Saturday, May 22, 2010
Butterick 3344
Me Made May has really gotten me thinking about the way that I sew, and the fact that while I have a ton of clothes, I don't have a ton of clothes that work together. As a result, I've been trying to incorporate some basics into the things that I am sewing. I think this top is a good example of success there!
Basic red top, but not completely boring. It is made with OOP Butterick 3344, which is a really great basic tee pattern if you can get your hands on it. It has five different views and three sleeve variations, which makes for quite the tee wardrobe. I also think the directions were mostly well written, particularly for a Big 4 knit pattern. They even included instructions for staying the shoulder seam - color me impressed! The fabric is an ITY from FFC, and I am so glad I got a ton of it when it was on sale! It is so soft and drapes beautifully, but sewed up quite nicely.
I chose this view because I really like the shape, the v neck and the ruching at the bust. Gathers are always a nice way to hide your FBA, and that is what I did here (much like the way that I did the FBA on the burda style top with similar bust gathers). I did the ruching my own way though. Butterick would have you gather that section with traditional gathering stitches and then stabilize with stay tape, but I wanted it to retain it's elasticity, so I gathered each side individually with clear elastic just inside the seamline and then sewed CF together while stretching the elastic so that it would still stretch when I was finished. It seems to have worked well!
The other changes I made was to lengthen the top by 2 inches, which may have been a bit much, but I'm going to wear it around a bit and see if I want to shorten it. Better too long than too short!! I also shortened the sleeve by a couple of inches, as I prefer the look of a cap sleeve. I am pretty happy with how it turned out, although it is a smidge longer than the traditional cap.
I am not entirely happy with the ripples down CF. Do you think my FBA was too big, or is there something else going on there? Opinions?
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10 comments:
Red is one of my favorite color and basic T is a great wardrobe staple.
Cute shirt! I love this pattern - it's my TNT T-shirt pattern. I think I've made most views over the last few years. Bummer that it's OOP.
Cute top! I know exactly what you mean, alot of items I've sewn are somewhat disconnected. Creating simple, interchangeable pieces is a great idea. I'm trying to do the same for the summer:)
That's a great top, and you look smashing in red!
It's very cute. To answer your question about the wrinkles: I think it's that the FBA didn't get gathered up into the ruching enough is all. If you look at the photo and imagine what you'd need to do to make the wrinkles disappear, it's "pull up at the center front". I think you just need to pull more fabric up into the ruching next time (try it with pins on this one and see what happens).
It's still very cute tho!
I love the length of the sleeve! It's super cute on you.
As for the FBA--I'm not sure if this is what's going on, but this happens to me when I do normal FBA's. I add what I need across my bustline, but I'm left with gabs of fabric at my waist and hips. On wovens, I can take some of this fullness out with waist darts on the front and back, but on knits, I get funny little drag lines when I take it out at the side seams because I end up needing to take out about 6" all around. To correct for this, instead of doing an FBA, I figured out where the fullest part of my bust is down the top of the side seam. To get to that point, I use the armhole portion of my French curve and transition to another cutting line. I flip the curve over and use the mirror of what I drew out to the widest point to taper back to the size I need. This leaves me with no extra fluff but gives me what I need for my bust. I don't know if this is what's going on or if it would work for you, but I thought I'd share anyhow. :)
Very nice colour and flattering top. My guess is that the knit is slinky kind which is quite heavy. Any excess fabric will pull with its own weight if this is the case. My guess is yes, too big an FBA or alternatively, that you need to remove a lot of excess fabric though waist and hip. Is it a super stretchy knit? Could it be that it has so much crosswise stretch you don't need an FBA? More questions than answers!
I agree with Mary Nanna - I am no expert on fba as I tend toward sba myself, but it looks like there is too much fabric at the front and I would say this stretchy fabric didn't need much added.
However I love the red top on you and it goes very well with the skirt of your previous post.
Cute basic tee with a little oomph. :)
I think I also agree with Mary Nanna. I don't typically sew knits and I tend toward princess seams on wovens. When I adjust for full bust, I always have to taper back to the original princess seam line below the bust to avoid all the extra fabric below. I don't see how to do that without the princess seam or a dart.
I like the color and the style on you. Maybe you don't the adjustment?
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