Sharon Sews

Over the past few years I've sewn - and purchased - a few tops with an attached back cape design feature. Such as the blue Butterick 6490 top  and the black Vogue 8907 top , that were both sewn and blogged in 2017.  My latest cape back top is this one sewn from a pink knit. This is McCall's 7541, released in 2017 and now out of print (OOP). It's a loose-fitting, pullover top with an attached overlay aka the cape.  The fabric suggestions are challis, crepe de chine, crepe, and stable knits.  I choose to sew this in a light weight stable knit I purchased two years ago from SR Harris i n Minnesota.  Because SR is a fabric warehouse, fabrics typically do not have the fiber content listed. I purchased the end of the bolt of this pink gingham knit and tucked inside was this fabric tag. There are four views to choose from and as you can see they are pretty similar. I sewed View B, the one with the shorter, curved "sleeves" and the longer back overlay wit...

At the end of May, as the temperatures were rapidly rising, I realized I had very few casual tops suitable for warm weather.  So the majority of my June sewing focused on making tops. This is the Urban T-shirt from The Sewing Workshop . The fabric is a striped knit that I received in a mystery bundle from Fabric Mart Fabrics . Am I the only one that loves ordering and receiving those mystery bundles?  I'm not positive of the fiber content but am guessing it is a cotton blend. Not too heavy and with excellent recovery.  The striped pattern in the knit made this a great choice for the Urban T-shirt! I had sewn this tee only once before. In November 2010 to be exact. I know the date because I tucked a note inside the pattern with changes to make next time. Mostly to sew it smaller.  I'm a larger size than I was ten years ago, so I ignored the note and started fresh. I used a small at the neckline/shoulder tapering to a medium at the bust, waist and hips. I ...

As I was browsing the Facebook page of one of the many boutiques I follow, I came across a simple knit hoodie with a striped bodice and floral sleeves and hood.  Under normal circumstances I may have popped into the boutique to purchase the hoodie.  However, as I've made a commitment to the 2018 RTW Fast, I decided to sew my own version. I used McCall's 7688 and sewed view C, substituting the sleeve and cuff for the sleeves with the casing and tie. The fabrics are Liverpool knits from Cali Fabrics .  Let me pause for a moment to tell you how much I like Cali Fabrics!  I've ordered a few times in the past year and fabrics are always described accurately, are beautiful in person, and they ship fast! I used the 1" black and white stripe for the body front and back, and chose to have the stripes vertical on the lower band for visual interest. The hood, which will always be worn down, is cut from the floral fabric. There's a seam in the center of the hood. T...

Style Arc, I think I love you! Another winner from Style Arc! This time I sewed the Cold-Shoulder Knit Top (which was one of the free patterns for August 2016), and my third pair of Flat Bottom Flo pants (love the fit, hate the name). The top is designed to hug the body. Since that's not my personal preference I added width and also did a full-bust adjustment so it would skim over my body. I used a black ITY knit that has been in my stash for a few years. It was left over from when I sewed a 1970s era Scott Barrie disco dress ( Vogue 2194) to wear to the annual Minnesota History Center's RetroRama. The seams on the top are 1/4". I stitched all the seams using a 0.5 wide, 3.0 length zig-zag stitch on my sewing machine, then finished with a three-thread stitch on my serger. The neck, shoulder, and upper arm edges are simply serged, turned to the wrong side, and stitched in place. I added 1/4" Steam-a-Seam to the wrong side before turning under and stitch...

This is Vogue 9107 . The pattern is actually designed for "silk crepe, silk-like broadcloth, heavy georgette, matte jersey"but I didn't realize that when I purchased the pattern.  I just saw the design on the website and thought "oh! cute knit dress" and picked up the pattern without a thought of looking at the suggested fabrics. I knew I didn't want to add a dart so I choose to go ahead and sew this in a rayon knit.   Instead of doing an FBA I added 3/4" length to the upper front bodice piece. I also did a slight forward shoulder adjustment and lowered the front neckline by about an inch. Because I used a knit I eliminated the center back seam and zipper. I didn't cut the bottom pieces on the bias. Originally this was going to be sleeveless but oh my!  The armholes were so big!  I took the shoulder seam up by about 1/2" but I still didn't like how they looked. So I added short sleeves instead.   By the way, the sleeves for this pa...

Christmas Eve day found me at the sewing machine putting the final stitches on a few gifts.  Once that task was completed I planned to sew another McCall's 6797 (that fabulous asymmetrical pullover top I blogged about here ) out of a beautiful silver knit from Mood Fabrics.  However with the temps falling rapidly I knew I needed to go for warmth over fashion this Christmas season.   Since I'd be donning a sweater, jeans and boots from my closet I wrapped up my sewing for the day and settled into a comfy chair to read a few sewing blogs and browse PatternReview. And there it was ! My top for the evening!   A simple pullover top from Burda 12-2013 issue (you can purchase a downloadable version here .) I quickly pulled out the magazine and set out to trace the pattern.  Fortunately there are only three pattern pieces - a front, a back and a lower sleeve.  I did one alteration to the pattern before cutting. I did a small FBA addi...