Vogue 9771

There was a whole lot of mending, alterations and present making and wrapping chez BMGM this weekend, but this is the only thing I sewed from scratch that I am going to show.

[I also wanted to write a post about how to take the temperature on a planetary scale, just to explain that we are not making this up out of thin air.  But, that's a pretty big subject.  And the weekend flew by while I was dithering about what to explain.  I find that the things that confound and fascinate me are not necessarily the ones that confuse and interest others.  How about you leave your questions and I try to answer them?  No question is too basic, but fast turnaround is not guaranteed.

Addendum: With all the news about Copenhagen, no one has questions about how we take the global temperature averages or detect global trends? Amazing. No wonder the world is going to hell in a hand basket. I guess no one really cares.]

Vogue 9771

Semi-fitted, pullover top has bias front and back, and short or long sleeves. C: sleeveless.

I made view A, the one with short sleeves.

I made a size 14 using a red and black rayon jacquard remnant. The fabric shrank when I pre-washed it, so the top ended up 1" shorter and with a narrower bottom hem than the original pattern. I also narrowed the back neck by 3/8". That was probably overkill. It might have fit better if I narrowed it by 3/16".

The front and back is cut on the bias, the sleeves and back neck facing are cut on grain.  I sewed the side seams with a 0.5 mm zig-zag and hand blind-hemmed the bottom to preserve the stretch.  The rest of it was sewn conventionally.

 

It looks fine on the dress dummy. It even looks fine on me unless I want to move my arms. Then the whole thing lifts up. I think I know the reason. Compare this top to my favorite basic woven top pattern, Burda 8998.

I laid the back pieces of both size 14s next to each other and found that the armscythe is slightly higher on the Burda and that the shoulder slope angles vary. A higher armscythe sounds like it would be uncomfortable, but it actually fits your torso better. You have more range of movement in a shirt with a higher armscythe.

The front drape sure looks nice, even though I used a fabric with a tad too much body to allow the drape to fall easily.  This top is part of my "no more orphans" project.  I am making things to coordinate with items in my closet that aren't in my regular rotation because I don't have things to go with them.

It all started with this red wool skirt from the clearance rack at Eileen Fisher.  When I got it home, I realized it was an odd red melange that looked terrible with the red sweater set I already had.  Matching reds is tricky.  This rayon jacquard picks up the black lowlights in the skirt.  The black jacket looks so boring with this ensemble.

 

So I tried the gray cardi-wrap that picks up the gray tones in the skirt. Now it looks like I am trying too hard to look arty.

 

This boiled wool jacket from Goodwill is a great color match for the skirt, but the neckline does not work with the blouse.

 

I have 10 balls of Frog Tree Yarns pima silk in red.  Surely I can come up with something.