Tropical Stripes

Last month I bought a few pieces of nice summer fabric in order to make some new T-shirts and blouses for Gaby. We expect her next week for the Orthodox Easter and I was hoping to welcome her with a whole new spring wardrobe. 

As it happened, I wasn't productive at all last month and I only managed to sew one of the fabrics - cotton viscose knit in bright tropical stripes. 

The pattern is a Burda T-shirt pattern with interesting sleeves I bought last year, but never actually made. The pattern is a version of my favourite Burda 6820 (I compared the pattern pieces), the only mods they've made to their original pattern are a bit wider neckline and the cherry of the cake - the sleeves.

As I like the form of the neckline of 6820 better, I actually used my true and tried pattern pieces for the front and the back of Burda 6820 and only the sleeves from Burda 119 07/2019.

 

Pattern: Burda 6820 + Burda 119 07/2019

Size: 36, with corrections

Fabric: striped cotton-viscose knit

Time to make: 2 days

The blouse came out nice and cheery, I hope Gaby will wear it this summer; I can already see it with a few bottoms I know she has in her summer wardrobe that would match the colors of the blouse perfectly.

Striped Longsleeve

My latest make - another hybrid blouse.

Last year in their September issue Burda released a boatneck pattern and I watched it eagerly for almost two months, until I caught a sale and bought it. Unfortunately the pattern didn't live up to the hype - in reality it was somewhat shapeless and the arm opening was much wider than the sleeve circumference - a definite no-no in pattern making. I made the blouse, making corrections in the process, but was dissatisfied with the design.

So, when I bought this soft drape cotton-viscose striped knit fabric, I knew I wanted a boatneck fitted tee, something similar to my favourite Schkatulka tees or the tried-and-true Burda 6820 basic fitted tee, but with a twist - the boatneck design element from the 09/2021 issue.

And thus this hybrid blouse was born - the body up to the armholes and the sleeves are from Burda 6820, and the parts above the armholes of the front and the back are from the #102 09/2021, with the necessary corrections in width, so that the armholes would fit the 6820 sleeves. 

How about stripe matching! :)))

When I cut the body of the 6820, I added 1.5 cm seam allowances, but took off only 0.8 cm on the overlocker, so the body is a bit more relaxed than the usual fit of the 6820 for size 36. I also added 3 cm to the width of the sleeves at the cuffs, so that the sleeves are not so fitted and I can pull them up easily on a warm spring/autumn day.

 

Pattern: Burda 6820 + Burda 102 09/2021

Size: 36, with corrections

Fabric: striped cotton-viscose knit

Time to make: 3 days

As, with my first make of this pattern, I sewed fixed the overlap at the shoulders - the open shoulder didn't sit well at all, but the fixed closure is comfortable and makes the T-shirt just a little bit more unusual than a simple store-bought sailor t-shirt.

Now that I have this boatneck pattern out of my system, I can move on to other T-shirt designs.

Striped Longsleeve

I love sewing T-shirts and longsleeves and luckily they are always in demand :)

This is my latest make for Gaby - a striped longsleeve. The pattern is a true and tried Burda basic tee 6820, with a few minor modifications.

Because the blouse is not made for me, the sleeves are a bit longer on me and it is a bit narrow around the bust - I hope it will fit Gaby better, as I've made it following her measurements and not mine; I'm just demonstrating it here with a few quick photos.

The pattern is very simple and if it wasn't for the stripes, one could make it with closed eyes. To ensure perfect matching of my stripes, I cut the back and then laid the cut piece on the fabric and traced the side seams, so that the stripes under the armholes would match perfectly. For the sleeves, I cut one of them and then similarly traced the other one, using the first as a pattern, to ensure that the stripes would be situated identically. I'm really happy with how my stripes were matched on this T-shirt.

The only new and interesting feature of this longsleeve is the neckline - I decided to try an interfaced neckline. I traced the neck of the front and the back, cut the pieces an inch wide, attached the interfacing to the neck and then sewed it down to fix it. I saw this idea on TomKat Stitchery's channel and I loved it! It is especially relevant for striped blouses, as it allows you to preserve the clean line of the stripes around the neck.

I have another Burda pattern - Top #117 from Burdastyle 07/2019, which I bought recently, but still haven't made. It turned to be actually absolutely identical to Burda 6820, apart from the interesting short sleeve detail and the wider neckline. There the neckline is also finished with an interfacing, only the pattern does not suggest sewing the interfacing down to the blouse, but I find this last step crucial, otherwise the interfacing would keep moving and poking.

Pattern: Burda 6820

Size: 36

Fabric: heavy cotton knit

Time to make: 2 days

Make That Look: Zara Boat neck Top

My latest make for Gaby - an imitation of a Zara boat neck top we both have. I bought a piece of T-shirt cotton knit with navy blue and white stripes and of course the logical pattern for it was a boat neck top. I found plenty of useful tips on youtube on how to turn a crew neck pattern into a boat neck top, so i started with my Shkatulka tee pattern, modified the neckline and extended the sleeves to 3/4 length.

In order to match the stripes and make the shirt perfectly symmetrical, I cut two pieces of each front and back paper pattern, glued them together and drafted and cut the pattern pieces flat in a single layer. Even working in this manner I had to fix and align each individual stripe. From the constant movement of the fabric it was evident that if I had opted to cut the T-shirt pieces on the fold, as one usually does, the pattern placement would have been a disaster. It did take a lot of time to cut the pattern, but it was totally worth it!

The boat neck  - I watched half a dozen videos on finishing the boat neck and neither provided useful tips for the kind of finishing I was looking for - fully covered neckline and shoulders. So I had to figure it out myself. First I cut a band of navy blue cotton jersey and finished the neckline of the back. Then I stitched a longer band of the same jersey to the neckline and the shoulders of the front. Then I attached the shoulders of the back to the front. Then I folded the band to cover the front neckline and both shoulders. Finally I stitched flat the covered shoulders to the back. Et voilà - a perfect covered boat neck and shoulders!

And here's my own label, discretely attached to the back of the T-shirt.

Stripe-matching - that's another story :) I sewed all the side seams on the overlocker, carefully pinning together every other dark stripe, to ensure as accurate matching as possible. 

Pattern: Boat Neck Top, modified Shkatulka top

Size: 42, reduced to 40 (equivalent to EU 34, xs)

Fabric: 100% cotton knit

Thread: polyester, white and navy blue

Time to make: 2 days

The hems are finished first on the overlocker and then folded, ironed and hemmed on the sewing machine with white thread and double needle.

The view of the back

Karen Millen Inspired Cardigan

Pattern: Karen Millen Cardigan (personal pattern, inspired by RTW design)
Yarn: Alize Cashmira 100% wool, white, black and a very small quantity of red, 300 g total
Needle: 3,5 mm rib, 4 mm body
Time to knit: appr. three weeks with breaks

Gaby wanted a simple cardigan for school and liked the unostentatious and elegant geometric design of this Karen Millen block striped cardigan. I had my doubts in the course of knitting, actually at one point I was about to abandon the pattern altogether and to knit the Drops stranded cardigan that I used for the hat pattern. But now, that I see it done and worn, I'm glad I finished it and Gaby really likes it. This is how she wore it today to school (not exactly how I had planned this photosession, I would have preferred black jeans and a black top under the cardigan :)

Pictures taken in front of my Alma mater - Sofia University, today on her way back from school.