Butterick 6232 Morse Dot Sun Top

The renovations to the master bedroom and ensuite are impacting on my sewing or maybe it is the trauma from having to confront the spare bedroom fabric stash and tidy it away.  Whatever the reason it has taken me two weekends to sew this simple top.  I don't have a huge back log of projects like some bloggers do, in fact I barely keep up with one project a week so my ability to maintain the weekly post maybe in serious jeopardy.

Unless of course I get myself organised and take a sewing project to work.  I do have a sewing machine in my work city and it hasn't been out of the luggage cupboard at the hotel in months. Something to aim for, maybe.

The finished garment

The daffodils are out, the lambs are gambolling in the fields and the sun is shining.  To welcome spring here is my new yellow top.

It is another hi lo top and extra long in the back (ends just below my bottom) but for some reason I really like this top.  Unlike my previous few makes where I felt the tops were too long.

The fabric

I managed to buy another Art Gallery Fabrics knit without realising it. This Morse Dot Sun knit came from The Sewing Workshop within the last twelve months - before I had consciously developed my penchant for AGF knits. It wasn't until I looked at the selvedge as I was cutting out that I realised it was from AGF. So I must love their designs as much as the quality of their cotton/spandex knits.

This print is part of the Imprint collection by Katarina Roccella. The Imprint collection is described as a harmonious arrangement of neutral shades and delicately selected colors inspired by Katarina’s printmaking background and linocuts. The essences of Suprematism; square, cross, circle, and defined silhouettes compliment this versatile collection.

The pattern

I don't know where I saw it, but a make by a now unknown sewing blogger immediately made me want  a copy of Butterick See and Sew B6232 which was unfortunately out-of-print. A quick eBay search discovered one for sale - no sooner found than mine! It took a while for the pattern to arrive in New Zealand and a little longer sitting on the kitchen bench giving me the sew me or tidy me away stare before the sew me stare won.

B6232 is described as a fitted top with raised waist, hemline variations and narrow hem. A: Back zipper. B: pullover, wrong side shows (back hemline), back neck slit with hook and eye closing. Stitched hems on sleeves. Purchased bias tape to finish necklines.

This pattern is for woven fabrics (its main point of attraction - well that and the peplum) so I immediately started thinking about making it in a beefy knit after my lack of success using my TNT knit pattern.  I am also going through a yellow phase at the moment possibly because of my Go Taxi flats (or maybe it is the hint of Spring in the air) which clearly identified the fabric to use.

I chose to sew View B in a size 14 based on the finished garment measurements and my TNT woven top (Silhouette Patters #400 Traditional Blouse view 2).  Only the finished bust measurement (printed on the pattern) was relevant to the chosen size as the waist is much larger due to the flare of the peplum. 

The pattern alterations

When I compared B6232 to my TNT pattern a basic problem with the pattern markings was highlighted.  Whilst a lower bust point can be attributed to my aging, I defy anyone to have a bust point to bust point measurement of 4 inches.  On this pattern the bust point is 2 inches in from centre front.  The placement of the waist dart is closer to where the bust point should be.

This leads me to the second problem with the pattern.  The waist dart ends far too close to the bust point.  Any slight error with the sewing would have the end of the dart stopping right on the bust point.

The third problem with this pattern is the proportions of the waist dart, wide and short, which makes it harder to get a smooth point. In my experience it would be better to have a narrower waist dart and remove some of the width from the side seam.  In the interests of authenticity I did not narrow the waist dart but did sew it shorter as my bust is prominent enough without highlighting it with a dart point.  I have now made changes to the pattern for both the dart width and end point just in case I sew it again.

As these patterns are touted as Very Easy and likely to attract beginner sewers I think more care should be taken in their development. It would be very easy for a beginner sewer to get extremely average results from this pattern through no fault of their own.

The other changes I made to the pattern are:

• lowered the bust point to counteract my aforementioned aging
• narrowed the shoulder to the same width as my TNT pattern
• omitted the shoulder dart in the back
• made a 0.5 inch forward shoulder adjustment
• used my TNT woven blouse armhole and sleeve (I couldn't be bothered making the forward shoulder alteration to the B6232 sleeve)
• made a full bust adjustment. Basically just copied the bust dart from my TNT pattern and made the newbie error of not lengthening the top front piece to compensate for the bust dart. 
• put fish eye waist darts in the back for shaping
• removed 1.25 inches from the length of the back to match the (accidentally shorter) front. I didn't remove the length until after I had tried it on and this slightly shorter length looks better than the original so I have made this alteration to the pattern piece

The sewing

The fabric was cut with the greatest amount of stretch going up and down the body.  As I was using a woven pattern I decided I could go with my preference for the dots and dashes to be vertical and ignore the direction of greatest stretch.

As with all of my recent makes a very simple project sewn mainly on the overlocker.  I did sew the darts with my Singer Featherweight just in case I needed to make any alterations rather than sewing them on the overlocker.

This top was made even simpler by the knit fabric because I could omit the hook and eye closure at the back and just overlock the centre back seam from top to bottom.

I used The Sewing Workshop 1/2 inch fusible hem tape before sewing the hem to prevent it stretching out.  The neckline was stay-stitched at 3/8 inch then folded over and stitched.  I cut a neck binding but decided not to use it.

I did have 5/8 inch seam allowances on this garment because I would normally sew it in a woven fabric with French seams.  Still prefer a 3/8 inch seam allowance for knits and think if I sew this pattern again in a knit I will chop off the extra seam allowance before I sew it.  It was really interesting how difficult I found sewing with 5/8 inch seam allowances on the overlocker.  There are a couple of seams that are a bit wonky.  Definitely inserting sleeves, even in the flat, is so much easier with the smaller seam allowance.

As predicted in the pattern alteration section getting a smooth end to the waist darts is almost impossible as can be seen here.  I didn't think they looked too bad until I saw the photographic evidence, and they are sufficiently bad for me to unpick and re-sew.

Outfit of the day

I wore this top to go shopping for lights and flooring.  As a treat we had lunch in our favourite cafe at the Mediterranean Food Company and my photographer captured desert time. This time eating passion fruit tart with raspberry mascarpone.

Here is a photo from a previous visit in June of my apple frangipani tart - an absolute work of art.

Anyway back to the outfit, here is my top with yet another pair of Andrea Moore skinny pants and my Trippen navy Klee shoes, posing in front of the blossoming Almond tree.

Style Arc Flat Bottom Flo Silver Stripe Pants

As expected my chances of producing another pair of pants was greatly increased by choosing a fabric that could be worn immediately rather than in a few months time when the sun is shining and it is appropriate to wear white pants.  I still want to make the white pants but it won't happen immediately as the fabric is now stored away in a plastic container whilst our bedroom is being renovated.

The bed in the spare room where we are now sleeping was home to quite a few piles of fabric. In fact there was enough fabric on the bed for me to be too embarrassed to take a photograph of it. In order for us to be able to sleep in the bed I had to tidy the fabric away into plastic storage containers - six 60 litre containers to be exact. Oops.

Back to the trousers I thought when I made the white ones that they fit really well apart from a twist in the leg where I had ignored keeping them on grain when I narrowed the leg.  So I made minimal changes to the pattern for the Silver Stripe version but did take note of the fabric grain, at least to begin with.

The finished garment

I really like these pants, the fabric I used is just great for this pattern. Pity it is a hundred years old or I would buy some more to make an improved version of these trousers.

The fabric

This fabric was bought in the early 2000s to make a straight skirt.  I had purchased a ready-made Lisa Law skirt with an elastic waist at great expense so when I saw similar fabric in Fabric Vision I bought it in three different designs.  Two were made into skirts. The third piece was put away just sitting there waiting to be used for a pair of Style Arc Flat Bottom Flo pants, long after its sister skirts had departed the wardrobe.

The pattern

The Flat Bottom Flo pant is described by Style Arc as "Every butt has a different shape! This stretch pull on pant is for those with a flatter bottom. The back side seam comes to the front giving this slightly narrow legged pant a slimming look and the back yoke adds to this flattering shape."

The pattern alterations

Based on the first version of these pants I altered the pattern (not the half sewn garment) for a more narrow legged shape.  As the back pattern piece is so much larger than the front (the back wraps around to the front at the outside seam) I narrowed the back pattern piece more than the front.  I needed to remove 4 inches at the hem to get the same leg width as my favourite skinny trousers.  To achieve this I took 1.5 inches from each side on the back piece and 0.5 inch from each side of the front piece as you can see in the photographs below.  This kept both the front and back leg pattern pieces on grain.  I also raised the markings for the back pocket 1.5 inches on the back pattern piece and that seems to have done the trick. The pockets are in a much better position now.

These were the only alterations I made to the pattern before sewing my silver stripe version - worn with the red booties in the photographs above.

When I tried the silver stripe pants on there was a large amount of fabric underneath my bottom, which I didn't notice in my white pants.  By taking a two inch wide dart at the outside seam at the top of the thigh tapering to nothing in the inseam I could remove the extra fabric. I will make this alteration to the pattern for the next time I make them but I thought there was nothing I could do with the silver stripe version.  Then I had a eureka moment.  Fehr Trade had made a pair of jeans suitable for cycling by putting darts in the front leg at the inside and outside seam. What if I just made a large dart at the knee - that would remove the extra fabric and they might still be wearable. So that is what I did.

I drew a horizontal line at the knee, measured one inch above it at the outside seam tapering to nothing at the inside seam as in the photograph below.  I then folded the bottom of the leg into the top part at the horizontal line and sewed the large dart around the back and front pant leg. Once pressed I top stitched the dart in place using a black thread.  You can't really see the dart in my finished trousers, even with the stripes not matching up.

In the finished garment pictures the ones with the red booties have the narrowed legs and the ones with the yellow shoes include the knee dart.  I think the wrinkles behind my knee in the yellow shoe photographs are because the dart moved the fabric off grain again.  To be honest in the photographs (lightened to show more detail) there seem to be as many wrinkles in the knee dart version as the original silver stripe version.

The sewing

The sewing was very straight forward and the minimalist Style Arc instructions were not needed. The seams are overlocked.  The back pocket is made and then top stitched to the pants.  The cotton used for the front pockets stops the stretch fabric from distorting too much to accommodate an expanding tummy.

From the Sweet Bubble knit fabric I made a long 1.5 inch wide strip to use as a binding to cover the raw edge of the waistband.  The elastic and garment were marked in quarters, matching these quarter marks the elastic was put in the waistband then the waistband folded down, and stitched in the ditch from the right side.

Outfit of the day 1

In their original incarnation Flat Bottom Flo Silver Stripe pants worn with Silhouette Patterns #312 Giorgio's Top and United Nude Zen Mid in Merlot booties.

Outfit of the day 2

So after I had made the dart in the pants at the knee they were worn with a David Pond Oasis spotty tee and Kate Spade Go Taxi flats.

The photographer was trying to get me to relax and here is the resulting out-take.  Apparently I was bowing deeply - obviously in homage to the photographer.