Vogue 8881 - Not project 9

This wasn’t actually one of my 52 projects, but when I came to do project 9 I realised that I didn’t have enough of the grey and black stripe for a whole T shirt, the using the small amount that I had needed to be re-branded anyway.

I also had a small amount of a fine black knit with grey screen printing on it, which actually went quite well with the stripe.  This was part of my $1 stash, which also had heaps of black T shirting in it.

Having been bullied into buying two vogue patterns by a couple of especially pushy pieces of fabric I figured I might as well pick up anything else that caught my fancy since the postage is the major expense of ordering patterns on line here in New Zealand.  Vogue 8881 seemed to have been designed for the few odd pieces I had in black and grey.  Of course, when the patterns arrived I had to jump in and get started on one of them as soon as posible.

 

Matching the two bias cut striped side pieces was a challenge.  After a couple of failed attempts at pinning I resorted to hand tacking the two pieces together from the right side, then sewing the seam on the machine.  It was time consuming, but I’m actually really pleased with how the side seem looks. 

I was a little nervous about the neckline, which is just hemmed.  I’m used to adding ribbing to necklines to keep them sitting against the chest, but the instructions were to hem the neck edge.  While it isn’t as firm as ribbing would have been, it’s quite wearable and I think the finish does look better as a hem.  I overlocked the edges and only turned the hem once, as twice added a lot of bulk.  I also overlocked the bottom edges to keep the flowing thing going.  I think a hem there might have been a bit stiff.

Other than that the pattern went together really well.  I sewed a medium size, although I’m probably a large.  I think that the large might have started to resemble a tent, but the medium sleeves are a little snug.

All in all, I’m very pleased with this top.  It was a genuinely quick make (started it at lunch time and wore it out that evening) which is always satisfying.