It's almost November and I'm still catching up on posting projects from September and early October, so forgive the out of season photos. It was hurricane hot and humid here until like last week and I was beginning to think I was never going to be able to wear a sweater again. But thank the Lord, the heat and humidity seem to have finally passed, with morning lows in the 40s and 50s and highs in the 60s. My kind of weather. My kids remarked this morning that Alaska would be a good place for me. Indeed.
On a more prosaic note, I tripped getting onto the city bus this morning, and totally wiped out in front of everyone on the bus and behind me in line--a wonderful and humiliating start to my day. My left arm aches and I can tell my ribs will be sore later, so I think my plans for today might need to include a down shift. I probably need one of those wristbands you get in the hospital that says "FALL RISK." Think that would help? Ha!
I would probably mind less if I hadn't had a fall at church two weeks ago that similarly damaged my right side. (The fall was one of those weird accidents--someone's coat slid onto the floor as I was going by, it caught on my shoe, and I went down hard). I sort of feel like I've been through the wars about now.
Anyway. I thought I'd post about three projects at once to save time. The first is the Free Range skirt hack I mentioned in the last couple of posts. I used the same silky noil from yesterday's Remy Raglan.
The hack is basically to straighten the line from the top of the thigh
to the middle of the calf by removing the crotch curve. There are
plenty of tutorials out there on how to do this (I think Helen's Closet has the best one), but it's a pretty easy change.
The Free Range Slacks are constructed with three pieces--front, back,
and sides. I cut the crotch curves out of the front and back, and kept
the side panel the same since it has straight side seams. I did shorten all the pieces to the
lengthen/shorten line closest to the bottom of the pattern, and while I
like the length on this version, in the future, I would probably take it up to just below
the knee as with the pants I hacked after the fact.
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| #SewnShownSeated |
One note: it would be easy to overlook that the grainline on the back piece isn't straight to the side of the pattern, so if you make these either as pants or as a skirt, be mindful of that. Otherwise, I made these according to spec. The noil was a little tricky on the pocket facing, as the fabric wants to sag a bit, and I had to be extra mindful about not letting the fabric hang off the edge of my table while sewing. If I sew on future make in this substrate, I'd probably interface the edge. The pockets aren't super useful as a result of this feature, but I can at least put a housekey in my pocket, so that is something.
Next is the top. I had an almost usable scrap of the Meadow linen left after making my dad's shirt for his birthday (which I have yet to post...so much behind). I decided to piece together a simple top and hope for the best, since I liked the color and was trying to use up things. I used the Sorrel bodice as my base, and lengthened the back and front by 2". I had to piece a corner of the back shoulder and the 2" add on the back hem, but otherwise, it was pretty easy and the piecing isn't too noticeable. The linen is handkerchief weight, so it was a nice top in the disgusting weather of September.
And lastly, a wrap top! I mentioned previously that I've been crushing on 18th century silhouettes again, and thinking about how to work them into my closet in a more modern way. One of my ideas was a wrapped bodice, but I ran out of steam when I tried to draft it myself.
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| Something like this. I especially liked the little tie closures along the edge. |
My main issue with wrap tops generally is that they are never drafted for small busts and gape badly when they fit in the arms and shoulders. Nonetheless, I decided to look at wrap top patterns and stumbled on the free Peppermint Magazine wrap top, which has over 1,000 posts on the IG hashtag.
That said, the Peppermint wrap top is generally well liked, and folks say the overlap and coverage are good, and the drafting well done. The sizing held me up, as it is VERY generously sized. My measurements put me solidly in the D size, but it seemed like most people sized down at least one or two sizes, and I couldn't decide whether to do a C or a B. I found one IG post with someone who also sized in the D range and sized down to a B and was happy. So that's what I went with, and used the beet colored linen I bought in August.
The B fits quite well, the coverage is good, and my only beef is that I could use slightly more arm motion in the sleeves, but I could always add a gusset in later if I want to. The fit is good in the shoulders and otherwise, and I do have pretty good range of motion, but I think a very small gusset would make it perfect.
I tried to make a dolman sleeve version last week out of a yard of linen, but it was an utter catastrophe, such that I cannot even rescue the thing--and trust me, I tried. I hate it when things go that badly, but given the amount of new patterns I've tried this fall, I suppose one fail isn't too bad.
It is fun to have a wrap top in my closet--I'm find it is nice to have a variety of options right now, given how much my internal temperature swings around throughout the day, and am glad I tried a new pattern and silhouette.
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| #reallife |
