Also, it's been too cold to wear this top, thus the delay in pictures. Techinically, it's still too cold, I threw a cardigan over this for church today. Anyway, it applies to Project: Professional.
I promise I looked more put together at church- the wind was gusting all morning and I gave up.
(Also, that boot top is part of our latest home improvement project I still need to get pictures of)
(Also, that boot top is part of our latest home improvement project I still need to get pictures of)
The Facts:
- Fabric: Blue and White Italian Printed Cotton Voile (Gorgeous Fabrics, I think I got the last of the blue/white and the green/white listed afterwards has already sold out), White Poly Cotton Batiste (Fabric.com- the Voile is *very* sheer on its own, may use this again but also found a 100% cotton bastiste I may use instead for a pearl embellishment top I want to try, it just presses so nicely)
- Pattern: Salme's Peplum Top, I considered their Pussy Bow Top, but I thought the bow was too blousy for me and maybe a little too themey with my summer internship (the institution's collection has a heavy maritime focus, so no sailor suit like tops for me)
- Year: Early 2010s
- Notions: All Purpose White Thread, 19" polyester sky blue invisible zipper (shortened), Clear button
- Techniques/Tutorials: Fashion Incubator's Post on Linings and Facings, Coletterie's Tutorial on Facings with an Invisible Zipper
- Cost: <$30 (Birthday GC from friend, batiste was on sale, bought the zipper as part of a lot from a dry goods store near Ephrata, Button was collected from a scraped RTW top)
- Time: Maybe 8 hours? Divided into 15-45 minute chunks over two weeks.
- Make Again?: Possibly, with a less voluminous peplum (maybe pleated), maybe try a wider, and notched neckline
- Because of the style of directions, the zipper insertion, and the hemming of the peplum I would say that this is definitely an intermediate project
- The actual pattern sews up very well (but you do have to add your own seam allowance, in the directions they assume you use 1/2" which I trimmed down significantly after stitching)
- I probably should have used french seams in more places than the shoulder to prevent fraying
- I added the peplum before sewing the side seams because of the lining, and added lining for the peplum section
- I ignored the basted line for hemming, it just messed me up, instead I just pressed it very clarefully
- Full peplums like this I think work best for people who already don't have a large waist to hip difference, it just adds volume unnecessarily. I like the idea of a looser hip on a fitted top but I need to go about it in a different manner.
- I took the shoulders up by a full inch on the front and the back, without this, the front keyhole would be too low for professional wear. This did make the neckline much closer than it was designed to have
- There is still a little side-bra showing but it's not too bad and if it bothers me in the future I can redraft the arm holes.
- Instead of a ribbon, I made a little tube of the voile, reenforced with stitching along the top and bottom lengths, this was less noticeable since I used a clear button
- I *love* how finished it all looks completely lined, even if it more than doubled how much time it took to sew the whole thing together
Olive wanted to know why I wasn't paying attention to her (believe it or not she had a bath less than 12 hours before this was taken, she just likes looking scruffy)
*I don't know what it is but close to 75% of our class uses a Kindle or iPad instead of paper Bible. I can't imagine everyone uses it to flip between translations (there are certain translations have Strong's# automatically linked but others that have translations that I feel are more loyal to the original text but it's just me being weird) but it does mean we're much faster at finding the verses, though DH was apparently pretty good at Bible Drills growing up.
I'm so glad you left a comment on a post, because now I'm completely addicted to your blog (especially the food posts)! I know absolutely nothing about sewing, though... is there a type of peplum that isn't a "full peplum"? Because I see some that appear to work better on smaller waists/larger hips but they often start and end in different locations.
ReplyDeleteThere's the position on the body (I tend to think the ideal to start is the thinnest point on the torso since you're adding volume below to make your waist or wherever appear thinner much like the idea behind the 'New Look') but it's also how much of a circle the peplum is. Sort of like how a circle skirt is much bigger in volume than a 3/4 circle (you can also go above a full circle but that's a ridiculous amount of fabric and I frankly don't care for the look that much.) I have a RTW top that has a peplum that starts at my high hip but I don't care for how it tends to thicken up my waist.
DeleteI think my goal next time is to go from a more New Look to more of a 30s silhouette with a few box pleats to eat up some of the immediate volume.
Hope that makes sense- it's been a crazy past few days and even DH has been having trouble understanding me sometimes.
Sorry, thought I'd already replied; thanks, that does make sense :-).
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