Sewing Dare #1

Almost a year ago, Crafting a Rainbow started a new Sewing Dares challenge. I signed up because, duh. Doesn’t it sound like so much fun? I ended up with 3 dares: make something for myself with fabric I’d painted, sew myself something inspired by one of my pictures, and sew a knit fit and flare dress. Somehow, life got in the way and I didn’t touch any of those dares.

That’s about to change! I’ve completed one dare and I’m quite happy with the result. It’s the painted fabric one. I blogged about the fabric here but here it is anyway.

The challenge with this fabric is that it has next to no drape. There wasn’t enough to make something fitted and besides, I didn’t want any darts to break up the design. I actually mulled patterns over for months and couldn’t make up my mind. And then, I tried on my Belcarra blouse. The pattern is made for woven fabric and works best if the fabric has a bit of drape. The blouse I made still fits me but is a tiny bit on the tight side. Perfect. I was planning on using a black cotton spandex jersey for the back and sleeves so I needed to size down anyway. Bonus: no need to trace the pattern again!

I skipped the cuffs this time because I didn’t have enough of the jersey. So the sleeves are just hemmed, a small double turned 1/2″ hem (1/4″ turned twice). I used white cotton lawn for the neckline binding to give the jersey more stability and to avoid show through on the front. I didn’t bother with stretch stitching anywhere since the pattern is for woven fabric. I pressed and topstitched the front and back seam allowances toward the back and the sleeve-bodice seam allowances toward the sleeve. The only seam that just got pressed open with no topstitching is the shoulder seam. At the hem and neckline, I actually sewed in two parts. The front was sewn with white thread and the back with black.

And that’s it! We actually took the pictures for this top in the same place as the first one (Brooklyn Botanical Garden). This time was way busier than that first time though so we had a hard time finding a good spot for pictures. We had one but then lots of people showed up. Then, we went outside and the sun was so harsh that the white is blown out in all the pictures. I tried to work with them after the fact but it just looked weird.

So this is what you get. Now, if the girls could just go back to school, I could get going on the next project.They still have two more days off and have fallen into a pattern of asking me to entertain them…

About deuxsouriceaux

Creative mommy at home to two wonderful little girls, trying to juggle family, sewing, exercise, family, knitting, photography, and did I mention family?