McCalls 6435 - White Ruffled Top

I love dress and top styles with yokes--it's a classic look! Here's Hedy Lamarr in a yoked dress:

On Monday, I made a yoked top with McCalls 6435:

Both styles remind me of the elegant 40s! The sweetheart neckline and the yoke with asymmetry were mainstays of fashion back then! I guess that's why I simply loved this pattern from the first moment I saw it!

I orginally planned to make a sleeveless version of View A, but when it came time to actually cut my fabric, I went with View C instead. It was a better fit for my fabric. Next time, I'll make the version with the sweetheart neckline!

I used a solid white cotton-modal knit for the yoke--it's leftover from another top I made earlier. For the bottom portion, I used a ruffled poly. My top doesn't have a vintage look to it because I used trendy fabric, but my next one will definitely have a vintage vibe to it.

Here's my top:

You can find pre-ruffled fabric in most fabric stores. They've been around for a couple of years and are easy to sew with.

To ensure that the ruffles would line up neatly, I stay stitched them down, pinned them like I would stripes, and then stitched the side seams. It turned out well--everything lined up perfectly!

As is, the ruffles have a shine to them:

I didn't like the shine, so I turned it upside down and ended up with a matte finish. Sometimes, you have to be creative to make it work.

The pattern is drafted well--the pieces fit together perfectly and the sizing was what I expected it to be.

Note, though, that the neckline is quite high on this. What you see on the pattern envelope is what you get.

Up next is the yellow-black-white fitted and flared top from OOP Simplicity 9203--all I have left to do are the buttonholes and the facings.

Make this day a good one!

Vintage McCalls 3978 - Red Eyelet Top #2 - Done!

I had planned to sew the yellow peplum top yesterday, but didn't get to it. It needs to be underlined, and I didn't have any, so it is still sitting in the queue!

I didn't waste any time, though. I used the leftover red eyelet from my last project to make a simple top. It was the logical next project, as I don't like having scraps around and really wanted to use up the leftover fabric. Besides, my serger was already threaded with red thread. :-)

I used a TNT junior pattern from the 60s/70s that I found on ebay a while ago. It is the simplest pattern to sew and only takes around a yard, or slightly less, of 44" wide fabric.

The pattern, McCalls 3978, looks like a one piece dress, but it's actually a top and a skirt:

Because the style is ultra basic, the top is timeless . . . and seasonless! It can be used in any season (with toppers in cooler weather)!

Voila! My second top:

I haven't had any red in my wardrobe in a while! And now I have TWO red tops!!! YAY!

My head is full of possibilities for my next project. Since I still have the red thread on the serger, I thought about sewing a red sarong with Vogue 2372:

And the red hibiscus fabric:

I really should sew more tops first, though, and was also thinking about sewing up the yellow-black-white print in the pic below. The only hangup is that I don't know what to make with it--it's the piece with the orange x in triplicate on it:

When I first bought it waay back when, I saw it as a skirt. I don't want to sew a skirt right now, but I am still seeing it as a skirt. If I try really hard, I can also sort of see it as the sleeveless version of New Look 6104:

What I really like about this top is that it has those wonderful pintucks on the front!

The downside of this pattern is that it starts at a size 10, which is too big for me. I really like the style, so I'm thinking that it might be worth the time it'll take to grade it down to a size 6.

As is usual with me, the hardest thing about sewing is deciding what to make with what!

Oh well, no matter what, I am going to sew something today! I might just sew the aqua silk shantung top next:

I'll be back with whatever I end up working on today!

In the meantime, make this day a good one!!!

McCalls 6308 - White Knit Empire Top

I have had McCalls 6308 in my stash for what seems like forever, and I finally sewed it:

I used a cotton/modal white knit, and shortened the pattern so I could sew it as a top.

I didn't want it to stretch in any way when I wore it, so I eliminated the elastic that the pattern calls for. Instead, I stablized the shoulders, sides, front neckline, and midriff with twill tape. I also underlined the midriff with a woven fabric:

I didn't like the wide shoulders of this style, so I altered it to have cut in shoulders. I also don't like surplice necklines that open, so I raised the neckline by 1 inch:

I'm a proportioned petite, but I took a chance and cut the bodice and midriff as is. The midriff is at my waist, and I am good with that. Because I didn't use any elastic, I added a back zipper. Without the elastic, it was much too loose. Taking it in was easy. I simply pinned it to fit at the sides and sewed it before I attached the bottom.

Since the pattern is for a dress, but I wanted a top, I converted the skirt to a peplum. The finished length of the peplum is 7 1/2 inches. I wanted the style to have a little kick, so I added flowers to the midriff.

I also didn't want to have it falling off my shoulders, which can happen when the back has a low v, so I converted the back v-neckline to a regular one--you can see it in this pic. Here's my fun Summer top:

The flowers have a lot of gathering, so perfection is not required! YAY!

FLOWER EMBELLISHMENT TUTORIAL:

Here's how to make the flowers. First, cut out 3 inch circles:

You don't need to finish the edges, so don't worry about that. To make the gathers, hand stitch across it, like this:

Pull it to gather and tie a knot. Then hand stitch the other way, like this:

Gather it, knot it, and voila--you have a flower. Place the flowers on the garment and pin them down. Pin from the top, then stitch the flowers in place from the underside of the garment.

And voila--you have a nice embellishment!

McCalls 5853 has a template for the flower:

I love my new top!

The pattern is definitely a good one! It fit the way I thought it would, and the pattern pieces fit together perfectly!

Unbelievably, it's part of the McCalls Easy Stitch and Save line! It's easy to overlook patterns in that section of the book, but definitely don't overlook this one!

Make this day a good one!

McCalls 6164 - Knit Top with Edwardian type sleeves

I love that McCalls always has some styles that are not run of the mill seen it a thousand times before designs.

I'm specifically referring to view B (blue top in pic below) of McCalls 6164. As soon as I saw it, I wanted to make a top with those fun sleeves! I want to make the pink one, too, but the blue one had to be first because I wanted to know how those uniquely stylish sleeves would look on me once the top was sewn.





Here is my muslin--it turned out well, but I don't like the print so I am donating it. I don't know if you'll understand this--I think the print is loud, but it's not colorful enough for me. There are too many white flowers in the print.



I'm going to make my good version out of a quality solid colored knit so the style won't be obscured by a print.


Here's some info about how I sewed this:

1) The sleeves remind me of Edwardian styles and even if Edwardian is not in right now, I feel very trendy in this! Note, though, that I brought the sleeeves in a little because I am petite and as is, they would have looked much too wide on me.

2) I am impressed with McCalls for issuing a pattern that has both high and low neckline options. I used the high neckline front and back pieces because I prefer a more modest neckline. It worked out perfectly!

3) I didn't like the original length of the sleeves so I made mine 3/4 length. Perfect!

4) I used a knit with good stretch and recovery--it was muslin fabric because I don't like the print.

5) This was super easy to sew and only took me an hour.

6) All in all, this is a great pattern to work with. It's drafted well and was super easy to sew. It worked well for my figure type.

7) Oh, and I made my usual petite and hourglass adjustments, but that's it.

This is a very unique style, and I like it, so I'm going to definitely make another one out of good fabric that I like.

Enjoy the day!
Em

McCalls 6024 - First Basic Ruffled Wrap Dress

The pattern:







My dress--sleeveless version with ruffles:






Of note--the neckline was too low, but rather than raise it by adjusting the pattern, I decided to leave the neckline as is and attach the bodice ruffle with a medium wide bias band. It worked perfectly.

Enjoy this beautiful day!
Em