Throwback stripes — Victoria Martinez

I love this dark sky look with this blazer even though it's not true to today's sunniness.

So I managed to sew a gable top over the holidays, a project which was satisfying as heck because I could do it in bits and bobs over the hecticness of the holidays and with other projects on the go. It was also rewarding because my partner gave me a buncha Named patterns and of course I then spent all of my time wishing I could be sewing/sewing them while at my in-laws (my mother in law has a machine, but it's ancient and can't handle stretch fabrics like the cotton lycra i used for this one).

I'm ok with how it turned out, but the neckline does some dang gaping, which I suspect has to do with my size choice up top. I hope I figure it out, because I rather like the slash neckline, and it would be good to have a basic top pattern I could turn to for work tops. I'm mostly a blouse/blazer/dress person for the workweek, but a few dressy (and long sleeve) T's would be particularly nice to have. Plus, if I ever have the opportunity to breastfeed again, I'd like to make a couple more nursing tshirts like my ones from Boob, which I think this top could be nicely hacked to do.

The sewing itself was a breeze. The construction is pretty straightforward, with the neckline being the only odd bit. I ended up taking in the arms and top of the shirt a bit (again, I think I chose the wrong size for my bust, ugh, but the sleeves would have been big a size down anyway), which I'm just glad to have the confidence to do these days. The shirt is designed for negative ease, which mine had in the bottom but certainly did not have in the top half.

I worked with a metre of Elvelyckan Design fabric purchased during the Carden Fabrics closing sale, and so I cut my front and back pieces then folded what I had left to determine the sleeve length. It worked out to be basically a 3/4 sleeve, which rules. So my sleeve width adjustment ended up being moving the seam line in 3/8" at the end of the sleeve up to 3/4" at a couple inches from the top, and then basically heading down 5" down the body until it met up with the existing seam. I think next time I sew this I'll have to make similar adjustments, but I'm not copying anything yet until I figure out what I did wrong with that neckline.

i really like it tucked in, as with all things.

I don't bother too much about pattern matching, but I am pleased that I cut out the back pretty much perfectly horizontal to the stripes. Messed up the front just a litttttle. But, who cares.

I basically followed the order of construction, but hemmed everything including the neckline with a double needle rather than the single stitch as instructed. (Maybe that's the culprit??!) I just really like double needle finishes. I found out at the last minute I was out of white thread, which bummed me out cuz I wanted to do a row of red and a row of white but OH WELL.

Altogether, better luck next time but I feel like this could be bangin'.

if i stand up just straight we don't see the issues so much.

Pattern: Jennifer Lauren Handmade Gable Top
Size: 14 bust (horrible mistake) 12 waist, 10 hips
Moved in seam line of arm starting at 3/8" at the end, up to 3/4" 2" from the top, followed down the body 5" to meet existing seam.
Fabric: Berry on the Line organic cotton lycra jersey by Elvelyckan Design
If there is a next time: Figure out the neckline issues. Could maybe do a touch more ease in the body, but this was fine. Maybe think on that as I occasionally wear this one.