Vogue 8323

I cut out this top while dreaming of winter sewing.  Since I hadn't finished fitting and cutting my dress, I decided to stitch it up, even though it has been in the 90s here this week.

I'm so glad I did! It's perfect with my Vogue 8603 skirt and I'm loving the wide belt trend. Totally makes me feel like my waist is back!

Mitch declared this outfit "a keeper". I agree, but it does make me wonder what he thinks of some of my other clothes...

Still pretty cute without the belt.  The pattern is Vogue 8323, which I made in black a year and a half ago. I wear it all the time, so I knew that pattern was a winner. The wrap front is particularly friendly for the nursing mom. It accommodates the changing sizes though the day and allows for easy nursing access. The fabric is very interesting.

Here is a closeup that I altered a little so you can see the detail. It is a pointelle knit, but made in a double layer which is bonded together at the lace points. I have many pieces of pointelle in my stash as I love how it looks, but I frequently find it too sheer to wear without a second layer. The double layer of fabric here makes for a more opaque, but still soft and comfortable knit. I love it and I'm so glad I have more!

The tee is princess seamed (love that) so even in a firmer knit like this one, the shape is lovely. I also love the almost peplum effect that you get from the hip flare. Yep, gonna make this one again.

BWOF 10/2009-127

The skirt is done!!  Here is what Burda says about this style, "A lady of rank is well-dressed in this flared, below-calf skirt. An inverted box pleat and wool herringbone fabric with crosswise stretch furnish plenty room for romping with the heirs."  I love that description!

 

And I am excited to say, it went together easily and without a hitch, and it fits perfectly with no adjustments.  An unequivocal success!  Bring on the Burda!! I wish I had a slightly better photo of the front!  You can't see the inverted pleat.  I think I am a bit obsessed with inverted pleats at the moment.

Here is the side and back.

I made it out of a soft wool houndstooth that I found at Hancock's.  In the past, I've not found a lot of apparel fabrics there that I love, but this one is quite nice.

One thing that I love about Burda is that they don't skimp.  This skirt is beautifully constructed and fully lined.

I love that the lining has side slits to allow for the movement that the front pleat gives the skirt.

The only thing that I changed was to eliminate the front fly and button and to put in a back invisible zipper.  I LOVE invisible zippers!!!

This is only the second one I've done, but it is awesome!  It did take take two attempts, but only because I was a perfectionist about matching the houndstooth.

I'm ready to romp!!

While I had a semi-cooperative photographer, I also got a picture of the Vogue tee as well.  I think it will look very nice with this skirt, but I think I need a nice pair of boots to complete the look...

Vogue 8323

This top seriously should NOT have taken me this long!! But when your 15 month old is vomiting every few hours and wants to just lay around (on you) all day it makes for slow sewing. She's fine now, although still a wee bit clingy, so I make no promises about the skirt I just cut out. It'll get done when it does.

So, the top. It is Vogue 8323, view A with the 3/4 sleeves from view B. I made it out of a 100% cotton jersey sheet. The side panels are the same for the three views, which makes interchanging the sleeves a pretty trivial matter. This is a "Very Easy" Vogue, and it was easy, by Vogue's standards, and way cuter than a regular old tee.
The princess seams made for an impeccable fit. Mitch commented that the back looked like a fitted jacket. He was impressed! I did a 1 inch FBA, but no other alterations. I love the length. I hate feeling like I need to tug my shirt down all the time.
The collar comes fairly high on the back of the neck. In a slinkier knit, I think it would just collapse down and drape. I like that the self-facing at the back of the neck is deep enough to allow it to be folded down like a shawl collar. After just trying it on, I'm not sure about the angle of the collar in back, but I'll wear it tomorrow and see how I feel.

ETA (11/22/09) - After wearing it all day Friday, I really had trouble with gapping at the neckline, so I went ahead and took an inch out of the back neck.  That took care of the neckline gapping.

I transferred the change to the pattern piece.  That is the line in blue.  Now the next time I make this top it will be perfect!

I'm working on a skirt to go with it, although I'm confident a black knit top will go with 90% of my wardrobe. The skirt is BWOF 10/2009-127. I admit, I had planned to make this skirt before I made the top, but I sort of chickened out. I haven't yet had an unequivocal success with BWOF yet. I really love this skirt, and I want it to go well! Once I get the skirt together I'll get Mitch to take some pictures of it with the top.

Test run!

Mitch wore his new scrubs to work today. He likes them, so that makes me happy. There are a few more minor changes for the next set, but nothing critical, so that pattern is a go. The color, while fabulous and exactly what Mitch wanted, is also the precise color worn by the nursing staff on one of the floors where Mitch often is working, so I think we'll be going with the more traditional "doctor" blue for the next round. Apparently his co-workers spent the day asking him why he was wearing nurses scrubs.

It also got a wee bit cooler today and so Logan got to wear his jacket.
I think that delighted face says it all.

In other news, I got started on Vogue 8323. I am making view A, but with the 3/4 sleeves. By my upper bust I am a size 10, but by both measurement and tissue fit, I need a 1 inch FBA. This is the first time I've needed a full FBA on something with a princess seam, so I used this really cool tutorial to help. It's great! It even has animations to show you how to spread the pattern.
Here are my altered pattern pieces. This was a little complicated because of the wrap neckline. How weird does that pattern piece look? The big "wing" is the wrap self-facing. I had to sort of reflect my slash and spread at an angle to resize the front, but so far it looks good. Maybe I'll have a new top to show you soon!