Oct 26 2017
What have you all been sewing lately? Here's a little update on my sewing adventures!
I recently drafted a top pattern inspired by our Introduction to Bodice Fitting workshop and made it up in our Bee fabric from Jane Makower. I was really pleased with the result and the compliments received so decided to test in out in one of our stretch fabrics.I decided to ditch the pin tucks for gathers as the jersey fabric would not hold them like the woven bee fabric had done.
I also dropped the back inverted pleat as I felt it added a little bit too much volume to the garment and shortened the length by 5cm.
To add some detail, (and to hide the fact I couldn't pattern match the yoke and front because of the gathers), I added a navy ribbon trim across the yoke seam and used a navy neck binding to co-ordinate with this.
The ribbon restricted the crossway stretch of the fabric slightly but not enough to cause an issue.Some stretch fabrics are more stable and weighty making them more like a woven fabric and therefore easier to handle. It wasn't the trickiest stretch but I could tell by the way the edges rolled on this jersey that the hems could end up rolling if I did not take care when stitching them.
I cut some narrow strips of fusible interfacing 6mm wide and carefully fused them along the edge of the bottom of the bodice and sleeves, carefully unrolling the fabric as I went. I then pressed a narrow single turned hem and didn't finish the raw edges as there was no risk they would fray and it also reduced the likely hood of the hem being stretched. I stitched with a regular straight stitch and increased the stitch length slightly. The interfacing added just enough stability to for the hem to lie flat and not to stretch or pucker while I was sewing it. The interfacing used was not a stretch quality so the natural crossway stretch in the fabric was now restricted but this was not a problem as the hem was flared so it was not required.
I will definitely be using this method again during our workshops to tackle those rolling hems!
Back
