Saturday, November 14, 2009

Comfort? What's that?

Once upon a time, I bought some nice, soft, gray jersey fabric at the thrift store. I didn't know what to do with it, until I saw this Burda 7866 pattern. It's sorta '80s, I guess, but I'm starting to loosen up with my aversion to that era. You know, I lived through the horror once, already. And those "skinny jeans" ... not the look on me anymore unless I want my arse to look about 20 times bigger than it already is.

sewing

It's really comfy and soft. It has lots of room on top, with just enough fit on the bottom. And it has a tie that wraps around and around for no real reason, but it definitely adds something.

sewing

Why, what a natural looking pose.

A few things I did wrong differently: I was supposed to cut the front and back on the fold. I seemed to know this, but for some reason I got confused and convinced myself I was wrong. This was my first Burda pattern, and some of the markings and instructions are different. So, oops, I had a seam down the center front and back.

I figured I could just use it to lounge around the house if worse came to worse, so I sewed those seams. But they just looked crummy. Then I thought that maybe it's time to learn to use some of the functions of my serger. I got out the manual and changed some settings and did this decorative stitch, instead.

sewing

It's kind of like a ladder stitch from the front and serged looking from the back. It's cool because when you first sew, it looks like nothing, but then you have to grip the fabric from each side and pull, and as it pulls, this cool seam emerges. I'll probably post more about this at some point on the Warehouse Fabrics Inc. blog.

Anyway, I applied this seam style to the hems of the top and the sleeves, too. Except in some places I did not do such a good job. It seems to work best on a fold and not on a fold paired with a raw edge, because I kept missing the raw edge.

Also, for the tie, instead of just sewing and then turning the whole darn mile-long thing right-side out, I simply serged either side. I thought it gave it texture and interest.

Burda 7866

My husband saw it and wanted one for him, which I'm a bit puzzled over. Such a thing cannot be allowed.

From the pattern:
sewing

5 comments:

moongipsies@msn.com said...

this turned out really really cool... and it looks awesome on you :)

Ren said...

It came out perfect, Robyn.

amelie said...

Hi, thanks for this post. I really like the pattern and might give it a try too some day. Looks terribly comfy! Plus i enjoed reading about theis decorative stitch you made wih your serger. i have not tried this yet on mine and you gave me confidence to do so.
see you!
amélie

Emily said...

What a great top! I really love all your modifications. I am bummed, though, that you didn't strike a pose like that model! :)

theperfectnose said...

This top is awesome. I've seen the pattern around and been unimpressed but your rendition of it made it realise it would make a nice, wearable, sweater type thing for winter. So thanks for sharing. By the way your ass looks fine in that shot. I wouldn't worry.