Now that I’ve got all my fabrics from the Interview with the Vampire props auction prewashed and catalogued, I’m doing my best to try and sew through them, especially the ones more suited to summer garments, like the cargo trousers I made recently (also worn here). But it’s also been brutally hot here in London, which limited my sewing time and energy, so once it finally cooled down I ended up sewing this in an afternoon!
The fabric here is a steel blue textured viscose from the props auction. It was unusual in that it actually had a fabric store label on it detailing the fibre content, so I can confidently say it is 100% viscose instead of just guessing from a burn test. This piece was like most of them, in that it had about 1.5m with a portion cut out but included. This was a more usual yardage amount to work with, unlike the odd shape of the cargo trouser linen, and it was enough to cut this pattern without too much Tetrising. It takes a press nicely and is a great weight for tops with lovely drape, but it does fray a lot so I’m glad that the pattern instructions includeed finishes for all raw edges (a mix of overlocking, french seams, and facings).
I had a few pattern options for loose, flowy tops that I could’ve used, but I recently saw the Sew House 7 Revel Topper and really loved it, so I bought it! I made size 14, View A (shortest sleeves) and it’s a roomy fit, but that’s intentional.
This pattern is basically only a front and back with a collar facing and 2-part sleeve facing. The instructions are really good, but I couldn’t find anywhere whether I should interface the facings or not? I opted for lightweight fusible on the collar facing so that it had good structure, but none on the sleeve facings so they’d not stand out too much. This seemed to be a good choice as the collar has enough structure to fold back, but not so stiff it looks odd again the rest of the shirt.
I really like the fit of this – very wide like my matcha Burda shirt, so it should be nice and breezy for summer. Crucially, it’s cropped to the length I kinda felt the Burda one should’ve been!
This is my first time using a Sew House 7 pattern and I was impressed by both the drafting and instructions. There were lots of nice little details in the instructions, like telling you when to sew on a label, even! And the finish on the sleeve facings with the topstitching under the arm was a nice touch, too.
The only thing I wasn’t keen on with this pattern was the variable seam and hem allowances – some 1.5cm, some 1cm, and some 6mm. It really interrupts my flow to keep double checking while sewing, but I understand why the neckline slit was sewn with a smaller seam allowance at least.
This marks the second project in one of my props auction fabrics, after the cargo trousers, but I’ve got four more projects planned for other fabrics in my lots over the next few months and into Fall, as well as quite a few outfits inspired by The Vampire Lestat itself…