For the "Nuthin' but the facts, ma'am" version of this review, feel free to pop over to my official PR review. :)
This project came together super fast, but I procrastinated on it quite a bit. I was really intimidated by cutting out the long (LONG) fabric pieces. Three yards!! Three yards of fabric for the wrap ties! They were longer than my cutting mats allowed, so I had to do some of the cutting with scissors. And I hate cutting with scissors. But it was totally worth it. :)
And then, I procrastinated a bit more because I didn't want to deal with my serger. Now, I usually don't mind re-threading the thing. It's kind of the nature of the beast. But recently I've been having a really hard time finding the correct tension...and many times I'm not even completely satisfied with it but I continue on anyway. Then it dawned on me that there are many, many sewists that construct their knit garments completely on the sewing machine. So that's what I did. And it worked great. And I've finished two more knit tops on my sewing machine. I even did a white top...and my serger actually already had white thread in it!!! Poor, neglected serger.
After I ordered my fabric, I started to doubt that I'd make another one of these. Why?? The yardage requirement. You need 4 yards of fabric. It cost me $33 with shipping for this brown rayon from High End Fabrics. The $33 plus the $15 cost of the pattern equals more (much more) than I would spend on a maternity top. And then, lo & behold...lookee what I found:
A bargain at $115 (the long sleeve version is $125). I don't spend that much money on...well, anything wardrobe related. But, it is listed as one of their best sellers, and I've seen a few bloggers that have purchased this top. Either way, I love that I just made up a "designer knock off" top for 1/2 of what it would have cost to buy. So that's pretty neat.
As for the pattern itself, I cannot recommend it enough. It comes together very quickly & is well drafted. I did have problems with the back shoulder seam being wider than the front, but the pattern pieces themselves line up so I must've been the problem.It came together very quickly (aside from my procrastination). The only change I made was to stabilize the shoulder seams & I also sewed the sleeves in flat.
I had decided early on that I wasn't going to hem all 3 yards of the sashes, but I did decide to hem them neckline & sleeves. I hemmed 26" from the shoulder seams down the sashes. Since the hemmed part of the sashes is hidden under the un-hemmed sashes, the top still looks cohesive.
This is LOVELY!! It is made well, and you look so wonderful in it!! I'm glad it went together well, and it sounds like a great pattern to work with.
ReplyDeleteHow many times do you have it wrapped? Does it get hot??? I have eyeballed the exact top you "knocked off" for 3 of my now 4 pregnancies and am trying to justify the $15 pattern for "only" the shirt as many patterns include other wardrobe pieces too and for less $
ReplyDeleteSarah Butcher
Hi Sarah!! It wraps around...a lot. I haven't counted but it's probably around 10. It doesn't seem to get hot, but the weather here is still pretty cool. I do tend to adjust it quite a bit after I stand up from sitting down & such. I had a hard time spending $15 on one pattern, too. If you have a wrap shirt pattern already, you could probably just extend the center front seam into sashes. Maybe give that a try before you put out the money.
ReplyDeleteWhat are your favorite maternity patterns??
This looks GREAT. I saw your photos posted on Flickr and clicked on over (I just made the Rie Dress). That is a crazy amount of fabric for one top, but it sure looks cute!
ReplyDelete