It's Finished!! Kwik Sew 3338

Whew! This top is complete! I'm so happy. I would be ecstatic if it wasn't for the wrap disaster I suffered through during the break. And to think that stopped working on this to attempt that wrap. The top looks better on me than it does on the form. (I can't seem to get the padding right on the form since I put the cover on it.) I don't know what's causing the neckline to do that, but it's good enough for me (my expectations aren't that high yet.)

What took me forever on this was the hem. Not that it was all that difficult. It's just that as I kept trying to pull the top down over the butt on my dress form that was larger than mine, the fabric developed runs. There was no more extra fabric to be had, so I had to figure out how to fix runs that were about 1 1/4" in some places.

I folded the hem so all of the runs would be on the wrong side, but I was afraid of losing too much fabric. (This top had to work.) You can still see a little of the Fray Check on the right side, bit it's not too bad. The result isn't perfect, but wearable, especially since I made this top to be worn only with this poncho. I'm more than a little ticked about the run that developed in the neckline. Needless to say, as a safety precaution, I finished the edges before hemming.

I used to think Burda had the best directions in the industry, I now give the award to Kwik Sew. My next three tops will be knit ones from Kwik Sew.

My technical issues included sewing the neckline. Not because it was all that hard, I just didn't have much experience doing it. I found the top stitching was a little challenging, I don't think I ever got to the perfect stitch length and tension combo. This was my first attempt an an FBA, I'll get it right as time goes on. There are issues with this one, but the poncho hides all sins and mistakes :-) The parts that show look great! Remember how your mama told you to always wear clean underwear in case you were in an accident? I hope nothing ever happens to me while I'm wearing this top! If I find more fabric to match the poncho, I'll remake this (but I'm in no hurry.)

The cool thing I learned is that instead of using my non-adjustable overcast foot, I could use the zigzag foot to get the proper seam allowance and then cut off the excess fabric. (Cut me some slack; I'm self taught and it's a slow process.)

I told my coworkers that I would be wearing this on Monday. Looks like I will. It might even make an appearance at church tomorrow :-)

Hate Mail

Dear McCall Pattern Company: It was with great excitement I opened McCall's 5241. I spent a lot of time thinking about a new knit wardrobe. M5241 was a big part of the plan -- I was going to make three of them. I'd been hoarding ponteroma knit from Hancock's. I looked like a crackhead as I waited for my next coupon fix. Finally, Christmas was here and I would be able to make these during my time off. My goodness, how slowly I worked to make sure I got the stitching right. I would be wearing these to work and they needed to be right. Look at that hem. I was so proud. I'm learning as I go, so I struggled to figure out how to even hem this. Did I need to finish the edge first? Was I supposed to fold it twice? I had to keep looking at the shirt I was wearing for reference. Not bad at all, not bad at all. What I do need to remember to do is not start in the middle of the hem, but start stitching at a side seam. Oh well.

My topstitching was a labor of love. I was looking for perfection -- a tall order for someone who has problems sewing straight seams. All is well, I even figured out the double-needle thing.

This was only supposed to take an hour! I'm new to sewing, so I do things slowly. I was also being extra careful, so I figured it would take about a day to make this. No problem. Okay. Time to sew the sleeves in. Gee. These seem way too big for the armholes. Let me consult the instructions. There's nothing here that would suggest I need to do anything other than pin and sew. But these seem really big. Time passes and these damn sleeves still aren't working. Maybe I screwed up the markings. I'll re-mark everything. Okay. This still isn't right. Did I cut the armholes wrong? Let me check Pattern Review.com. Arrgghhh! Other people had problems with the armholes too. This is where I should have cut my losses and walked away. Maybe I could figure how to make this sleeveless later. Although this was mentioned nowhere in the instructions, I tried to ease the sleeves in. Well I suck at it and I don't want the look of set-in sleeves anyway. But alas, what if I could make the armholes big enough to fit the sleeves? Using some really unreliable methods, I figured that if I re-cut the armholes using the seamline as a guide, I might be able to get things to work. Success? Not a chance. By now I'm angry and determined (not a good combo.) The sleeves are still to big. What if like when attaching a neckline, I stretched the armhole while sewing? I'm desperate, I'll try anything. This is when I stretched the armhole out. Game over. McCall's, you owe me $17.72 for the fabric and a bottle of wine to calm my nerves. Actually, you owe me for the replacement patterns I bought/will buy too: Kwik Sew 3285, McCall's 5713 and Butterick 5394. None of these excite me as much as M5241, but I need toppers so I'll have to make due. The good news is that I'm really comfortable with working with this type of knit now. I also got to practice my topstitching. I've also become fanatical about pressing. Yea me.