Reptile Prints

Reptile prints fabrics seem to be very popular and two slithered (sorry I couldn’t resist) into my stash recently.

The first was a remnant of 1.25 yards,  45 “ wide,  shades of blue,  100% silk surah from Fabric Mart.
And the print was linear, running from selvedge to selvedge. I really should refrain from buying remnants. I spent so much time digging through my patterns  to find just the right one  for the style of the garment I have in mind, but so many had to be eliminated because they required more fabric than I had. It took a bit of searching to find a top pattern that would fit on this print fabric and allow symmetrical placement of the light “stripes”.  

 McCall’s 6515, circa 1993 ( does 25 years old qualify as "vintage"), a sleeveless, V neck dress with dramatic fold over collar. The armholes, collar and front edges are accented with piping. I cut off the dress pattern 8 inches below the waist mark to shorten it to a blouse length. I looked through my scrap bags for a dark navy silk I thought might be used for the piping, but instead I found a perfect matching blue silk left over from a blouse made back in 2007 Blue Blouse. 

It is scary to find out how old some of my scraps are.

I used a combined piping/facing to finish the armhole.  I made the piping with a 1 inch seam allowance. I  applied the piping and  trimmed the armhole opening seam allowance and lower seam allowance of the piping. The other piping seam allowance was left  untrimmed and hand tacked to the fashion fabric, hiding the armhole seam allowance. 

piping and facing in one.

The  style is very unfitted, with no darts or side seam shaping, which resulted in a surprising cool top on a hot humid day. If I had had more of the fabric, I would have shaped the hem edge to be more flattering.

Print two was purchased because I  wanted to add some yellow to my wardrobe.  This silk reptile print, in black and white, has ombre “stripes” of pale yellow. Source: DenverFabrics.com

 I had plenty of this fabric so my pattern and style choices were larger.  I chose a pattern I had made before and really liked to wear.  Previous Make Vogue 1412 view B: very loose-fitting, raised neckline, front extends into back collar, front buttoned one-way pleat, and continuous lap on sleeves.

Vogue 1412 front

Vogue 1412 back

The front pleat in this top allowed me to create a double wide stripe of yellow in the center front. I was so proud of my color placement but when I pointed it out to my DH, he said it looks like I dribbled chicken soup down my front. Sigh! Remember Audrey, you did not  marry him for his fashion/style sense.

Burda 8/2018 Deep V top 113

The August issue of Burda Style arrived  just as we were packing up for our annual week at the beach. I had been looking for a sleeveless top pattern that would fit on about a yard of  fabric, and had vertical design lines to break up a large print. Why? Because I had a yard long piece of a poly/lycra large scale print fabric I loved.   The "Deep V top" 8/2018 #113 met all my requirements. I quickly added the fabric, tracing paper and the magazine to the "sewing" tote. Based on the weather forecast for the coming week, which had rain every day, I packed a lot of sewing projects. I am happy to say the weather was better than forecasted and I only completed this project.

I made some  changes. This is a petite size pattern (17-21) and I am not petite. And elastic waists on tops are not a good style for my body because gathers at a thick waist, make it thicker.   So much easier to deal will both issues by extending  the pattern from waist to hip length, omitting the gathered waist peplum.


Sewing Notes.

• Pictures on all Burda sites show an invisible zipper applied in center back seam.  There are no instructions for this in magazine and it is really not needed because of the V neck opening and the use of recommended stretch fabric. ????

•  The General Seam and Hem Allowance section says 5/8 '' allowance on all "seams and edges".   However specific  instructions on applying the seam binding on the armhole opening says to use 3/8”  SA so just be aware only 3/8 “ SA needs to be added on armhole opening. 
• There is shaping in the center back seam which allows the back  to fit close to the neck and also helps with the fitting of the back armhole to the body.  Don’t be tempted to put the center back on the fold. Fit will be compromised. I actually added more curvature to the top of the seam because  of my upper curved back, forward neck.
• Armholes are low.  I raised bottom by 1/2 “and could have added more. 

I love the style of this top and how easy it was to sew.  There is  a dress pattern, 112,  that uses the same pattern pieces as the top but also has sleeves.  I am tempted to make the top again with the sleeves.