Before I tackle the Vogue sheath dress that will marry happily with my tweed jacket, I made a quick diversion in the form of a simple wintry knit top from the February 2010 La Mia Boutique magazine:
It’s a classic turtleneck pattern with a little bit of neckline gathering at the centre front, so there were only four pieces to trace (front, back, sleeve, and collar) and it was ridiculously quick to sew on the overlocker/serger and coverstitch. We’re talking a single evening in between preparing dinner here, folks!
Turning to the back…
The only problem is that, while those little neckline gathers look great from the front, they make a horrible little bubble that sticks out from your chest when you look at them in profile.
I’m only just starting to learn pattern drafting and manipulation (more on that another day) but I think this comes from creating too short a triangle when inserting the fabric for the gathers, if that makes any sense? It’d be an interesting lesson to cut this apart and try to fix the problem. The only other very slight improvement I’d make is to shave down the sleeve cap a tad as it’s a bit too high for my liking. But neither of these really impede my wearing it – I wanted a quick long sleeved top for the office since it’s kinda drafty in there and my arms and the back of my neck get chilly while I’m at my desk. And seeing as how my small office is entirely full of coding boys who never notice what I wear anyway, this is absolutely fine!
I was umming and ahhing on what fabric to use here, but I finally settled on some black cotton interlock/ribbing from my Brighton trip to Ditto Fabrics last June. I’ve still got a little less than a metre left after using it here and in the Punk Words day dress. The other point to note is that by La Mia Boutique’s size chart, I should sew a size 46, but because this pattern only goes up to a 44, I just thought I’d try that, and if it was too tight, I’d wear it as a base layer. But as you can see, a 44 is plenty big enough so now I’m not sure whether to sew a 44 or 46 for that draped dress…
And even though we did this photoshoot at the same time as the silver tweed suit, I thought for this one that my À bout de souffle haircut required the full Left Bank treatment with the back turtleneck and glasses styling… ahh oui oui!