My recent sewing projects all involve striped fabrics. I was wondering if the attraction to strong linear designs was because the rest of my life has been a bit chaotic . Two sons moving apartments both with a time gap between moving out of the old apartment and being able to move into the new one. Not only did I get my lifting and climbing exercises (what is wrong with a first floor apartment?) but my house was the interim storage location for both sons’ furniture and household goods. I had to cancel the cleaning service and my kitties had a field day with their new playground of boxes and furniture. And we are moving my 81 year old mother out of the house she shared with my Dad, who passed last year, to a smaller home closer to one of my siblings. My mother has grown feisty with age and says whatever she likes with no thought to the appropriateness of the situation or to whom she is speaking. It can be funny, if you are not on the receiving end. Moving my mom has been a very emotional and physical activity for her, her animal menagerie and my brother and sisters. But it will be worth it to me to know she will be in a home she can manage and a couple blocks from my sister. Ah, my poor brother in law, who is her landlord. He is a saint. Criticisms of the house ( "You can tell it was renovated by a man. No cabinets in the bathroom for my beauty creams and potions.") and special requests: "Pave the backyard so I drive up to back door, Dig me some flower beds." No wonder we siblings drink when we get together. Her fabric stash filled 40 large garbage bags. Lovely dressmaking fabrics from the 70’s and 80’s; wool blend plaids, rayon prints and poly knits. We donated them to the local thrift shop, but we were told they go right to the shredder / chemical coating applicator to emerge as insulation. Horribly depressing when I think of the size of my stash and the amount of potentially outdated fabric it contains. We are still dealing with the quilting and cross-stitch kits and tools, multiple sewing machines and sergers, boxes of buttons, zippers, and threads.
Anyway back to sewing. First top is Burda 6579 envelope pattern.
Described by Burda as a patchwork V neck blouse. It is designed for woven fabrics and has seaming in the front which can be used for color blocking or patchwork. I used two coordinating striped fabrics, soft cotton twill weave from www.denverfabrics.com.
 |
| Burda 6579 mixed stripes |
I used the wide stripe for the main front piece and the narrow stripe for the back and front color blocked sections. This is an easy to sew top, with neckline and sleeve openings finished by turning under and stitching. The perfect top and fabric for wearing in hot humid weather.
The second top is Burdastyle 04/2015 #123A
It features an squarish neckline, raglan sleeves, front darts and a boxy silhouette. The sleeves are cut in one with the back. I was concerned about the boxy fit and the sleeve length so I made a wearable muslin out of a cotton poly seersucker stripe, also from Denver Fabrics.
In my normal Burda size 42, it was very loose, the neck was too wide and the sleeves too long. I ended up shortening the sleeves to just above elbow length and going down a size to get a fit I liked.
This top is shown in two fabrics in the magazine, one solid and one striped. The Extra Tip on the picture of the striped version said
"You can also experiment with coulour here. This top looks great with the front and back in different colours, also because the sleeves are cut on at the back." This triggered a
memory of a double sided striped fabric in my stash. Part of a silk stripe bundle (men’s tie fabric) purchased from Fabric Mart Fabrics years ago. And I was actually able to find it buried deep in the stash.
 |
| Double sided silk stripe |
This fabric was 36 inches wide and I had a two yard length. This made pattern layout an advanced exercise in stripe matching. I did it by adding a center back seam and piecing the lower back, which I made a feature by using the reverse of the fabric.
I like the silk version. It is bright and comfortable and not too boxy for my style comfort zone. I originally thought the “bat sleeve “description used by Burda for this top referred to sleeves that are attached to the fabric of the shirt or dress as one, and resemble the wings of the nocturnal flying creatures. But now I think the term is referring more to baseball “bat” sleeves because they are tubular and stick out from the shoulder.
