When I did my wardrobe clean-out last month, I was making notes on gaps that I needed to fill and patterns that I should so again. One of my “opportunities” was to sew a couple of tops to go with one of my pants. It is a lovely Japanese cotton with a little bit of texture. The warp is black and the weft is a rusty colour.

The Problem

The problem is that depending on the light, it can look anywhere from an orange-red through to a dark blueish Pilbara red. The shade tends to shift away from similar colours rather than blending with them, so I’ve mainly wore it with a black shirt.

The Solution

So I took the pants fabric shopping with me in the hope of finding some prints that would work with it. I came home with three options. The top two are rayon prints – one casual, one for work. The third was what I thought to be a linen, bundled in plastic wrap in the remnants bin. When I got it home, I realised it was a linen-look polyester :-(.  And the last is a knit that I’ve had in the stash for a while.  Not sure if it really works.  What do you think?

 

Plan A – Butterick 5988

For the first print, I’ve used Butterick 5988, views A & B. It’s been on my wishlist for a while and is a nice alternative to a fitted woven T. The waist darts release into a box pleat which gives a slight peplum look.

I’ve taken the sleeve from view B and the length from view A. I’ve omitted the lining.

You can see in the last two photos how different the colour of the pants can appear depending on the lighting.

I do love the box pleat. It adds a nice touch to an otherwise simple design.

One of the best things is how well this top works with other pants in my wardrobe – black, brown, dusty pink and cream. The rust pants, with this top, combined with the cream linen jacket makes a nice combo. The leather jacket and brown pants combo is also nice although the sateen was hard to photograph well.

 

I cut a size smaller than my ‘recommended’ size (based on the bust and hip finished measurements) and I could have easily gone down another two sizes. The side seams were taken in a total of 4″ and it still isn’t quite what I’d call fitted.  Looking at the photos,  I’m also thinking that the sleeve length is a little long and I might take an inch or two off the length.

Sloper draft 🙂

During the week I’ve been working through Suzy Furrer’s bodice sloper class on Craftsy. After the hassles with the pant sloper, I’ve been a bit hesitant to work on the bodice. But, I’m happy to say that the sloper was much easier to work on and only needed a couple of minor tweaks to initial draft. Whoo hoo – I have a bodice sloper!!! Next up will be a sleeve draft.

My plan is to use it to draft to recreate this Butterick pattern to my own measurements. It is a design that I could make over and over again, so I think the effort will be worth it. Plus it gives me the incentive to tackle those intimidating sloper fitting sessions!

 

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At a Glance:

Pattern: Butterick 5988 Fabric: Rayon woven print Rating: 3/5 Great alternative to a woven T. Pattern runs very large Difficulty: 2/5 Fairly simple to put together. Has back zipper Cost: $10

30 wears: Likely Quality: Medium Durability: Medium Fad factor: Medium Flexibility: High ( > 5 outfits) Expected life: 4-5 years

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