It's a Wrap

The top is finished. You can read the full review on PatternReview.com, here.

I did use Rose's trick of sewing the ties in half so they would stop rolling out to the wrong side. This worked great so thanks again! (BTW Rose, are you MasoumaRose on PR?)



Below are two photos showing the after-the-fact elastic insertion. I threaded it through the end of the hem straight through to the other side. I used safety pins to hold it in place while I tried it on and then anchored it at the two areas between the red circles. I pulled the tails out at the sides and cut them off so the only elastic left is between those two points. (Just for kicks, I also pinned the stretched elastic at the armhole seams to simulate how the elastic would behave if I followed the pattern instructions. It definitely pulled the armholes inward in an odd way so I'm glad I didn't have to be stuck with only that option.)





The top on me:



Two questions from the comments regarding this top:

From Sherril: "I was worried about those ties not working on me since I have such a short waist. Do you think they would work better if they were just shortened and tied in the back, not wrapped around to the front?"
Personally, I don't like anything tied in the back after a certain age … say 10. ;-) To me, it says either "little girl" or "maternity." So, my answer is no. I think you should tie in front, but also lengthen the overall length of the top to give the illusion of more torso/waist. And you'll probably want to use Rose's idea too. Just my 2 cents.

From Nancy K: "Did you do an fba on this? It is not clear."
Yes, and No. ;-) No, because I was using my TNT Ottobre tee pattern pieces which already have a full bust allowance incorporated via easing extra front length into the back sideseam. But Yes, because I did add extra length (~1.5") to the crossover pieces to compensate for the extra length a full bust needs for coverage.

Tweakin' the Twists

So here's where it is this morning. Looks like it's done, eh? Uh, nope!



On me, the tweaking still to be done becomes more apparent.



First, the camisole panel. Because I knew I did not want elastic running armpit to armpit, I purposely did not insert any into the top edge yet, intending to judge how much and where after it was on me. It will be very easy to thread some narrow elastic into the coverstitched top hem and stitch it into place behind the wrap panels so that it will never be seen by the world (except you, of course, when I show it later!). Once that is done, it will snug up against my chest and sit high enough for modesty's sake.

Next, I still need to hem the sleeves and bottom.

Lastly, the ties are still making me crazy. They do NOT want to stay right-side out. Rose, you had a FABULOUS idea, and I'm going to try it out, tenkyewvellymuch. In case you missed it in yesterday's comments, Rose said that she ended up folding the ties in half and sewing them shut. I'm going to try that by basting first so I can see where to start the fold. The ties are definitely wide enough — and my high hip fluff starts rounding out early enough — for this to work out well, I think.

As you can see by the rear view, the ties want to make themselves narrower anyway as they try to squeeze into what space there is back there.



Overall, though, I like it and I think it's actually flattering, which is something I was wondering about since most of the reviews on PR are shown on thinner ladies.

See! I told you these ties are crazy! ;-)



P.S. Angie, don't wait. Put this top into your SWAP! I think you'll look great in it! But, no pressure, right? ;-)

Twistie-Turnie

I think the actual sewing and fitting are going OK, but those ties are going to drive me NUTS! I'm already thinking of just cutting them off and inserting the ends into the sideseams. They are heavy, long, and they do not stay all the way right-side out when tied around Zillie's or my waist. This pattern really should be made with a 2-sided knit. Since the sideseams aren't yet sewn and the cami isn't in place, I'll withhold final judgment. But I'll be basting the sideseams to give myself an easy out if I do end up cutting off the ties. And let me say right now how glad I am to have downturn fellers for my coverstitch machine. Otherwise, I'd still be sewing the narrow hems on those ties.

Unrelated … my denim order from Fabric.com arrived yesterday. It's not the same fabric/color as the Best Jeans Ever. In the photo below, the top denim is the 10 oz Indigo but it has a lot of white and reads much lighter than I expected. The middle is the 12 oz Navy. The bottom is what I cut off The Jeans prior to hemming.



I'm still deciding whether or not I'm going to keep these. I've never returned anything to Fabric.com but since I have another order of what I think is The Actual Denim arriving soon and denim takes up a lot of shelf space, I may just do that with this. On the other hand, one of these cuts would probably work pretty well for DS. They're good denims and will be tons better after prewashing, but do I really need them? (Especially when … ahem … 9 more yds are on their way.)

Jumping on the Bandwagon

… but bringing my own drummer. Or something like that.

Pattern 116 from the 01/2008 issue of Burda WOF is turning into a popular top over at Pattern Review. And since I do love crossovers, I figured what the heck, I'll join in too. But this time I decided to pull out the TNT Ottobre patterns *before* making the leap of faith.

Here's the Burda line drawing:

And the Ottobre 02/2007 line drawing:



Quite similar, no? Yes.

The main differences between the two are (1) Burda has a built-in camisole panel and Ottobre uses a full tank front panel; and (2) Burda's crossover morphs into wide wraparound ties while the Ottobre top extends the binding into the wraparound ties. This looked like a very easy morph to me.

Below is the crossover pattern piece. My Ottobre tracing is in black; the Burda tracing is in red. (Click the photos for larger versions.) These were surprisingly close. I say "surprisingly" because I'm still remembering how wonky that shirred top armhole from the Plus issue is/was. I used the WOF pattern as the base and then morphed my shoulder angle, armhole curve, and sideseam width from the Ottobre pattern. I also added 1.5" to the length because I think the girls are going to need it. I gradually decreased the added length as I moved across the pattern piece, so that the tie sections remain the same width as the original pattern.



Next was the cami section. I made another tracing of the Ottobre plain front tee and then laid that over the Burda cami pattern, aligning the armholes and center fronts. You can see the original lines of the Burda pattern in red. I'll cut off the upper bodice section of the Ottobre pattern to make this piece mimic the Burda pattern.



This is the bottom of the cami piece. I'm keeping the length per the Ottobre pattern (black).



For the back and sleeves, I'm going to use the straight Ottobre pattern pieces. No morphing necessary. Especially since I see those high Burda sleevecaps for a knit again. Ick.

I'm going to go back up to the sewing and change over the threads on the machines and then I'm hoping to cut this out after dinner.

As Seen On Our Daily Walks

I love where we live, even if the house we live *in* still isn't finished. At this point, I'm realizing it probably never will be. One of the things I really like is the narrow road behind our property where I walk the dogs. It's a lazy road, about a mile long, with lots of open spaces. We rarely have to watch out for cars. It's quiet back there but there's always something to watch (or sniff, in the case of the poochies) and I come back from the walks peaceful and happy.

Yesterday, I finally remembered to bring my camera. I've been wanting to get pics of the various critters we see along the way. Below is a sampling of down just one half of the road.

First up, cows. They love eating the Spanish Moss which hangs from the trees. When they're close to the road, I'll often pull some down and feed it to them. It takes a little coaxing to get them over to me, but they usually can't resist the sight of that fresh moss.



The goats. These guys take no coaxing whatsoever to come close. Before I got here, they were all just casually grazing but as soon as they saw me, they came running. Sorry goats. No veggies for you today. On the days I do bring carrots and celery, Chili and Dani eat just as many as do the goats and give me dirty looks if they think the goats are getting a bigger share.



This guy is the chief billy. He's very greedy and often head-butts subordinates outta the way.



You'll have to squint for this one. At the right, near the telephone pole is a horse and a rooster. It was about 2 PM but the rooster was just crowing away.



These guys bark and run around non-stop every time we walk by. You'd think they'd remember they know us by now. They are actually very friendly and are just trying to get my pups to join in their fun. They are all rescues and are living a pretty good country life now. Lucky dogs.



Another yard, another dog. This is Pepper's dog-walk boyfriend. She just adores Java (his name) and starts whining and whimpering when we get near his yard. Java likes her too and always comes over to say hello. He's got the most beautiful ice-blue eyes and is much more obedient than my dogs will ever be.



A couple more horses. They're in their stables today but they are often out grazing in their yard, along with their 3 dog "brothers" who come out and bark at us from time to time.



The donkeys. We hear these guys braying from our yard a lot. I like hearing them, the roosters, and cows off in the distance. If they were right next door, probably not so much. ;-)