Kwik Sew 3616
My sewing mojo has been screaming at me. My red dress is done and was a huge success (note to self, post photo's and review of red dress because it's not here...oops). Apparently, if you make a solid red dress, you get very noticed! I love the dress, and will post a photo after Easter.
I wish I could say what I'm sewing up now is an Easter dress. It's not. I wish that I could tell you I whipped up something cute for my pre-teen daughter. I didn't. Instead, I decided to cut out something I knew I could finish in an evening. So KS 3616 was an easy choice. I bought some lovely purple knit fabric from fabric.com last month. Spring is definitely here in Texas, and the need for cool light weight tops is a must! Hard to believe last month we were in the 30's at night, and now we're lucky if it drops below 77.
The knit fabric I chose doesn't have a huge amount of stretch. Since the pattern only called for 35%, I think it was a good choice. I decided to make view B. Let's start with the inspiration top vs. the pattern.
Inspiration:
First of all, I have no idea where it came from. Yes, that's horrible. I have this huge file of things I see and like. Sometimes they're from web sites (I love Anthropology for inspiration since I could never justify their prices...). This one though, I "think" is from another pattern company. If anyone recognizes it, please feel free to holler! I say think, because I'm usually good about tagging them and categorizing the clips. This one I did not. But enough of that. Suffice it to say, there are many things I like about this particular top, particularly the gathers at the shoulder.
So view B reminds me a lot of the inspiration (how I would have adored to have found the fabric from the inspiration top, but I digress) Working in an office, we can't have sleeveless shirts. Huge no no. This kimono style sleeve will work just fine though because it comes past my shoulder bone (yes, that's how it's written in my work manual for dress code). I'm not liking the buttons or the loops that the pattern calls for, so I'm eliminating them. It just makes the top too casual, so I'll save it for a later version. Other changes I've already made were to lengthen the top by 2". KS tops are always too short for me. Also, other reviewers noted that the bust line should be lowered. I have a high bust line though, so this is not usually an alteration I need with KS (although I have plenty of fabric should I need to re-cut after trying it on).
Everything is cut and ready to sew. I wish I had made the facing a little larger, as Sandra Betzina advises in her book Power Sewing, but I'll see how it works, and for future shirts, I'll notate on the pattern if needed.
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