Good things come in Threes

At the time of writing this I just found out that my entry for the New to Me contest in week One has made the final 14, which is amazing! It’s up against some awesome makes – I’ve been so impressed and inspired by everyone’s work so far!

For week Two I chose another Seamwork pattern. I picked the pattern for a couple of reasons, firstly; a friend of mine has been whispering in my ear lately about the joys of cropped tops, and secondly; I was cold when I came back to the UK after my holiday and needed something cosy to snuggle up in.

Astoria is a cropped sweater pattern, which I will probably wear mostly with dresses and high waisted skirts. In my photos I’ve styled it with jeans, but I’m not hugely comfortable with this look. As Fat Amy said:

“Even though some of you are pretty thin, I think you all have fat hearts.”

By which I mean that I’m not ready to show the world my stomach, because in my head I’m still fat. So please be nice.

The final garments are not at all what I’d initially intended, due to numerous postage related disasters. The first company I ordered from sent me the wrong order, and took so long to correct it I gave up waiting and ordered more fabric. The second order was then stolen from my front garden after the careless courier left it in a stupidly obvious place. By this time I was beginning to despair of ever getting this week’s challenge done.

So, what’s a frustrated sewist to do? Go stash diving, obviously. I knew I didn’t have anything suitable on my shelves, but I had some offcuts from a jumper dress I’d made a while back. I managed to scrape together enough scraps of this fabric to cut out the necessary pieces, and was even able to be a bit considerate of the print when laying out the pieces.

Here are the things I know about this fabric.

• It is quite wooly feeling
• I bought it from The Textile Centre 
• It has a good amount of stretch to it
• It smells weird

This version (let’s call it version 1, because it was the first one I made) is completely unaltered. I cut a straight size M and made the 3/4 sleeve option.

 

Construction was an absolute doddle and I could not believe how quickly it sewed up. This is a really fun project to make and I highly recommend it.

After finishing version 1, my replacement fabric had still not arrived (spoiler alert: it arrived yesterday, so you’re not going to be seeing it in this post!) so in frustration I bought some from my local fabric store. They don’t have an online presence, but do stock a good range of different types of fabric. This one is a cotton and poly blend sweater knit.

For version two I decided to make the long-sleeve option. Holding the pattern piece for the sleeve up against my arm I could tell I would need to lengthen the sleeves. I added 2 inches, and also added the same amount to the bodice pieces to match.

A while ago I saw a sweater I loved with a slogan on it. When I tried to order it I found that it was out-of-stock, and my heart was sad. I decided to put the same slogan on my cropped sweater using t-shirt transfer paper I bought from the pound shop (which is like a dollar store, if you’re american).

My better half is not a fan of this sweater, he said the slogan was ‘witless’ and ‘not funny’. I tried to explain deadpan humour and sarcasm to him but I think he was just in a very obstinate mood. My bigger issue (I don’t care what he thinks; he’s not wearing it) is that I damaged the print slightly when ironing it on, it seemed to stick to the backing paper a bit too much. Maybe because I used cheap transfer paper. Here’s a close up of my bewbs so you can see what I’m talking about:

For some reason, I decided not to stop here (I got carried away) and made a third Astoria in a more delicate knit fabric. This fabric I also bought at The Textile centre, but in a more recent visit.

This is the most tricky fabric I have ever worked with. It was a loose knit and you had to be very careful with it to avoid it unravelling in your hands.Handling had to be absolutely the minimum I could, and it was clear I would need to finish the seams, but I didn’t want to add any bulk to the seam, so opted for a simple zigzag. I don’t know if this will do the trick, but I guess time will tell.

I really like the loose fit of the finished top, it’s just what I imagined. Unfortunately, in spite of how careful I was being with the fabric, I still managed to stretch the neckband out of shape, so it doesn’t quite sit right, but I think it’s not too bad.