Sunday, March 1, 2015

Made! - Simplicity 1325

The thing I love about having a serger - besides just knowing that I own a serger - is knowing that I can now make knit tops at the drop of a hat.

So this weekend, when I discovered my car battery dead and I had no pressing reason to get it fixed and was "trapped" at home, I figured what else should I do besides make a knit top? Obviously, this is what any sane person would do in my situation.


From first cut to complete it took about 3 hours. This is my first time with View A from Simplicity 1325 and I did have to alter it, so to me that's not too bad. Plus, it fits!!



I made my standard adjustment for my long torso, adding 1.5" above the waistline.  After sewing this up I notice that it seems like the pattern is longer than usual top patterns, which now means this top is nice and long! Couple a long torso with RTW jeans and you generally have a situation in which you want tunics or dresses over your jeans because RTW tops are too short. This is one of the many reasons that I make loooooooong tops whenever I make them. I don't want to worry about any surprises.



This knit has pretty alternating stripes that I managed to match around the body. Though the sleeves match one another they don't match the torso as well as they could, but hey, nobody's perfect.

As usually happens, I bought this fabric on clearance (I think like $4/yd???) with no direct project in mind. I figured I'd make a top, but hadn't picked a pattern. Only later I decided on Simplicity 1325 and discovered that I was a wee bit short on my fabric length; so, I had to piece together one of the sleeves. Can you tell which one??


I even know which one it is - and I can barely tell a difference!

Yep. I am that good. I don't think it's noticeable, and I'm not exactly going to go around announcing to everyone that I had to do this. Except for right now, that is.

And now, for something completely different!

Long-term Project Foreshadowing

It has taken days to cut these pieces. I've been channeling my inner Hallie. Since many of you don't know what I mean by that, here ya go:

My maternal great-grandmother was a seamstress and made many a quilt in her time: her name was Hallie.  She also taught me how to crochet with her 90-year old fingers when I was in elementary school. I think of her every time I make a men's dress shirt, as she worked in a shirt factory for a time.

Anticipating some of her divine intervention during this loooooooooooong project. 



Since I don't think I have the patience to work on just this quilt for straight weeks, it will be in the background while I simultaneously work on other things. I'll post about it periodically.

Just today I've strung together many HST's. Look at me using the lingo. Makes you think I know what I'm doing, doesn't it?