New Look 6807

Have you seen Sunni's recent post about her Everyday Wardrobe game plan? She's starting with a NWG (Never Worn Garment) and making a few things to make it a wardrobe player. I think this is a great concept and I actually have my own NWG that has needed a top for some time. It is this skirt, and while I know it is a little wild, it is really comfortable and I love it for summer. I even had a length of rayon jersey that I bought with this skirt in mind.

So I whipped out New Look 6807 and made a basic raglan sleeved peasant style top.

I've made this pattern before here, but this time I made a few minor modifications. This first top pulls up a little over the bust with wear, so I gave myself just a smidge more room in the bust by just adding to the side seam of the front and easing it in to the back.

In the last version, I put a circular cutout in the back, which had a center back seam. For this one, I wanted a very basic garment, so I omitted the keyhole and cut the back on the fold. The original gathering was in two pieces on either side of the back seam, so I consolidated the gathers at center back.

As with the last version, I bound the neckline with my coverstitch machine and elasticated the sleeves. I gathered the front and back with clear elastic prior to attaching the binding. The neckline on the last version is  fine, but I preferred a higher one for this, so I just gathered the front and back a bit more. It wasn't much, but it makes this top a little less fussy to wear.

I think it works with my skirt, but will also be great with jeans. I think it will dress up well with a nicer skirt and a belt or blazer. Now I just need to consider accessories. I think I need some new shoes...

New Look 6807

This top is piece #2 in the dress avoidance series.

The pattern is New Look 6807, which has also been hanging out a while, waiting to be sewn. I have a lot of patterns, y'all. Anyway, this one is a very simple peasant style top with some gathering at the neckline and a tie at the back neck. 

The fabric is so fun. It is a Trendy Knit from FabricMart, purchased last summer. It is a rayon-lycra blend, very similar in quality to the ikat print I made the Butterick top out of. The bright colors and the tropical print reminded me so much of Shannon and the beautiful prints she often sews. It is very lightweight and curly though, so in order to get it to feed nicely through the binder on the coverstitch machine, I lightly interfaced my binding strips with Pro-Sheer Elegance. It perfectly tamed the curl while preserving the stretch and light weight of the knit.

Instead of a slit with ties in back, I decided to make a large circular keyhole for a bit of back interest. My hair is so long, that my tops tend to be "coffin clothes" (cute in front, boring in back), but between the keyhole in Bre's gown, to Trena's fabulous triangle back sheath, and Shannon's version of Butterick 3028, I needed some back interest in my life. All I did to make it happen was to cut a half circle out of the pattern at center back, starting at the neckline and going down to the pattern marking for the slit. I bound the cutout with my coverstitch machine, then caught the free edges of the circle (at the neckline) into the neckline binding (also done on the coverstitch).

Other than that, this top is super simple to sew, but the sizing is out of the ball park, even for the Big 4. I generally sew a 10 or 12 in Big 4 knit tops, but for this, I cut an 8, but then took 4 inches out at the waist. The neckline is quite low and open. There is a 3/8 seam allowance for the binding, but since I used my coverstitch to bind, I could have removed it. I left it on as my cheater way to raise the neckline. It worked, but only just. Any lower and I would be flashing the world. No FBA was needed, as the gathers in front provide plenty of room for the girls, and I prefer a bit of negative ease in a knit top.

Ok, one more knit top, then I'll cut out my dress, promise!