A Few Words on the Tie Front

A few of you asked in the comments for more details about the tie front top. It will be hard to show you without photos and I didn't take any along the way. But I'll try to explain it with just words.

I cut two strips selvedge-t0-selvedge, each 3" wide. I then sewed them with RS together at one short end and pinned the strip together with the seam allowance open. I didn't press with an iron only due to the pleats in the fabric. If there had been no pleating, I would've pressed the SA open.

Next, I folded the long strip in half lengthwise, WS together. (Again, I would've pressed it if this wasn't pleated fabric.)

I placed the joining seam of the strip at the CB of the top. I then pinned the strip around the neckline, stretching it as I went around so that the neckband would not flop over when finished. I don't have an exact method for this. I just do it by feel. It's between a 2/3 and 3/4 ratio of neckband to neckline.

I stopped pinning about 1" before the vee of the neckline.

I turned the unpinned tie strip sections (one for each side of the neckline) RS together and sewed them together along the bottom and long sides, stopping about 1" before where they'd meet the neckline. I sewed along the bottom edge diagonally so the ties would end in a point. I trimmed the corner seam allowances and used a tube turner to turn these parts of the ties RS out. I did it this way (with the neckband already pinned in place) because I was doing this "on the fly," not taking the time to take measurements, etc. I know one could do this in a less haphazard manner, but I was winging it.

Next, I clipped the vee of the neckline just up to the seam allowance. If you feel more comfortable with stay-stitching in this area, you should do that *before* you pin the tie to the neckline. I didn't staystitch.

I sewed the tie onto the neckline as I had it pinned, stretching as I sewed so that neckline and tie met up flat. (Remember, I left ease in the neckline when I was pinning.)

I stopped 1" before the vee on either side. You don't sew all the way to the point of the vee because you need some room for the knot you'll make when tying the ties.

The last step was to "finger press" the seam allowance toward the bodice and coverstitch around. (You can edgestitch with a single or double needle if you do not have a CS machine.) The seam allowances at the point were also "finger pressed" down and coverstitched. I just opened and sorta slid/folded the vee until it was in a straight line going under the foot as I used my CS machine, because you can't really pivot with twin needles. (Very much like you see here.)

The end result is that there is about 1" of the tie section below the vee of the neckline that isn't sewn together. This is OK because (1) it's a knit and does't ravel, and (2) tying the strips into a bow takes up that length and hides the opening. If this was a woven, I'd use Steam-a-Seam to close the opening.







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From recent comments:
Mrs. Moos mentioned finding lime slinky at Joann's. Just thought I'd mention that mine came from Nancy's Notions and it's still in stock. Along with a bunch of other colors.

Carolyn was still plugging a navy or black suit. I don't wear either color. I *would* wear a brown suit but they're hard to find in RTW and I just don't have the fabric right now to make one. Really, if I had had enough of the either jacket fabric to make a skirt, I'd have a suit. But I didn't, so I'm going to just dazzle them with my well-coordinated outfits, resume/skills, and shining personality. LOL! Yeah, you can wipe off the keyboard now. But seriously, if this was NYC or Washington, D.C., I'd be more diligent about a suit. But it's Tampa, Florida. We're a bit less uptight here. ;-) Even on interviews. In fact, I'm guessing I'll actually be overdressed compared to most other interviewees.