I picked view B, as I'm not much fussed on collars and the skinny ties at the back of A put me off. I made a dress with all those ties back in 1996 and I still remember the faffing and fiddling around. Although what I remember most about that particular dress, though, is dropping my cigarette (bad old days) on my lap the first and only time I wore it, at a wedding. Hello, embarrassing burn hole. Goodbye, dress.
Back to this project: I even did a muslin to check the size first. How good is that? I wasn't going to show the photo but Vanessa insisted, so here you go: complete with bed sheet bodice and sleeve made with leftovers from the Washi top I blogged about here.
Stylish, no? I decided it fit ok but was a bit tight right down the bottom, so I graded it out to the next size up at the hemline. Otherwise no alterations.
I mostly used this fabric below; I think it came from one of the Goulburn op shops. It's a woven dark grey with pinstripes. Not all cotton, as it doesn't wrinkle much (and melts easily when you iron it, which I found out while making the top, ouch).
There wasn't quite enough for the whole top, so I was going to use a beige linen for the contrast panels down the side fronts. I even went as far as cutting out the front from that linen before realising that in fact they are NOT contrast panels at all and that the front panel is only topstitched on - the bottom part of the front is the same fabric as the sides. Confused? I was. In below picture of finished top, you can see what I mean.
After the beige option was pinned together (no photo) and modelled in front of my Thursday night sewing group I was kinda shouted down. 'Don't do it Kath!!' was the general consensus. So I acceded (well, they were right, it looked like crap). And recut a new front in black.
The black is not preloved, I must admit - its linen/cotton I bought in Vietnam 6 years ago to make a pair of trousers for Hector. Oops. Sorry dear, no pants for you.
Here's a back view. The sleeves were way too long (or maybe my arms are short). I had to hem them double the depth stated on the pattern.
And a couple of side shots:
I don't look too impressed in this last picture. Actually, unless you suck it in a bit, this design has a tendency to make one look about six months gone. Which I am not, though some of the side-on photos that didn't make the cut certainly suggested I was.
Conclusion? I actually really, really like it. It's easy to put on, super comfy and feels nice. I suspect that the back ties might be a bit annoying sitting in the car. And I'm glad I went with black and didn't have enough of the pinstripe to do the whole thing; I love the contrast and it gives it a Japanese-ish feel.
What do you think? If you'd like to comment, I'd love to hear from you. Note: if you have subscribed to this blog as an email, which I think everyone has, then you have to visit the blog website to comment :)
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