only basted the garment together to try it on. So I removed the basted side seams and the sleeves from the body of the top. I cut 1.5" off each side of the body. I added the bias tape back to the armhole, serge finished it and then sewed the sleeve back on. This solved the problem of the drooping sleeve. However, I still had to cut 1" off the bottom of the sleeve because it made the cuff droop down my hand.
Since I'd basted the sides with a 1.5" seam allowance, I trimmed off 5/8" and then sewed the side seams with 5/8" seam allowance. Yeah alot of work right?! If I'd just believed that I needed a smaller size, I wouldn't have had to jump through hoops to make this fit.
The last touch was to add a strip of black soft fusible interfacing from Fashion Sewing Group to the hemline after assembling the garment.
The cuffs are button cuffs but my fabric was thick and I just didn't feel like wrangling it under the sewing machine to make buttonholes, so I added black covered snaps to them.
A few pictures of the topper ~
Seeing the full extent of the topper!
Yeah, that's a lot of fabric...
My daughter making me laugh gives
a good view of the back of the topper
Conclusion ~
The construction of the garment is easy just as the pattern says, it's the fit that you will need to be careful about. I did add a few extra steps because of my sizing issue. Also I chose a very fiddly fabric to work with so I needed to do a little more work to preserve the integrity of the fabric. Then I added a piece of the selvedge as trim in the back yoke seam to give it a design element. But looking back on the process, that was the easiest part of the design.
It's a cute oversized top that will work with a turtleneck under it but I have no plans to use this pattern again. I purchased the pattern for the top only and it wasn't talking to me as I was working with it. Not sure if its because I chose the wrong size, or if this is just one of those designs that you only need one of...anyway I'm moving onto the next garment on the list for my Crazy 8 wardrobe!
...as always more later!