uvita top – THE COMPULSIVE SEAMSTRESS

A Little Catch Up

The blog posting hasn’t really gone to plan in the last couple of months, and neither is it how I normally would work! I’ve been spending a lot more time on the allotment, especially with the veggies (time consuming little buggers), and sewing for Daughter No2, who isn’t at home and therefore makes it tricky to get photos of finished garments. Today though, I’ve got a couple of items I made for myself. A while ago I said I had plans to make another LB Pullover and possibly a Uvita Top. Well, those have been made, and worn, and I only now have some photos for you.

stripe uvita 1 — Uvita Top by Itch to Stitch

I have to admit, that as far as 3/4 sleeve tees go, I find it hard to beat the Uvita. I’ve also used the Lark Tee with the 3/4 sleeve option, but the Uvita is just so easy to wear. The fabric was bought from a fellow sewist who was using Instagram to destash. I think it was originally from Fabworks – a dusky blue and sort of beige stripe viscose jersey with good drape. The only downside was its determination to curl to the right side – which made the neck treatment on the tee just ever so slightly tricky. Let’s just say a tailor’s ham and lots of pins were used…

stripe uvita 2

Then the LB Pullover – was there ever such a quick “sweatshirt” to make? This is the size 14, I’d sized down from the original 16 some time ago, and I think it’s just right for me – for now. Fabric came from Rosenberg & sons a couple of years ago, has a cool texture and is a lovely blue. But then all blues are lovely. I had intended to make some of these tops in linen over the summer, but I guess I’ll just have to get to that plan next year!

lb navy 1 — Warm and cosy on a wet, rainy day!

Then the last of the “show-offs” for today are the trousers I made a few weeks ago, Burda 115 from May 2019. I’m still on the wearable toile, haven’t found “proper” fabric yet, but I like the pants, style and fit. I wasn’t sure about the big pleat in the front – but the other half has no problems in deciding. He doesn’t like it. So I have to ask, are pants with pleats on the front flattering to me, or not?

These are the size 42, with a leg length adjustment, 3cm shorter than the pattern was drafted. Apologies for the photo quality, I’m using my phone’s forward camera and it’s not the best…

So – yes to the pleats, or no???

A Little Unselfish Sewing – Xmas Presents

I know it’s the new year and all, but I have a little catching up to do! In 2017 I made quite a few Christmas presents, but this time I limited myself just a little bit. I made two black tees for Daughter No1 who wanted some tee shirts that weren’t too fitted, and I went for black because you can always wear a black tee! And because I already happened to have 3m of black viscose jersey in the stash…

black renfrew 3 — Renfrew Tee by Sewaholic

I chose to make a long sleeved, scoop neck Renfrew by Sewaholic first. This pattern has been adjusted with a swayback adjustment already, and this is her favourite neckline on a tee. The long sleeves are the perfect length with the cuffs on, and she likes the way it makes the tee feel a little like a sweatshirt. I leave the hemband off this pattern when making for Daughter No1, the length is fine without it and she prefers it that way.

black renfrew 2

black renfrew 1

The second pattern I used is the Uvita Top, the free pattern on offer from Itch to Stitch. I’ve made a few for myself so thought it would be perfect for her too. Overall, it got the approving nod, but with a few requests for next time. (At least there will be a next time!) I need to narrow the sleeves a fair bit and flare the side seams out a bit over the hips. Not too long a list! 🙂

black uvita 2 — Uvita Top from Itch to Stitch

black uvita 1

black uvita 3

I also ran up a couple of Toaster Sweaters. I know how much both girls like them, so made them one each using the fleece blankets from Asda, again. I had bought two two-packs earlier in December, I needed the mustard colour for backing some quilted fabric I bought from a charity shop to make throws. So I was left with two grey and white chevron blankets – perfect Toaster fabric!

chevron toaster 3 — Toaster Sweater by Sew House 7

chevron toaster 1

Unfortunately, I did not check the direction of stretch….. It ran (runs) perpendicular to the chevron pattern. Now that’s something I didn’t even consider! So I had already made Daughter No1’s Toaster with the chevrons running around the body, and against the stretch before realising. Daughter No2’s chevrons run up and down, and the stretch is in the right direction. Oh dear… Nevermind, they still work.

chevron toaster 2

I ran out of time to make a tee for Daughter No2 out of the rest of the black jersey. She was after a raglan tee. I found one in a Burda magazine and will get that done this month – hopefully!

All About the Tees – Part 5!

More tees! Whether they’re shortsleeved for the summer, 3/4 for just about all year round or long sleeved for the cooler months, you just can’t beat tees for filling wardrobe gaps. They don’t take much fabric, certainly don’t take much time to make and are a very satisfying, sewjo boosting project to whip up! I’ve recently added 3 new tees to my wardrobe, and added 1 to Daughter No1’s.

scribble uvita 2

So what patterns did I use this time? Let’s start with the Uvita top from Itch to Stitch. As said before, this is a free pattern when you sign up to newsletters. I really rate this pattern, it just works so well. I bought a piece of blue and white jersey from Rosenberg & Son at the Knitting and Stitching Show in October, this was my first victim! I love the swirly white dots. I ran up the Uvita in an afternoon and it’s been in constant rotation since then!

scribble uvita 1 — Itch to Stitch Uvita Top

Next up, another blue and white fabric from the show, this time from Montreux Fabrics. I’d bought some of this earlier in the year, and was hoping they’d have more on the stand, because it wears so well! I made the Lark Tee, v-neck with 3/4 length sleeves in this. The drape of the fabric is perfect for the shape of this pattern. It’s slightly flared from the waist, skimming the hips (and tummy area). Usually I breeze through this pattern, even with that v, but this fabric has polyester modal content, so it was just slightly slippy – and it kept moving!!! I had to do that v a few times before I thought I’d better leave it. I also pinned and basted the side seams 3 times to get the stripes to line up! They just weren’t playing ball so I left them after the third time, having seen little to no improvement in the pattern matching.

lark stripe 1 — Grainline Lark v-neck tee

lark stripe 2

The third of my tees is another Lark Tee, v-neck with three quarter sleeves. This time my stripe fabric is a blue/grey with narrow white stripes, bought online from the Frugal Fabric Shop. It’s lovely and soft and great to wear. I had the same problem with the v on this one!!! But the stripes were more accommodating.

All three tees are the perfect colours for fitting into my colour palette and will undoubtably be worn loads over the winter and spring.

Now on to Daughter No1’s tee. I had some navy pique jersey in the stash, bought earlier in the year from Montreus Fabrics again, and I offered it up to her. She chose the Lark boat neck tee with long sleeves.

boat lark 1 — Blue pique boat neck Lark Tee

If I make this again I’ll raise the neckline for her, it’s quite low cut for a boat neck. It also needs a swayback adjustments. You can see the fabric pooling in the small of her back. But she loves the length and is happy with the neckline for now.

boat lark 3

In the mean time, I have a nice 3m of black viscose jersey I got from Croft Mill Fabrics earlier in the year, and I have plans to turn that into a long sleeved Uvita for Daughter No1. She’s also in line for a long sleeved scoop neck Sewaholic Renfrew. It’s a teeshirt pattern you don’t see much of online anymore, but it fits her well. The last tee will be a Basic Instinct Tee, and that should use up all 3m! They will need to be done in the next couple of weeks, because they need to go under a certain tree….

All About the Tees – Part 4

T-shirts, the backbone of most wardrobes. I’ve run up another few for my Autumn wardrobe. I had a couple of pieces of fabric from Closs & Hamblin in Winchester, I’d bought them at the beginning of August and didn’t want them to end up in the stash. I also had some bits in the stash, let’s be honest! Some are small bits that would have to be combined in some way, but one was big enough to fly solo.

grey uvita 1 — Uvita Top fromItch to Stitch

So when you have tees to make, what pattern do you use? I decided to use the Uvita Top from Itch to Stitch for a couple of 3/4 length sleeve tops. I had bought a metre and a bit of grey marl viscose jersey from the Winchester fabric shop, and this was the first piece to get the chop! It’s lovely and soft and has a beautiful drape. I like the Uvita, it’s quick to make and I like how it feels on.

grey uvita 2

grey uvita 3

The second Uvita is made using a different kind of jersey. I had some polyester ponte that I’d bought last year from Fabworks and used a bit to make a Sewaholic Fraser for Daughter no 2. I couldn’t decide what to do with the rest of it at the time, so into the stash it went. Now it’s the right time to get it made up. It’s interesting to see how different the tops are in the different fabric, I like it!

The ponte has way less drape and stretch than the viscose jersey, it feels more fitted than the others. I like the pattern, from a distance it almost looks like a grey marl, it has great visual texture. Because I was worried that the fabric would irritate my skin, I didn’t cut the neckband from the same stuff. I used a bit of plain black ponte left over from another project.

I know it’s probably a bit late to be making short sleeved tees now at the end of August, but in my defense, I had intended to make this immediately after I bought the fabric at the beginning of the month. Anyway, a white tee can’t go that wrong, can it? For this I used the Lark V-neck tee.

lark white 1

The fabric is a cotton jersey, so no drape and it’s quite crisp. I should probably have picked a straighter tee, the Birgitte from Maria Denmark would probably have worked better. This does tend to stand away from me when I wear it! But I’ve only worn it once, and it has time to soften… I’m really chuffed with the neckband, the instructions are the best for getting a sharp point.

lark white 2

lark white 3 — Worn with my grey and black stripe Saunio cardi and rust coloured cropped trousers

If you’re looking for some snuggly fabrics for Winter or Autumn tees/sweaters, Closs and Hamblin have really nice anti-pill polar fleece at good prices. I may just have ~~bought~~ persuaded the other half (when in Winchester on a business meeting) to buy me a couple of metres to make more Toaster Sweaters for the girls…