Boxing with Kate




A boxy pattern for a boxy top.

I bought this fabric over a year ago from the remnant table at Fabulous Fabrics when they still had a store in the city. For some reason it was marked acrylic but the staff member in the shop told me it would soften up a lot after pre-washing. It didn't but once I got it home I noticed the selvage which said it was in face an Art Gallery fabrics print in 100 per cent cotton.

To be honest it's the kind of thing I wouldn't buy anymore. I've learned over the past year that I am easily seduced by pretty prints in shops, I really prefer to sew and wear plain fabrics or small prints like stripes or checks.

Anyway, I had it and I knew with that dizzying design I needed a really simple pattern. Then last month Tessuti came out with their Kate Top, plus an instagram competition to win one of their vouchers, and I decided it was perfect for the print and the right time  to sew it up.


The Kate top comes in two views, scoop-necked and more of a boat neck-line, bias bound neck and arm-holes and a side-split detail at the hem.

I made the higher necked version, and having never sewn a Tessuti pattern I played it safe and made a size medium. According to my measurements I could perhaps have gone for a small but I recently had a (yet to be blogged) unfortunate sizing experience with another project and decided I couldn't face another too-small project.


I also knew this would look okay a bit loose, so off I went.

This was pretty easy to make. The instructions are good - with full colour photos of each step in the pdf instructions. I like the details with creating the split hem, which is easy to follow and ends up very neat inside. This version is supposed to have a keyhole opening at the back neck but I found this fit over my head without it so I skipped that.

They have you stablise the neckline and armholes with tear-away vilene, not a product I had every used or heard of before, but I bought it, sewed it on and then tore it away and it seemed to go without a hitch. I might try harder to keep it out of the shoulder seams next time as it is still embedded there, but it's barely visible.

The neck and arms are bound with the bias binding visible. I was at Tessuti in Melbourne last week and while I didn't buy any fabric, I did buy a little bias-binding folding gadget which was very satisfying to use. The fabric was perfect for cutting with its diagonal printed lines.




The fabric has very little drape, but it feels very comfortable. I'm keen to make a smaller sized one in a slinkier fabric.

All up it took me about 3 hours to make, and then I wore it to work this morning, because I needed someone to take pictures.



Pictures are becoming a bit of a problem for me and this blog. I started it because I read sewing blogs and I like looking at pictures of made up versions of patterns I'm interested in, but I find it hard to un-self-consciously take photos of myself.



Anyway, I asked someone at work and after laughing and asking 'what kind of competition can you enter for sewing something? Is is like the Royal Show' she kindly snapped these for me in front of this lovely tiled wall outside the office. I

This is where she told me to get into the spirit and go 'full Zoolander'....




Details:

Size: M
Fabric:  Art Gallery fabrics 100% cotton called Minimalista - remnant from Fabulous Fabrics.
Cost: $10 (I think)

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