From the age of 7 it was my job to sew on buttons and repair hems at home. I was more or less left to get on with it without any instructions. Luckily my primary school was unusual in that boys and girls were taught to sew from a very early age. So I grew up knowing how to sew. I enjoy it and have definitely got my money's worth from my old sewing machine.
I saw a posting by Julie on the Mack and Mabel blog which talked about a free sewing pattern for a simple vest top. Here's the pattern for the Sorbetto Top. I can recommend it highly. I especially liked the way the bias binding is attached to the neck and arm holes. It was very simple and is now my preferred method of attaching bias binding to anything that needs it.
As you may know, I am very frugal. I managed to find a massive piece of burgundy material in a charity shop for £1.99. I started by making the blouse exactly as the pattern required. I knew it was going to be too short. But I wanted to see whether it would fit nicely and whether I could manage the bias binding. Julie mentioned that it is a flattering shape and she was right. It even drew unsolicited compliments from Hubby which is extremely rare! Somewhere on the pattern it mentions making the bigger size if you are between sizes. That's what I did and I'm pleased with the result.
So the blouse on the left will really only be worn under a cardy or v-neck jumper. I was happy otherwise, so I added 3" to the pattern pieces and made the second burgundy blouse. As that was a success, i found another charity shop bargain and made the navy blue polka dot blouse. These last 2 blouses look lovely as tunics over trousers.
I still have lots of burgundy material left. I made myself a simple neck scarf and still have enough left for a little girl's dress.
This is a simple pattern just requiring 2 pieces of material and some bias binding. In fact the only fiddly part was printing off the pattern and joining the pages together. But now that is done I have filed the pattern away carefully. I can see myself making this again and again.
Very nice Una! I like the tunic idea, I suppose it would be easy to make them as long as you like and wear them over leggings, I'm putting the pattern on my to do list. :)
ReplyDeleteI just added the extra length to the hemline. But if I wanted even more inches I would add them at the waistline. Otherwise the tunic might end up looking a bit like a Christmas tree. Don't forget to blog if you make the top. I love looking at different versions of it.
ReplyDeleteI'm so pleased you liked the pattern. I agree about adding to the length. For me, it was fine - I'm really, short, but I'm helping my son's girlfriend make one and we've had to add as much to the length as the fabric we had would allow. It's stilla great pattern though!
ReplyDeleteVery nice! I really need to give sewing a second chance. I keep seeing such nice things people have done. My problem is I am self-taught, and while that worked with knitting it didn't so much with the sewing.
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