Big Collar , Little Band Raglans .

Blogging activity in no way reflects my sewing activities. I have made a couple of beige camisoles and acacias . I can see one of the advantages of sewing indie patterns is being able to write I made some acacias rather than I sewed some Kwik Sew 2100s but it boils down to  that I made some beige  underthingies and they are extremely basic and necessary and much better than shop bought especially in terms of comfort but totally boring and private so no way I will blog those.

Much more blog worthy are the raglan pullovers I sewed. I completed these last month but only just convinced my youngest to model for me ( it has been disgustingly humid and hot ) on the proviso they were headless photos ( morning , just got up , getting ready for work etc ) .

The pattern is from August 2017 , a raglan sleeve pullover with a ginormous collar . The fabric is a cosy , soft chevron thick knit from Darn Cheap`s $2/metre table.  I know this is seasonally inappropriate but I really wanted to get my daughter`s sewing out of the way so I could then be totally selfish and just sew for me. Also she is about to leave home for uni ! Happy and sad at the same time . This was a very easy project except for the pattern matching. Does anyone know is it even possible to match the raglan sleeves and the chevrons ? I think the answer should be don`t worry, who cares , life is too short but pattern matching is the holy grail for home sewers - one of the things that we do better than bought. Well  all I can say is that I tried my best.

I know this last shot is not headless as promised so please don`t look at her head but focus on the fluffy thing on the floor that is about to approach  her foot for a good tickly licking session.
Well now I have my selfless sewing out of the way ( three tops , one dress , one pullover in the last couple of months for my DDs ) the natural progession was to sew a raglan pullover for moi !

I used McCalls 6992 which was an entirely unnecessary pattern purchase  since  I already have an old Kwik Sew Raglan pattern and a saddle shoulder version in a Knipmode magazine but influenced by seeing so many fabulous versions out in sewing blog world . I used a navy and grey argyle knit from Clear It bought late last year.

This was another easy project BUT my neckline looks so much wider than others I`ve seen  and that annoys me because I used new , bought in a proper shop fabric rather than my usual op shop or gifted stuff . Perhaps I accidently stretched out the neckline applying my ( very old ) stashed ribbing ? Last time I sewed myself something with proper shop bought fabric that was also a dud so I am starting to get paranoid here. Well this pullover is not a complete dud  and I have worn it a few times .I will give  the pattern another try but will find some cheap opshop windcheater material next time.

Well so seriously sewing gurus could I have matched my stripey chevrons at the raglan Sleeves ?

And did you know that raglan sleeves were named after Lord Raglan (1788- 1855 ) a British commander in the Crimean War? No neither did I until just now. 

It`s A Wrap - BurdaStyle 09/2017 Wrap Dress 113.

 

Finally finished my first project of the year -yay.  My youngest daughter picked out this very pretty fabric from Darn Cheap last year when we were going material shopping for her big sister. Fair enough - no favouritism in our house - all three daughters are equally my favourites.
She then showed me some pictures of what she had in mind and they were all wrap dresses. Would you believe I  basically had  no patterns for a wrap dress!  Well, there was an old Burda magazine pattern  for knit fabrics and a 70s one for a large shawl collar version but that was it. I went to Spotlight and checked out the Big 4  patterns but nothing was quite right.

So when I went down to my local very small newsagent to get a new myki  travel card I could not believe my eyes to see they had the latest ( for Australia ) Burda and that there was a wrap dress just like she wanted ! If anything was ever meant to be this was it . I am so happy to see Burda magazines becoming so readily available now - hopefully this is a sign of a sewing resurgence.

                             
                                                   

The pattern is for petite sizes and my daughter is taller than  the 160 cm it is designed for . I did not lengthen the bodice and she is happy with where the waist sits . There is a waist band  with ties . The left tie inserts through a gap left in the waist band and wraps around the back.  The skirt and sleeve pieces are cut on the bias creating that lovely fluid fall of cloth . My daughter actually wanted short sleeves but she also wanted the wear the dress tonight for a date so to save time I just hemmed them as is . We can revisit the sleeve length another time. She also wanted the dress quite a bit shorter . She requested about 15 cm off the skirt length. That didn`t quite get Mum approval so I only removed 10 cm but shh don`t tell her.
We are both very happy with the end result . A slow but great sewing start to the year.