Style Arc Palermo Jacket Take Two - The Red Plaid

My wardrobe has been in need of a red cardigan for some time as I mislaid my red knitted shrug and the long Fjord Cardigan I made in early 2019 was donated due to the scratchy fabric. Enter the Style Arc Palermo knit jacket and a smallish cut of a red plaid woven wool/alpaca coating weight fabric. The idea came to me as I was nodding off to sleep on Friday and by Sunday evening the jacket was made. It then took me five weeks to write this blog post. In my defence it is Christmas and there is a lot going on!!

The finished garment

Here is the weekend version of the Palermo Red Plaid jacket worn with WORLD Cut Make Trim Mayrose tee, Andrea Moore Boyfriend jeans and P448 Skate Pailettes Stroil Sneakers. Loved it so much I coordinated my Saturday outfit to go with it, even after wearing it all week.

Having no stretch in the fabric does make it a bit less mobile than the first version but I don't find it bothersome and am really happy with how this turned out. Especially as despite not being able to do any plaid matching it came out in a very pleasing way - no jarring points to make the sewist's eye twitch.

With its red silk lining it feels super luxurious and no scratchiness from the wool fabric. The bottom picture shows the small box pleat added to the lining for ease of movement.

The fabric

This fabric was bought for a different pattern the Diane Ericson French Fold Shrug but the making never quite happened. Then I thought it would be a Papercut Patterns Fjord Cardi but I couldn't get the lines of the plaid to match and had very little fabric to play with having only purchased 1.2 metres so the project was abandoned. Third time lucky was the idea of making the Style Arc Palermo Knit Jacket.

The red plaid is a wool alpaca blend coating fabric and the lining is a lovely silk twill (allegedly a Marc Jacobs fabric). Both were from The Fabric Store last Winter.

The pattern

Style Arc describe the pattern as "perfect if you are taking it easy and looking for ultimate comfort without sacrificing your style. The Palermo Jacket features interesting design lines, that are surprisingly created with only two pattern pieces! The relaxed look contours the neck and sits just below the waist. A shrug style jacket featuring long sleeves, neck hugging collar and interesting design lines."

Suggested fabrics are: sweater knit or any fabric with slight stretch and drape. The wool alpaca mix woven coating fabric chosen for this version has nice drape but no stretch. The combination of the coating fabric and lining do make this more jacket like than shrug.

The pattern card

The pattern alterations

There were two improvements that I identified after making the first Palermo jacket: (1) the sleeves at the hem were a bit tight; (2) for a 1" hem some extra fabric was needed at the side seam hem edge in order to have enough fabric to lay flat when turned up.

For the sleeves I looked at the original pattern and decided to curve the sleeves out from the size 6 at marking B to size 12 at the hem. This gave me an extra ½" on both sides. As I was using a 1" hem I ensured the sleeve seam was the same width for 2" up from the hem. Altering the sleeve curve was easy laying the French curve next to the pattern at point B and at the size 12 point 2" up from the hem.

Back pattern piece with sleeves curved out to size 12 at the hem

To get the extra width at the hem on the front side seam I measured out 1" at the hem edge and laid the French curve on the pattern at the side seam and curved out to the extended hem edge. The curve makes the addition measure 1" at the side seam. If I had done a diagonal line it would have been more than 1" and the front and back side seams wouldn't have matched.

Front pattern piece with extra 1" at side seam hem cut edge

As I used a wool alpaca coating the jacket needed to be lined. For the back lining I used the same pattern piece as for the back jacket but with the pattern centre back fold 1" in from the folded edge of the fabric providing an extra 2" of fabric for a box pleat. For the front I cut a new lining piece removing the facing (minus seam allowance)

The sewing

As mentioned the first time I made this as long as you carefully mark the A, B, C notations (with snips in the fabric) Style Arc's assessment of this jacket as an easy make is appropriate. As I was intending to line the jacket all seams were sewn with a straight stitch on the Bernina 830. As an aside having owned the Bernina 830 since January 2012 I think I am finally comfortable with it. At long last I understand how to thread the bobbin and even the recent bit of machine embroidery I did turned out better than it ever has before.

I still used the Style Arc instructions with their informative little diagrams to make sure the right bits were being sewn together. As ever with a pattern with interesting shapes it is easy to confuse which bit is what and not sew the correct parts together.

Once again there were three instances where I didn't follow the instructions:

• After the side seam was sewn I sewed the centre back collar seam together. Then I folded the sleeves in half and sewed from the right sleeve hem up the arm, round the back neck edge down the left arm to the hem in one continuous seam.
• When I attached the shawl collar to the back neck edge I didn't sew in the outer fabric facing. The entire facing (front opening and collar) were sewn to the lining at the end.
• Hem depth was increased to 1" for sleeves and garment body

To sew the facing to the garment body at the hem, the seam allowance on the facing was folded in, then with right sides of the fabric together the facing was sewn to the garment body with a 1 inch seam allowance to match the hem depth. The garment was then turned right sides out without trimming the seam allowance. I was first introduced to this idea by Louise Cutting who advocates this as the way to get a sharp square corner (which I did).

For the jacket lining I created a box pleat at centre back (sewn for a couple of inches at the neck edge and hem) for ease of movement.

The outer jacket and lining were both made in their entirety, apart from sewing the facing and hems. The hems (sleeve and body) of the jacket outer were turned up and pressed in place before the lining was attached, as it is easier to do at this stage than after the lining has been sewn in. 

The lining was pinned to the garment body at the facing but before sewing it I sewed the bottom hems of the outer and lining together for a couple of inches using a ⅜" seam allowance. Then I could sew the lining to the facing by machine without any hand stitching.

The lining arm was stuffed down the outer arm and pinned at the seam. This ensures that the arm is not twisted when the hems are sewn together. Turn sleeves wrong side out through the hem opening, pull the sleeves apart so they are facing each other - joined at the seam by the pin. Remove the pin, roll lining so wrong side is out and re-pin just to make sure you are not twisting the sleeve as you line up the raw edges of jacket and lining sleeve hems. Sew with a ⅜" seam allowance. Pull the jacket outer sleeve sight sides out and the lining will follow. Because the sleeve hem had already been pressed in place the sleeves are now finished.

Turn the jacket outer and lining body right sides together and pin together at the hem. The sleeves will be inside between the right sides of the outer jacket and lining body. Sew together with a ⅜" seam allowance, leaving an opening at centre back large enough for the jacket to be pulled through to turn right side out. That small opening at centre back is the only bit of the jacket that needs to be hand sewn (with a fell stitch). I didn't need to stitch the garment hem to the body as you normally would, it stays in place just sewn to the lining.

Once the jacket and lining were turned right sides out I sewed them together at the back neck edge. The seams of the back neck edge were carefully aligned (outer and lining) and then sewn together by stitching in the ditch of the back neck seam with the jacket outer up and the lining against the feed dogs. As the seams were carefully aligned the stitches cannot be seen on either the jacket outer or lining. The back neck edge is the only place (apart from the hems and facing) that the lining and garment are attached.

The pattern alterations for this worked well as all the pieces sewed together really easily.

The week of outfits 1

The Palermo Red Plaid jacket so met my vision of what I wanted that it had to be worn immediately. My work outfits for the week were chosen on the basis that they went with my new jacket. I felt really good in what I wore all week.

Monday: Megan Nielsen Flint Prince of Wales Check trousers with WORLD Friendship T (a purchased tee made from Diane von Furstenberg deadstock - China Vine pattern silk viscose knit)

Tuesday: Vogue 1250 DKNY dress in an ITY knit from Silhouette Patterns
Wednesday: Vogue 9243 Twirling Rebecca Taylor dress (fabric also from Silhouette Patterns) and Suzi Roher belt
Thursday: Megan Nielsen Flint Prince of Wales Check trousers with WORLD Make it Right Black T

Shoes: United Nude Lucid Molten Mid Lilac ankle boots

Special thanks to the photographer who had better things to do with his Sunday afternoon but waited patiently whilst I changed my outfits in order to recreate the looks from the week at work.

The week of outfits 2 - the Christmas edition

As it took me so long to write this blog post there is a second week of work outfits - Christmas themed in celebration of the season and my last week at work in 2020. Could also be labelled the week of the dress!

Monday: Vogue 1410 Lynn Mizono Winter Floral Dress

Tuesday: Style Arc Gertrude House of Gifts Christmas Dress

Wednesday: Moochi red silk dress (complete with outtake - many photographs are taken to get one with my eyes open and sometimes the multiple photos are still being taken when I move!)
Thursday: Silhouette Traditional Peppermint Patty dress

Friday: Silhouette Traditional Red Flower dress (even being worn again with my Christmas Pandora bracelet)

Shoes: Katy Perry Stephanie Mulberry mule

Style Arc Palermo Satin Cloud Knit Jacket

This simple jacket jumped many queues to become a finished garment within moments of acquiring both the pattern and the fabric. The plan for the 2020 Pattern Review Wardrobe Contest had already been formulated but I found myself re-thinking the options so this oh so cosy fabric could leap into my wardrobe for a few wears before the temperatures became too high.

The finished garment

Whilst the name of the pattern is the Palermo knit jacket the garment itself is more of a shrug than a jacket. It can be worn as outerwear on a warm sunny day but so far it has been worn as a shrug to snuggle into on a cool Spring day.

Not exactly demonstrating its warmth and cosiness with me squinting into the sun during the photo session, but here I am in my super cosy comfortable shrug not sacrificing style!

The Palermo Satin Cloud knit jacket is worn with the WORLD Pink Mustard Black Stripe Positivity Tee, Megan Nielsen Flint Boyfriend Mustard trousers and Ernest Wyler Keesher Sunflower booties.

The interesting seam lines of the jacket

Whilst it was a relatively simple sew the wrangling of the back hem warranted the use of one of my treasured labels. A gift from a friend they are used sparingly for those oh sew special garments!

The fabric

This wonderful Liberty Linford brushed sweatshirting entered the stash on 3 October 2020. It wasn't quite washed in time to be whisked away for holiday sewing but it was desperate to be made. A true love at first sight fabric. 

Liberty Satin Cloud B Linford Brushed Sweatshirting

This is a 300gsm 100% cotton fabric, one of the new range from Liberty of London at The Fabric Store.

It is described as "an Italian made Liberty cotton sweatshirting from the Linford range. Echoing the billowing pleats of the silk route’s prized flowing silk cloth this delicate Satin Cloud Liberty Fabrics print has cloud-like softness and energy. Linford Fleece is cosy and breathable, with a long-wearing pliability that only gets more comfortable with age. This super cosy fabric has been knitted with a loopback which has been brushed to create a fleece style fabric, super cosy and soft. The printed face of the fabric has a dry, flat texture whereas the reverse is a fuzzy texture in a plain bubblegum pink colour. The print design is made up of tones of clementine, purple and black on a black and pink base. A heavyweight knitted fabric perfect for sweaters, winter dresses, cosy loungewear, children and babies' winter clothes."

The pattern

I knew the Palermo knit jacket pattern had to be part of my collection the moment Style Arc sent me the email back in August announcing the release of the "gorgeously comfortable new discounted Palermo outfit sewing pattern bundle". I did wait until early October to purchase it as neither of the free pattern offerings in August and September appealed. Luckily the October freebie (Wilma woven top) tempted my fancy as the Satin Cloud fabric was desperate to become this jacket.

Style Arc describe the pattern bundle as "perfect if you are taking it easy and looking for ultimate comfort without sacrificing your style. The Palermo Jacket features interesting design lines, that are surprisingly created with only two pattern pieces! The relaxed look contours the neck and sits just below the waist. A shrug style jacket featuring long sleeves, neck hugging collar and interesting design lines."

Suggested fabrics are: sweater knit or any fabric with slight stretch and drape. Yippee for once my fabric choice matches with the designer's suggestion.

The other two patterns in the bundle (Palermo knit pant and Teagan knit top) were not purchased as drop crotch, elastic waist lounge pants have never appealed and I didn't need another basic t-shirt. Although now I have snuggled into my Liberty Linford brushed sweatshirting Palermo jacket I am sorely tempted by the idea of using the fabric for trousers. Luckily I am saved at least for the moment by the fact that we are fast approaching Summer so warm snuggly trousers have less immediate appeal.

The pattern card

The pattern alterations

Absolutely none. I did however sew the size 6 due to its oversized nature rather than my usual size 10 or 12 in Style Arc patterns. The finished garment measurements for the size 6 are bust 47¼ inches; sleeve length 27⅛ inches; centre back length 21½ inches and hem circumference 39¼ inches.

Very oversized garments don't usually suit my shape and I moderate the amount of ease by sewing a smaller size. It is a balancing act to retain the essence of the garment without swamping me.

The sewing

Style Arc class this jacket as an easy make as long as you follow the A, B, C notations - carefully marking them on the fabric. I would agree with this assessment. The seams were sewn up on the overlocker in no time. Up until this point the most time consuming part was changing the overlocker threads. With the high contrast between the the pink fleecy inside and the black exterior I overlocked the outer garment edges in black to finish them. Then for the seams changed to pink thread in the upper and lower looper and right needle with the left needle staying threaded with black thread to match the fabric right side.

Four thread pink overlocked seam - left needle threaded with black

The Style Arc instructions with their informative little diagrams were more than adequate for sewing up this knit jacket. The A, B and C notations were clearly illustrated and easy to associate with the markings on the garment. As my fabric was fluffy I snipped the fabric at the A, B and C points.

There were three instances where I didn't follow the instructions:

• After the side seam was sewn I sewed the centre back collar seam together. Then I folded the sleeves in half and sewed from the right sleeve hem up the arm, round the back neck edge down the left arm to the hem in one continuous seam.
• When I attached the shawl collar to the back neck edge I didn't sew in the facing. The entire facing (front opening and collar) were hand catch stitched in place at the end with the hem.
• Hem depth was increased for sleeves and garment body

Once the seams were sewn the sleeve hem was turned up 1½ inches instead of the ¾ inches allowed in the pattern. This deeper hem was perfectly accommodated within the width of the sleeve and made the sleeve length appropriate for my arms! The hem was hand catch stitched in place.

The sewing machine made a fleeting appearance to sew the facing to the garment body at the hem right sides of the fabric together with a 1 inch seam allowance to match the hem depth. The garment was then turned right sides out without trimming the seam allowance to make a sharp square corner a la Louise Cutting.

The hem was turned up 1 inch not the ⅜ suggested. Whilst I think it is better with this deeper hem it did cause the only problem I had when sewing this jacket. With the curvature of the design the hem would not lay flat at the side seam so I ended up cutting a strip of fabric as a hem facing for the back hem only. At the folded fabric edge the back hem is 16⅝ inches wide and the top of the hem is 1 inch wider at 17⅝ inches. This is clearly an improvisation at the end because the hem edge has pink thread overlocking not the black used for the other edges.

Improvised back hem facing

The styling

Whilst my entry for the 2020 PR Wardrobe Competition may never see the light of day as I have sewn only four of the ten necessary garments, the Palermo Satin Cloud knit jacket fits perfectly into another PR competition currently running - Warm and Cosy. This competition was discovered by accident when looking to find out the closing date for the Wardrobe Competition.

Luckily the rules were simple, requiring:

• the garment to be sewn in the month of October 🗹
• it to be something you can wear or use at home (no outerwear) 🗹
• take part in the contest discussion (well I registered my interest on page 34 of the discussion thread!)  🗹
• a review to be written that illustrates how my jacket is warm and cosy, with at least two photographs (and they don't need the garment to be shown on a person) 🗹
• contest entry to be before 11.59 EST on 31 October (hopefully fingers crossed)

I do curl up on the sofa like this next to the log burner but have to confess that this is very much a staged picture because it was a warm gorgeously sunny day when the photograph was taken. If we had taken the photograph a day later the log burner would have been roaring away keeping us toasty warm. Such are the vagaries of Spring.

At least I am not wearing sandals as I was when we took pictures of me wearing one of my other wardrobe contest items.

Left: Palermo Satin Cloud jacket; V8710 KT Happy Flowers top; Megan Nielsen Flint Boyfriend Mustard trousers; Arche Ikhini Yellow sandal

Right: Palermo Satin Cloud jacket; V8710 KT Happy Flowers top; Megan Nielsen Flint Prince Check trousers; United Nude Zink Pop Mid Black booties

Style Arc Gertrude House of Gifts Christmas Dress

For a change this was a fast moving fabric and pattern (fast fashion?) with no stash maturation. The fabric was ordered on 29 November, received on 7 December, cut up on 12 December with sewing starting on 15 December. The pattern was purchased on 17 November. Almost unheard of in my sewing life for two recent purchases to come together so quickly.

The finished garment

I'm not sure how long after Christmas you can wear your Christmas dress. As you can see from me posing in the sunshine by the grapevine on 27 December I was a bit ambivalent, wearing it with my Camper sneakers rather than my red shoes.

Can you wear a dress covered in baubles and presents past Twelfth Night? Does wearing it past 5 January cause bad luck like leaving your Christmas decorations up? Although there is also a superstition that Christmas decorations not taken down by Twelfth Night should be left up until Candlemas Day (2nd February) and then taken down. Don't think I'll be wearing this dress over the next month it is now safely ensconced in the wardrobe until December. Tidied away like the Christmas decorations.

There was a thread on Pattern Review about sewing old patterns and did that make you look frumpy. So here I am in a new Style Arc pattern feeling frumpy. The big contributor to the frumpiness is the cardigan, completely the wrong length for this dress but good from a colour perspective. Or maybe its the too high neckline or the flat sneakers. Whatever it is this picture does not have me feeling my best.

The fabric

A pre-Christmas impulse purchase from Liberty of London (I succumbed to their marketing email). The fabric was washed as soon as it arrived and cut out soon after to make the Gertrude Designer dress. The stash came into play for the lining fabric which is a plain black cotton voile.

Liberty of London House of Gifts navy tana lawn

The pattern

The Gertrude Designer dress is described by Style Arc as a designer dress featuring a fitted bodice, dropped shoulder line, tucked sleeves, inverted pleats and a back zip. The reverse inverted pleats give this designer dress its unique shape. This dress has a fitted bodice along with a dropped shoulder. The shape of the engineered sleeve is created by the under-sleeve tucks. The essential side pockets and mid-calf length give this dress its designer feel.

Suggested fabrics are washed linen, crepe, silk and rayon, so similar to the tana lawn I chose to use.

The pattern alterations

Amazingly no pattern alterations were made to this dress. Based on the finished pattern measurements I cut a straight size 12 (I did check the sizing by comparing to my TNT dress pattern). No forward shoulder or sway back. The only change I had to make when cutting out the dress was to shorten it to knee length because I didn't have enough fabric for anything longer. I also omitted the back zipper.

As this is a limited wear dress being made from a Christmas print I did wonder about just doing plain short sleeves without the tuck detail but decided in the end to just go with the pattern flow.

If I make this dress again there will be alterations, at the minimum: a sway back adjustment; shortened sleeves and lowered neckline.

The sewing

This was certainly not a quick sew for me partly because I used french seams and lined it but the pattern itself has a number of details that take time.

There are a number of steps to construct each of the eight bodice pieces (two front outer fabric, two front lining, two back outer fabric, two back lining).
Step one: sew the bodice princess seams together including the inverted pleats at the skirt end. Press the seam open and the pleats flat.
Step two: sew the centre front and centre back seams (two of each). I used French seams on these four seams.
Step three: add the two raglan sleeve pieces to each of the front and back sections. Press the seams open.
Step four: sew the shoulders of the dress and of the lining together. Press the seams open.
Step five: Attach the lining and dress together at the neckline. Trim the neckline seam and under-stitch.
Step six: For the side seams I used French seams and treated the dress and lining as one but made the sewing more complicated by keeping the pockets.

So what about the pockets. I puzzled this a great deal in one of my early morning awake sessions, trying to work out how I could have a pocket in a French seam. I tried to take pictures as I went along but of course when deep into sewing you forget all about pictures.

Step one: sew the pocket bags around the edge wrong sides together leaving a small area unsewn at each end by the side seam edge.
Step two: sew each side of the pocket bag to its corresponding dress side seam wrong sides together. Sew the dress side seam (wrong sides together) up to the pocket bag in two steps - hem to pocket bag, underarm to pocket bag.
Step three: press the first part of the French seam towards the pocket bag.
Step four: sew each side of the pocket bag to its corresponding dress side seam right sides together. This is where you need the small unsewn area of the pocket bag so you can separate the two halves of the pocket bag to sew them to the corresponding side seam. Press the finished French seam of the pocket bag towards the pocket bag.
Step five (no picture): Sew the dress side seam's second part of the French seam. This is sewn how you would conventionally sew the side seam with pocket bag in one continuous length - hem to pocket bag, around the pocket bag, pocket bag to underarm.
Step six (no picture): press the French seam towards centre front in order for your pocket bag to be facing the right direction.

Update 7 February 2020: In early January the Bernina blog (We all Sew) wrote a post which has a different approach to sewing pockets in French seams which can be found here.

The sleeves because of the tuck detail consist of an under and upper sleeve. The tucks were sewn into the under sleeve, the shoulder dart sewn in the upper sleeve and both pressed. The under and upper sleeve were sewn together with French seams and a narrow hem was machine stitched. Once the dress side seams were sewn the unlined two piece sleeve could be inserted also using French seams, treating the dress body lining and outer fabric as one.

The final step was to hand sew a narrow hem. As I only had a limited amount of fabric (two metres) I had made the dress as long as possible but the only way I could have the hem end just below my knee cap was to have a 1" hem (⅜" for the first fold and ⅝" for the second).

After all that sewing the dress was finished on Boxing Day and has had minimal wear. Waiting for Christmas 2020 to shine!

There is much discussion about the quality of Style Arc directions. For me the Gertrude Designer Dress instructions were adequate clearly illustrating how to construct the princess seam tucks and the tucks in the under sleeve. This was pretty much the only time I referred to the pattern instructions, especially as I lined the dress and had to decide how I wanted to treat the lining and outer dress fabrics.

Outfit of the day

Here is the dress in action being Mrs Claus handing Christmas presents to my beloved (which he had to wait until Boxing Day for). I know pathetic but if you are going to the trouble of making a Christmas dress it has to have some purpose and he didn't seem to mind waiting the extra day (or twelve hours if we celebrated with our northern hemisphere family!). He also appreciated the pre-Christmas clean the house got which is what caused the sewing delay.

To be perfectly honest I felt more Christmassy dressed in my Twirling Rebecca Taylor dress with a red cropped top and United Nude Lev Wrap Lo red shoes than I did in my House of Gifts Christmas dress, even wearing the same red shoes.

Sewing out and about

The dress was started two Sunday's before Christmas whilst we were away on the West Coast. The Sunday afternoon was wet and miserable so whilst my beloved read his book I sewed at the little dining table.

After sewing the Christmas dress I gave the little Featherweight a Christmas treat with a good dust, oil and grease, plus I finally replaced her bed cushions (the little rubber feet).

The bed cushions are supposed to grip the sewing surface for vibration and noise absorption. Mine unsurprisingly given the age of the machine were hard and smooshed down.  To remove the old worn cushions I had to dig out the old rubber with a screwdriver. I got better at the digging out with each one I removed. The picture below left shows all four cushions removed and on the right shows the difference between two new ones (face up and face down) compared with the older cushions.

Style Arc Rosie Alice Top

Not all rabbits are created equal. The White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland (Sir John Tenniel's original illustrations not the Disney version) is my favourite kind of rabbit however when it comes to matching the Alice top to your new Wildwood jeans and Kate Spade Edina ballet flats it just doesn't cut the mustard.

The top on its own wasn't that spectacular initially either but after a bit of reverse engineering I now love the top with a plain pair of trousers.

The finished garment

The finished garment photos were taken before I took it apart for the second time. Since I tweaked the armhole shaping the weather has been horrible and completely unsuited for a cotton top so no photos of the top in its current finished state.

Originally this top was due to be blogged once pictures had been taken of its final state however for the last three weeks I have been trying to write a post about a pair of trousers and can't seem to finish it. Blogging about this top is my palate cleanser which will hopefully encourage the trouser post to emerge from its cocoon or maybe it will continue to be elusive until I have made the second pair.

Style Arc Rosie Alice top with Untouched World Pure Skinny black jean and Camper Twins Luis Gordillo Sneakers

As you can see the top is much less successful with Lana's Wildwood jeans, even with my United Nude Fold Liqorice booties. The patterns really don't go together - can't imagine why I thought they ever would.

The fabric

This is a Lecien quilting cotton from the 2016 collection Girl's Story. A disappointing Japanese cotton much coarser than usual - very much a quilting cotton, purchased from some unknown Etsy source. Do like the print though.

Lecien Girls Story Alice in Wonderland Harlequin Teal

The pattern

I made the Rosie top for Cath nearly a year ago and have always fancied making it for myself.  Seemed ideal with this Alice in Wonderland fabric.

Style Arc describe Rosie as a versatile top with interesting back detail. A great top for all occasions. The slight cap sleeve is very flattering and the back inverted pleat give this top a point of difference.

Fabric suggestions are: crepe, washed silk, cotton, any woven with some body and drape. So for once I chose a fabric recommended by the pattern.

The pattern alterations

All of the pattern alterations stemmed from the fact that I don't like cut on sleeves and removed the cap sleeve. To start I used a TNT top pattern with a set-in sleeve lined it up at centre front / centre back matching the two patterns at the neck edge shoulder point and marking where the end of the shoulder seam came. Then using the armhole template for my favourite woven sleeve I drew in the armhole.

For the back I also made a sway back adjustment. For the front having altered the side front piece for a set-in sleeve I decided not to use a princess seamed front as it would distort the fabric's harlequin pattern. Instead I found a top with a French dart and manipulated that to be the front pattern piece, lengthened ½" at centre front, curving to both the same length as the original pattern at the side seam and the same width at the peplum seam.

Left original back pattern piece (white) overlaid with armhole template; and the new pattern piece (brown) on the right

Original front pattern piece (white) with new pattern piece (brown) on top. Left photo with armhole template overlaid

The top was sewn up and tried on. It was very unflattering - too long in the back and big in the waist. Pattern was altered to shorten the back and reduce the circumference at the waist and peplum hem, top was un-sewn, fabric pieces re-cut and top re-sewn.

After it was sewn the second time and tried on the length was good but there was extra fabric at centre back and around the armhole (not needed for a set in sleeve but required in the original design to create the cap sleeve). Pattern was altered again to: (1) lower the armhole and bring it in at the side seam blending back to the original waist; (2) increase the sway back by ¾". Top was once again un-sewn, fabric pieces re-cut and the top re-sewn.

The pattern pieces you see in the photographs above are the final version of the pattern, except I think the sway back alteration was too extreme and I will probably lower the centre back by ½". Just can't leave it alone have to be constantly tweaking striving for perfection.

The sewing

As the quality of the fabric was disappointing I didn't bother sewing it with french seams as I normally would. Apart from the hems it was sewn with the overlocker, and there was no hand sewing. Even the neck edge was just folded over twice and machine sewn in place. The hems were overlocked and turned up once.

This was a quick and easy to sew top except for my need to deconstruct it twice.

Kobayashi Squiggle Squares TNT Midi Dress

This dress is largely based on my TNT pattern. The difference this time is that I used the length, hem width and V-neckline of the Style Arc Toni Designer dress. As this dress is a mash up of patterns used before I wasn't going to bother with a blog post for it but then thought others might like to see how I take my TNT pattern and make it into something else.

I enjoyed the V-neck of the Toni dress and wanted a longer more pencil skirt shape for this dress to maximise fabric use. A fitted dress was also better suited to this robust cotton twill fabric.

The finished garment

This has been worn a lot since it was made. No matter which shoes I wear for the week this dress goes with them, especially these United Nude Zink Patch Mid Pop Mix boots.

The squiggle squares sort of match up across the body and sleeves.

Not sure why I have such a horizontal fold of fabric across my back in the photos because you don't notice it when I am wearing the dress in real life.

The squiggle squares are not a straight line which made matching them at the side seams pretty impossible. They sort of match on the left side but are way out on the right side.

Left: original V neckline; Right modified square neckline

The only thing that bothered me about the dress after it was made was the V-neckline. It didn't really suit the shape of the squiggle squares. It was a bit of a faff but it irritated me enough to make the change to a more square neckline. The plunge of the neckline is now deeper than I would normally choose and was dictated by the depth of the original V-neckline. I am just hoping that it can be worn with any bra as I hate clothes that require specific underwear.

The fabric

This fabric is a cotton twill from Japanese fabric manufacturer Kobayashi, purchased from Cutting Line Designs (SKU: FF-00865) and still available! Purchased after falling down the fabric rabbit hole instead of sticking to the pattern section.

The pattern

This dress is an amalgamation of three patterns. My TNT dress pattern is Silhouette Patterns Traditional Blouse view 2 blended into the 3-piece Yoga skirt. This incarnation is mixed up with the StyleArc Toni Designer dress.

The pattern alterations

As already mentioned my TNT dress pattern was adapted to mid-calf rather than knee length with a V-neckline. Having recently made the StlyeArc Toni Designer dress this was the pattern I chose for both the length, hem width and V-neckline.

Left: front pattern pieces; Right back pattern pieces

Hopefully you can see the dress pattern pieces overlaid on the Toni Designer dress (yes a PDF pattern I have actually taped together). The front pattern piece appears longer than the back because my TNT pattern has a bust dart and I needed to compensate for this so the side seam front and back would be the same length. I did add 1" to the length of the Toni dress because I wanted a deeper hem for this woven dress.

The other change I made was to create full size pattern pieces so that I could achieve good pattern placement of the squares on the dress.

I cut the pattern in both the outer and lining fabric for the front and back body pieces but only cut the sleeves from the squiggle squares fabric.

The sewing

This was a very quick project even though I effectively made two dresses.

The darts were sewn in both lining and outer fabric. For the waist darts they were pressed in opposite directions in the lining and outer fabrics to minimise bulk.

Both the dress and the lining were sewn separately on the overlocker at the shoulder and side seams. Then the outer and lining fabric were sewn at the neckline with right sides together, and the neckline under-stitched.

The sleeves were sewn in the round with french seams. So apart from the sleeve seam all the seams are enclosed.

The sleeve is machine hemmed but I hand catch-stitched the dress hem.

Today a few weeks after the dress was finished I unpicked the neckline (under-stitching and seam). Re-drew the neckline to be squarer at centre front, with a four-inch base curving back to the original shoulder neck edge. I then sewed a cream bias binding around the right-side of the neck edge, under-stitched it and folded it to the inside. Any minute now (or at least sometime this week before I wear it) I will hand-stitch it in place to the lining.

And here it is a week later with the binding stitched down and wrinkles fresh from the wash