"Where's Waldo?"

Okay, so I was sewing along with the Project Sewn themes, and rocked my Twiggy dress.  And by "rocked it", what I'm really saying is, "I finished it."  Then came the pink project, and I faltered.  Long story short, it broke me.  This is not that dress though.

The Details:

Pattern: Burda Long Sleeve Top 2/2010 #112A

Fabric: Riley Blake 1/2" cotton/spandex jersey 1/2" stripe 

Notions: 1/2" knit stabilizing tape for neckline, 1/2" clear elastic for stabilizing shoulder seams

Notes: 

     This is the third fourth time I've made this shirt, and each time I messed around with the neckline.  I think the pattern calls for you to draft a strip to face the inside with, but who reads Burda instructions?  On this one, I used knit stay tape (this one)on the wrong side of the neckline, serged the edge, folded it under, and top-stitched it.  Previously, I used clear elastic to stabilize the neckline; mostly because using the folded under strip for facing seemed too bulky.  If you're wondering, the clear elastic works, too. On yet another version, I added a funnel neck collar, which also worked.  

    

That none of these others are blogged is more a testament to my picture taking than my sewing.  But here's the best I've got of the funnel-neck one: 

Yes, that's a Batman mask, and I'm laying on the floor.

     Back to this one, I also think the pattern may call for you to stabilize the armhole seams, 

but I didn't do that either.  And it's fine.

All I can focus on is that *&^% broken bead and the slightly askew stripe matching...and now that's all you can, too...  

   

Construction wise, I serged everything, and coverstitched the sleeves and hems.

Glorious hem...

At the end of the day, I usually come home, take off my cute shoes, and put on slippers.  

Can you tell the slippers happened before the pictures?

And as for Waldo?  Only one student alluded to that elusive man all day.  I call that a win.  : )

I've been busy (that's my excuse)

So, it's been a bit since I've posted, and I really truly was trying to post once a week.  Oops.  Well, I've been busy.  For real.
We've had snow days, which are for playing (and shoveling) and the end of the quarter, which means grading and more grading, and I have been sewing, but kind of slowly.
Also, there's the whole thing about tearing out the kitchen.

Construction continues in the background.

So at this point, I have 2 new shirts and a mostly finished new kitchen.  I am truly lucky to have such a handy husband and family.  On the kitchen front, what started as a new oven turned into new countertops and snowballed from there.

So, about the shirts: Both were made using this pattern from Burda.  Did you know that if you see this:

Note: This is the same pattern PDF as the “Flounce Dress”: and the Raglan Shirt, 

then your download includes those, too?  Bonus!  Not that I see myself making the flounce dress, but hey, you never know.
Also, new to me were the instructions to draft the neckband.  Helpfully, they tell you the dimensions, followed by this: (incl. seam allowances).  Now, considering that no part of the pattern includes seam allowances, and they say that in several different places, is that phrase reminding you to add them, (read: Include seam allowances!), or is it telling you that they already included that for you (read: including the seam allowance, which we're not going to tell you what it is)?  In this case, it seems they DID, and it was 1/4".  Just FYI.

Super comfy

Version 1 is a bonus; it is a long-er sleeved top. Those long sleeves on the Raglan shirt are LONG.  the sleeve pieces were honestly ginormous compared to the front and back of the shirt. In order to conserve fabric, I made mine shorter.  A lot shorter.  Heads up, if you're interested in the long sleeve version, I doubt you'll need to add hem length.  To the bottom, either.  I cut off about 2-3 inches before hemming, and I didn't trace the dress length.

Version 2 is the actual shirt I intended to down load and make.  It is made from about a yard of some cotton/poly blend.

Back view of sleeves and my hair

back of version 2 plus a view of where my microwave and tile will go

tag added so I can tell the front from the back

In both versions, I used some knit stay-tape to stabilize the neck line of all pieces. Also, I added a folded bit of Hug Snug under the back to make a tag, because sometimes, I get dressed in the dark.

Burda skirt

I don't have a whole lot to say about this skirt.  It's a slight a-line skirt from Burda that I made out of dusty teal blue wool/cashmere blend. Two slash pockets lined with scrap fabric, and I used grosgrain ribbon to stabilize the waistband.  I'm not sure if that was the best way to go, but it does look nice and clean on the inside.   

It's not love that I'm feeling, but it's not bad.