Monday, March 2, 2009

Swap Diary 3-2-09 Missoni Madness

I really enjoyed helping with the packing tape dress form double class last weekend. I think the best part of it was chatting with the person I was wrapping and getting to know them better. One of the participants, Kim has posted some pictures on her blog. Warning, she is a trim young thing that looks good even wrapped up in paper.

Last Sunday, I was hoping to get in a little sewing until DH mentioned he wanted to go to a HAM Radio show and a computer show in northern VA (2 hour drive north). The computer show was .25 miles from the Chantilly G Street Fabric store so I printed some emailed G Street coupons, and reluctantly (not) agreed to ride along.

I found some very nice fabric at G Street. In particular the $2.97(dig through the crap for treasures)/yard table yielded pieces of gold and teal knits, both colors in my current SWAP. The teal was a super stretchy rib knit. I purchased them to use as possible trim pieces with a Missoni type knit I wanted to use for my SWAP. This knit was purchased from an on line vendor years ago before the “authentic” Missoni knits starting showing up on fabric sites. It is a blend, which includes a lot of acrylic. I really dislike acrylic knits. There is no recovery in this knit. I wanted to make a casual sweater to wear on the weekends, but whatever I made out it had to go under the SWAP jacket. I have been collecting inspiration pictures for this fabric. Here are a couple.







I decided to make a cross over top, and use the teal knit rib knit as binding on all the edges to keep the fabric from stretching out of shape and sagging. The style would work under a jacket because it was close fitting, and it would work proportion wise with the pants and long skirt in my SWAP. I used a basic V neck. T-shirt pattern with set in sleeves, from Lady Boutique magazine, morphed with the front cross over curves of this New Look pattern. I did modify the bottom curve of the front to starts 2 “ lower on hip than the NL pattern.
I ironed a very lightweight interfacing to all the outer edges of the sweater and the arm hole edges to prevent stretching while I sewed on the banding.

It worked great. The finished width of the bands is 1” wide, which was the same width as many of the color bands in the fabric.I did stretch the banding slightly as I attached it. Though the front “V” is a little plunging, the rib knit trim holds the edge against my skin. I will be wearing a scoop neck T-shirt or turtleneck under this sweater on most occasions.

Today was a snow day, no work or school because of a record snowfall last night. However snow days are not much fun when the electricity is off for 8 hours. This picture was taken on the deck and you can see the accumulation on the railing. I know you northerners are scoffing, but this is central Virginia, and this is a lot of snow for us. In fact my two gleeful sons have interrupted me to report that school is officially closed tomorrow also. Alas, the roads are clear so I will be expected to show up for work.

17 comments:

  1. That turned out great! You'll love this. My company opened at noon today but neither of the people who decided that we would open came in! I thought that was a nice touch. I couldn't get out of my driveway and will not be able to tomorrow morning either. Thank goodness for technology so I can work from hom!

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  2. Wpw! That top looks great. The colors are very flattering and this looks like one of those pieces you will get miles of wear from.

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  3. Your wrap top is amazing. Love the binding. Beautiful!

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  4. Ohhhh I likey! But I'm beginning to think that we bought a lot of the same fabrics...I know that I have two pieces similar to this in the fabric collection...and that I hadn't thought of making anything as cute as your sweater with them! Now how many SWAP pieces do you have finished now?

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  5. Nice! The binding looks really good.

    And that snow looks pretty scary to me. Didn't you get your feet wet?

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  6. Awesome top; I have yet to make anything out of knit fabric, so I am way interested in how you sew with it. The colors look great on you!

    Lucky you to have a snow day! I had to go to work - ick!

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  7. Your top looks great! The colors and style are very flattering. Looks like a lot of snow to me --- I've never experienced a snow day out here in Calif. --- must be nice!

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  8. Your top turned out beautifully! And thanks for posting those inspiration pictures for the Missoni prints. Yes, that is A LOT of snow for Virginia!

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  9. I love your 'missoni' knit top - snow day that's something I haven't come across....

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  10. I love the top!! It looks great on you!

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  11. LOVE that top!!
    The colors, the style, everything!
    I know what you mean about acrylic though, I'm not a fan of it either.

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  12. Love the top you made. We got a lot of snow in Roanoke, but not enough for me to stay at home!!!!

    I nominated you for the Sisterhood Award, go to my blog to read your nomination.

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  13. Hi Audrey, I've nominated you for the "Sisterhood Award". Hope you are having a great weekend!

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  14. What a fabulous top! It turned out great. g

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  15. Your top is gorgeous and really flattering.
    Sorry about the snow. It has been quite a Winter everywhere from the sounds of it!

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