A Finished Top and Other Things

Today I finished the wrap top for Simplicity 4074. Hmmm...a few things about this top. The fabric...it sucks! Rarely do I use that word, but I hate the purple polyester matte jersey from Joann's purchased about 2 years ago. It doesn't hold a press, don't know why I bought it (it's not a particularly attractive color on me as it is too dark), and it just doesn't feel that nice. Kind of a flimsy feel. I like my knits to feel "substantial" for lack of a better word. It's flimsy enough to show wrinkles where there might not be in another type of knit fabric.


Here's the finished front which still needs another pressing. I'm kind of at a why-bother stage with that because it won't hold a press.



Here's a pic of the back. It doesn't look too bad on my dress form but...


...when it's on me I get the dreaded "X" draglines that look like this on a muslin suit I made a while back shown here:


I know why this happens. A CB seam doesn't work for me at all. My spine is fairly straight. My curves are my chicken bone shoulder blades going into my small curvy back. I would do just fine without a CB seam BUT WITH princess seams. Or a CB seam AND princess seams. Just not a CB seam alone. The more I curve a CB seam to the small of my back, the more pronounced the X draglines become. I see a bit of this on my purple top. So when I make this again (will likely be a dress), I will create princess seams for the back and possibly eliminate the CB seam.


Another thing about this top. I did my usual alterations and used a 10 (neck/shoulders) morphing to a 14 from upper bust down. Surprise, surprise! This dress runs large IMO. I had a lot of excess fabric from the front princess seam at the upper bust area to my full bust and had to take the princess seams in 3/4" on both sides. This has never happened to me before! I will even need to remove some fabric from the front armhole area on the bodice too. There's just way too much--another first for me. Even the model in the solid color dress appears to have a little too much. The model in the print fabric doesn't seam to have it but she's not standing straight. The arm is up which is pulling the fabric up and back. At least I'm getting the same wrinkles as she is on the dress front though. No more, no less.


Thankfully this is just a muslin top in crummy polyester. It's just "okay".


Here's some good news. I received my Wazoodle order of blue and grey microfleece. This fabric will become monogrammed scarves for my daughters' friends for Christmas presents. Last year it was monogrammed pillowcases, this year the scarves.



The fleece feels so good today! The upper tier of the Poconos received up to 18" of snow! We received nothing. Just wet flakes with no accumulation. Days like this make me want to pull out my Green Pepper pullover pattern and whip up some cozy fleece tops.


Okay, I'm being bumped from the computer now. Anyway, I have to fix a RTW top for DD#2 for a Field Hockey banquet on Sunday.