Saturday, August 31, 2013

Vogue 1310: So this is what they mean

. . . when they say working with silk charmeuse can be a challenge. It was tricky to cut out, and sewing a decent seam took total concentration. Most of all, though, as the judges love to point out on Project Runway, charmeuse highlights every imperfection in the final garment.



This is the top from Vogue 1310, a Chado Ralph Rucci design. The minimalist simplicity (or apparent simplicity anyway!) of this top pushed all my buttons.

A note on the fabric requirement: When I went fabric shopping in NYC a couple of weeks ago, my list said that this top needed 2 1/4 yards of 60" fabric, and I felt certain I had noted it down wrong. For a simple sleeveless top? I bought 2 yards of 45" fabric. Of course, it turns out that the top is cut on the bias and self-lined, and it does take that much fabric. I wanted to keep the self-lining, so I experimented and found that shortening the top by 2 inches made it so I could fit everything on the fabric I had. The shorter length seems fine in the finished top. The hem does flare out a little more than I would like, but I suspect this is from my inexperience with charmeuse and with fabric cut on the bias, so that I unintentionally stretched the fabric while hemming it. Here it is untucked:






Sewing on this fabric was especially difficult because the bottom of my presser foot looks like this:
Can you see that pieces of the finish have peeled off? No, no, no. Not the way to sew with charmeuse. I pushed on through, so to speak, but I also finally ordered a new #1 foot, along with an invisible zipper foot, which was not easy to find for my old-style mechanical Bernina.



Considering that the pattern has only two main pieces (plus two for interfacing), this top was surprisingly labor intensive. Basting sew-in interfacing (silk organza) in place, basting twill tape to the neckline and armhole edges to stabilize them, understitching the lining by hand, and basting the hems of the shell and lining, all on this very slippery fabric, meant that I spent more time than expected with needle and thread in hand. I actually like hand sewing -- just didn't realize there would be so much of it.



I'm not thrilled with the results I got with the stabilizing twill tape. I stitched the 1/4" tape right down its center over the seamline when stitching the shell and lining together at the neckline and armholes, as the instructions say to do. As I feared, though, this meant that when I turned the lining to the inside and pressed it, I had to either press the twill tape in half lengthwise (hard to do and looks bulky), or let the shell project 1/8" past the lining, which means there is an excess of lining fabric in the shoulders. Maybe it would work better to stitch along one edge of the tape rather than down its center? Also, curving the twill tape to fit the curve of the seam made the tape try to stand up on its edge, for lack of a better description. Just not at all convinced I did this part right. The armholes in particular came out a bit wonky. If I make this up again, I'll make the armholes bigger, too, since I don't have twig arms like the model on the pattern envelope.


















And there we are: another piece of clothing for my life in rural New Hampshire ;-)




Pattern review is here.




Book notes: Trying to read more novels that have come out recently, instead of lagging behind by at least 10 years as often happens. I'm well into A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan just now, and I'm finding it moving, surprising, and delightful.

11 comments:

  1. Your top is absolutely lovely. I adore silk charmeuse; it's incredibly beautiful against the skin :)

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  2. Not sure what happened... I tried to comment from my Ipad.
    Sewing feet:I have a Bernina 1008 and I lost all my snap on feet that came with it. Sewingpartsonline.com has an adapter that you can buy that allows you to use universal feet. It was a steal and I have not had a single issue with the non Bernina feet.
    Stay tape: I use the selvedge of my fabrics as stay tape when I can. You are using the same fabric so the drape is a bit better and it matches your fabric exactly. If you pink close to border edge (not on), the pinking edge will also smooth the transition between the layers

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    1. Thanks for trying again, Rose, and for your helpful tips. I will definitely look into sewingpartsonline.

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  3. Hiya
    That top looks lovely, as if it were bought in a shop! You should be well chuffed with your efforts. I also like the charcoal grey colour you picked. It goes with practically everything.

    I've just finished reading this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Citadel-Kate-Mosse/dp/140912083X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1379149254&sr=1-1&keywords=kate+mosse it's a chunky book, but quite engrossing. Kinda hated getting to my stop on the tube each morning as it meant I had to put the book down.

    Re jackets (and your post below) have you seen this blog? http://www.achallengingsew.typepad.com/ I shall be paying attention and making a jacket, but not making it in blog time.

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    1. Thanks for your kind words about my top, Claire. One of these days I will make it up again using the fabric selvedge for stabilizing. And it's always fun to hear about the books that other readers are enjoying. Thanks, too, for pointing me to the Little French Jacket sew-along. Not sure I should take on such a big project, but I'm tempted: the timetable looks generous, and it would be a great learning experience. If you do make a jacket, please let me know how it goes!

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    2. Claire, just a follow-up to let you know that, thanks to your pointer, I'm participating in the Little French Jacket sew-along. It is very humanely paced -- not rushing me beyond my endurance by any means -- and I am greatly enjoying and learning from it.

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  4. Your top is really lovely, I think the Project Runway judges would be hard pressed to find any flaws with it :)

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    1. Thank you, Zoë! Your blog looks delightful -- fun to see your young, energetic perspective.

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  5. I love this top and am so glad to read all of your adventures with it as (belatedly), it's on my 'to sew soon' list - I really love the colour silk you chose & will be taking your (& Rose's) notes, esp. on using selvages to heart ;)

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    1. Glad to hear it! I really like this pattern. If my version had come out just that little bit better than it did, I would be wearing it for every special occasion. I look forward to seeing yours.

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