You're on the edge of your seat waiting, aren't you?

I've pin-basted the whole thing together and tried it on. Ouch, those darn pins. I'm pretty sure this one needs no more changes. Whew! And it's about bleeping time. I love the new collar even more when it's on me so that was definitely a good change. Now I'll unpin, do the neckline topstitching and then start putting it together for real. Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself.

I also made a list of the alterations I've done and will compile that and condense this whole experience into a review on Pattern Review when I'm done. (That oughta kill a whole afternoon!) I keep waiting for someone else to review this pattern or even just put up a pic to compare notes/battle scars, but I have the feeling everyone else is waiting too.

Here we go again

Yep, yet another of the same #&@%! top I've been working on for weeks now. I think this makes the 7th time I've cut it out, but who's counting. This one is already better because it's lost the Lunch Lady look. ;-)

I extended the neckline/shoulder area toward my neck and redrew the collar. In the pic below, the original collar pattern piece is shown to the left of the yellow line and the new extension is to the right. This piece is to be cut on the fold, so I added about 4 inches in total length. This new collar matches the line drawing much more closely and I like it so much better. I didn't actually cut these collar pieces on the fold (in case you're wondering) because I'm dealing with stripes and I wanted the collar points to be symmetrical. I added a seam allowance and center back seam so I could cut each half separately.

While I was making collar pieces I also made a separate pattern for the undercollar, trimming 1/8" from the front and outside edges, so the top collar would naturally roll to the underside, as shown.

I'm not going to topstitch the neckline edges until I baste the rest of the pieces together and try it on. Six times burned, seventh time shy ... or something like that. Maybe one day soon I'll actually have a new top I can wear out of the house.

Comparison

Just to expand on my previous post ...

Look at the "photo-enhanced" collar and narrower neckline in this pic compared to the actual results below. Already, it's an improvement. I still can't save this top, but I think I can make another one I'll actually finish and wear.

Throwing in the towel

Here's the latest and probably last photo of this top. This was before I ripped out and resewed the sleeves after narrowing the shoulders. There's an improvement but it's still not thrilling me. Too bad I spent all that time on embroidery and sparklies. Sigh.

I spent some mirror time today trying to figure out what I needed to do to fix this. I decided I can't. The biggest problem is the neckline and the second biggest is the collar. The neckline is too wide up at my front neck/shoulders. It fits fine at the back neck. The collar is too short and shallow. I even added 1-1/4" to the length of the collar before I cut it in this fabric. If I hadn't, it would've been sitting at my shoulder seams.



Look at the line drawing for the pattern. Pity there's no photo representation on a live human. The collar is much longer and the points are much deeper in the drawing than in reality. That's one of the reasons I liked this top. No wonder I'm not happy with this version. Since I can't add fabric at the neck, I don't think I'll ever be happy with how it looks, or feels, on me.

I do think I can fix the pattern though. I've got all the other fitting issues taken care of, so at this point I'd only have to redraw the neckline and collar. I may be ready to give up on this top, but I'm not ready to give up on the pattern yet.

Separation Anxiety

A new topic showed up today on a sewing message board. The topic starter asked readers to rank various sewing machine features in order of preference. As I looked over the list, I started to mentally re-order them into my must-haves.

That's when I realized that while my machine has those must-haves, I've been doing without many of them for some time because I can't bear the thought of leaving my baby for repair. I mean, what if I want to sew? Yeah, I technically have a backup machine -- a BOL mechanical Kenmore -- but it hasn't seen the light of day (or touch of oil) for over 5 years. And after our move last year, I'm not even exactly sure I know where it is. Excuses, excuses. See. I'm good at justifying why not to pack her up and take her in.

Which means that right now I'm sewing without my needle threader, without a machine light (bad board that eats bulbs), without the low bobbin indicator, and the worst -- without reverse. So, are they really must-haves? Apparently not, because their absence hasn't stopped me. Oh, and my machine is also on a recall list, needing a transformer swap out, which I suppose means I'm risking danger everytime time I turn it on. Extreme sewing, eh? ;-)

The upcoming week will be a non-sewing week for me, so I've promised myself (again) that I will take my machine in for a long-overdue servicing. Hopefully by publicly announcing my intentions this time, I'll actually follow through. Please keep me honest and ask me about it next week. And who knows? If I start to get the shakes, maybe I'll dig out that Kenmore and see how she's doing.

* * * * *
As for my Simplicity 3990 top ... It's nearly finished but. Yep, but. The crossover neckline is very gape-y. I know I didn't stretch the bias edge because I stabilized it right away and everything fit together as it should. I'm guessing the fabric is a bit more forgiving than my muslins and that overall everything probably loosened up a bit as I was sewing. The top is in the washer/dryer cycle right now and my finger are crossed in the hopes of some residual shrinking happening.

I have a photo of it, unhemmed so I know it's too long, but still, it just looks so ... so ... matronly. It's really not like this in real life, but in the photo, I feel like I should be wearing it while working in a hospital or cafeteria. What do you think?


Oops. There's the washer bell. Time to toss it into the dryer and pray.