Sew Catchup 2 - Size Matters

 

#2 in my catchup posts

Online fabric shopping.  It is becoming the norm these days what with physical fabric stores closing.  I like the convenience and variety of fabrics online stores offer. And my knowledge of fabric type and weight results in a good choice if this info is provided the fabric description.   But my biggest pet peeve is when the online store does not provide information about the scale of a print or a repeat. This happened recently but I made the best of it. I loved the fabric below. The print was unique. The navy and white is a favorite combination, and the fiber also a favorite - silk.  This was the only picture on the site and there was no info on the scale of the print in the description.  But come on, how big could the print be? I was picturing one of those small-scale prints where your sewing buddy gets close and says "Oh, those are faces, how cute."  No.  OMG. The faces were huge. Life size or perhaps bigger.  Sewing buddy has to step way back to see the whole image. 

 This fabric sat in my stash for a year.  Finally, I decided to use it with a sewing pattern that had seams lines that would "cut up" the print.  I pulled out the Sewing Workshop Siena & Cortona Shirts pattern, which I have made before. The Siena has some unique seaming that result in a boxy, loose-fitting top with short sleeves.

I changed the placket, from sewn on to cut on, so I could match the print in the center front. I also cropped the top by 3 inches.  I love how it turned out.  Unfortunately, the pattern is no longer available on The Sewing Workshop website. Perhaps they are digitizing and remarketing it as they have been doing to some of their other patterns recently. 

In your Face - Siena Top

SW Whistles Shirt

My latest make is the Sewing Workshop Pattern Whistles Shirt.

 The Whistles shirt is the one in the lower left  in the above picture, with the long tapered ( whistles) flanges.  The fabric is painterly panels from Noelle Phares  printed on cotton fabric. 

Noelle Phares panel print

This shirt made in Ms. Phares's panels was the the featured garment for the May Sew Confident club. A subscription service that provides kits,, instructional videos, etc. to paying members. I am not a member of the club and already had the pattern so I went out to Noelle Phares's Etsy shop and bought 4 panels that were different than the ones offered in the kits. It was a fun exercise to lay out the pattern on the panels so that the blocks of color were pleasing  in the finished shirt.  This pattern is basically a boxy shirt with extended shoulders and the different flanges.  The pattern envelope suggested a size medium for my body measurements. I made a  size small because I do not like massive ease ( 6 inches  for a size medium) in any garments I wear, even oversize ones.  

SW Whistles shirt front

SW Whistles Shirt Back