Sew Over It Susie Blouse

I have a long-standing intention to sew more tops. It's a good intention, but it tends to get neglected in favour of the latest shiny new dress pattern, or the opportunity to sew another beautifully twirly skirt. All those skirts will end up being left in the wardrobe if there aren't tops to wear with them though, so when Sew Over It released the Susie blouse pattern recently, it seemed to be just the kind of top I was after so I took it as a sign and got stitching.

As the pattern description says, Susie is a simple but versatile everyday top. It's a loose fitting bodice, with a V-neck, collar and 3 different sleeve lengths (I made the short sleeved version). It appealed to me because of the lack of closures - while I love buttons in general, and I happily wear shirtdresses, I've come to realise that, after an initial burst of enthusiasm when I've just made them, my shirts/blouses that button up tend to get left in the wardrobe. I have no idea why that is, but there we go. Hopefully this little blouse will get worn more!

The lack of any form of closures also means that this is a fairly speedy project - I think I sewed this within a few hours.

This was also helped by the fact that the instructions are really easy to follow and detailed and, combined with the clear photos, make the sewing process a breeze.

In terms of sizing, I fall right between a Sew Over It 12 and 14 on my bust and waist, and between a 14 and a 16 on my hips. Based on the finished garment measurements, I decided to go with the lower of the two sizes, and made a 12, grading out to a 14 at the hips. The fit is spot on as far as I'm concerned - loose enough to be comfy, but fitted enough that it has a nice shape to it and isn't just a tent.

The fabric I used is a lovely spotty lawn that I bought about a year ago from Guthrie & Ghani. It's been sitting in my stash since then, which is a long time for me to wait to use a fabric. I originally bought it with the intention of making a dress, but when it arrived I thought that it was so lightweight that it would be better suited to being a top. It's almost become a number of other patterns over the last year, but I kept changing my mind about what to make. When the Susie pattern appeared, I decided to stop dithering and just use it. Thankfully, I think they suit each other perfectly so that seems to have been a good decision!

I'm happy with the end result, and I can see that I'll make more Susie blouses in the future - for starters, there's another piece of fabric that's been in my stash a while which would probably work well, although I'm thinking of trying a collarless version to mix it up a bit. I also treated myself to New Look 6217 in a recent pattern sale after seeing some pretty versions of the top online. Does anyone have any other good top/blouse patterns to recommend?

Sew Over It cowl neck top & simple skirt refashion

Today's post brings you the excitement of two finished projects for the price of one - a Sew Over It cowl neck top and a simple refashioned skirt, which go quite nicely together even if I do say so myself.

This outfit has been brewing in my head since I found this skirt in a local charity shop a couple of months ago...

I loved the butterfly print and the fabric is beautifully silky soft (it's 100% cupro), but it was too small for me. The skirt had generous pleats though, and was pretty long, so I knew there was enough fabric there to make it work for me and that it was worth the £5 price tag.

It came home with me, where I hung it on one of the hooks on my living room wall so I could ponder what exactly to do with it. Unfortunately it looked quite pretty and colourful hung on the wall so I started subconsciously treating it as some odd form of art instead of a project that needed attention. Really, that was a waste though so I decided to make a top to wear with it, that I wasn't allowed to wear until I could wear it with the skirt. I like these strange little self-imposed challenges!

So this is the top that motivated me to attack the skirt...

I actually bought the fabric (it's a viscose jersey from Guthrie & Ghani) with the intention of making an Agnes top, but when it arrived it was so lovely and drapey that I thought it might be better suited to the Sew Over It cowl neck top instead - I'd bought the pattern on offer when it was released but hadn't got round to making it, so this seemed like a good opportunity to do that.

It was a nice simple project, and sewed up pretty quickly. I did ignore the instructions a bit though - they have you sew the shoulder and side seams of the top and then set in the sleeves, but I sewed the sleeves in flat and then sewed the sleeve and side seams in one, which just seemed easier to me.

If you're making this top, it's worth bearing in mind that it's a more loose fitting style than lots of knit tops. I made a size 12, which matches my measurements if I'm trying to flatter myself slightly rather than being completely honest, and there's still plenty of ease. I'm happy with the looser fit, but I think I could have gone down a size and still ended up with a top that fit me fine.

If I'm being picky, the PDF could be a bit better - it would be good if there were instructions about which pages you don't need to print if you're only making the top instead of the dress, and there are 6 blank pages that you don't need to print off at all. I can see why they're included in the PDF to make it easier to draft, but again there could be instructions about not printing them. Those are minor niggles though and don't affect the actual pattern at all.

They didn't really cloud my experience of making the top either, and I can definitely see myself making other versions at some point.

So, I had the top and now I needed to refashion the skirt!

I unpicked the waistband, and with all the pleats released there was masses of fabric to work with (I ended up chopping about 10 inches off the front and back at one side). I then washed the skirt fabric, left it quite wet and hung it up to dry by one of the side seams to encourage the pleats to fall out. Magically they did, and the fabric didn't really even need ironing before I got to work.

I decided to keep it simple and make a gathered, elastic waist skirt, and used this tutorial from Handmade Jane. As a bonus, I've also got side seam pockets in mine, mainly because the original skirt had pockets so I thought I might as well use them! The only other thing I needed to do was shorten the skirt - it was that horribly frumpy length favoured by older ladies, and I think the hem had been altered before because it was a bit uneven - so I took about 6 inches off, rehemmed it and that was it!

I'm glad I finally got round to cutting the skirt up and doing something with it - it's definitely better as something to wear than just something hanging on the wall to look at! It may have only been a simple project, but I really enjoyed hacking apart the skirt and making something new. It's inspired me to think of various possible projects for taking part in The Refashioners - is anyone else going to play along?

Schnittchen Malu Jacket

I knew once summer was coming to an end that I needed to get to work on a new jacket - my old one only just made it through last autumn/winter, and I wanted to try to make a replacement so I started looking around for inspiration. I was almost set to make a winter version of the Anise jacket, but then within a couple of days of each other I spotted the Schnittchen Malu and some lovely coating fabric that I seemed like a brilliant match for the pattern, so I took it as a sign that they were meant to go together and here's the result...

The Malu is a fully-lined coat or jacket (I made the shorter jacket version) with kimono sleeves and welt pockets, and the options of either a collar or hood, and zip or buttons (obviously I went for the hood and buttons), so there are plenty of variations to choose from. 

The pattern is also designed to have hem bands, but when I made up my toile the extra length that the hem bands added made the jacket a bit of a strange length on me, so I left the hem bands off, which gave me a jacket just the length I wanted. 

As I was going to leave the hem bands off, sewing the rest of the pattern as drafted would have meant that the lining might have ended up visible around the hem, so I shortened the lining pieces slightly and drafted hem facings to make sure the lining stays hidden away.

I was surprised by how quickly the jacket came together, but then I realised that I'd been basing my expectations on my experience making my Anise jacket, whereas this is a much simpler pattern. The fit is quite relaxed, so there are no darts or princess seams. The kimono sleeves also mean that there are no sleeves to set in, and finally the lining is bagged and turned through a small hole in the arm seam, so there's not a lot of hand stitching involved (I do quite like a bit of hand stitching, but there's no denying that it does take longer!). I did take my time with the welt pockets to make sure that they turned out nicely, but then I managed to sew up almost all of the rest of the jacket on a Sunday afternoon (and it would have been even quicker if I hadn't had an incident with a broken needle colliding with my finger!).

The instructions were fairly easy to follow, although they are just written instructions without any diagrams to illustrate the steps which might not be great if you like to see things visually instead of doing lots of reading. There is a tutorial online with photos though, so that definitely helps (it's in German, but even if you didn't speak German I think it would be pretty easy to work out which photo goes with which step). 

I had the instructions in English and German, which was interesting for me because I work as a German-English translator so it gave my inner language geek and sewing nerd the opportunity to work together for a change! In general, the translation was fine and it all made sense, although there were odd little things like using "sewing allowance" instead of "seam allowance" which were a bit strange. That's me being a picky translator though, it probably wouldn't bother a normal person!

The fabric is a poly/viscose/wool blend coating from Guthrie & Ghani. I fell slightly in love with it as soon as I saw it online and it didn't disappoint in real life! It's a nice weight for autumn, and it's a lovely shade of blue (it's also actually reversible, and the blue flowers on a grey background look great too, if that's more your style), and I like the fact that the pattern makes it a bit different from normal coats. I thought it would be a good match for the Malu because the lack of darts and everything means that the flower pattern doesn't get broken up too much. 

I did attempt some pattern matching down the centre back seam, but that failed spectacularly - obviously my brain wasn't working properly when I was cutting out my fabric. I got a bit annoyed with myself when I realised it didn't match, but then I told myself that nobody who doesn't sew would ever even think twice about the fact that the pattern doesn't quite match down the back of my jacket so it doesn't matter too much. I succeeded in making sure the lines of flowers matched up across the front, so that's something at least!

For the lining, I used some "superior lining" from Truro Fabrics in silver. It's an acetate and polyamide mix, and it is a lot more expensive than a standard poly lining, but it's breathable, really soft and feels so much nicer so I definitely think it was worth the extra that I paid for it. I wouldn't necessarily start using it to line all of my garments - skirts that I've lined with normal poly lining have seemed fine to me, but I think it's worth paying that bit extra for more special (and hopefully long-lasting!) projects.

I wasn't sure what to do about pre-treating the coating fabric, but in the end I did what the Colette Anise Companion refers to as the "London shrink" - you wash a bed sheet and then lay out the damp sheet and roll the fabric up inside it, then leave it overnight, before unwrapping and leaving to dry completely. I'm not really sure if that's the right thing to do, but I feel better that I've pre-treated it in some way at least!

It took me a while to decide what buttons I wanted to use - I initially had it in my head that it would be good to use some self-cover buttons, but the print was the wrong size for that to work well, then I wanted matching blue, but eventually I found these grey ones in a local wool shop. I really like the fact that they're a bit different but without distracting from the main fabric, if that makes any sense?!

I don't think I'll be rushing to make another Malu, but that's mainly because I can't justify having multiple versions of the same coat in the same way that I can with dresses! As I mentioned before though, the Malu does have a couple of options to choose from so you could make versions that were a bit different. I'm kind of tempted to try an unlined version of the longer coat in fleece and use it more like a long cardigan than a coat, but it's just an idea that's floating around in my head at the moment - it may not go anywhere.

Overall, I'm really happy with how this turned out, and it's the perfect weight for this time of year. The Malu is a nice pattern, and I think it would be a good option to choose if you fancy having a go at making a coat or jacket, but aren't quite ready to commit to lots of tailoring or a more complicated pattern (as long as you're OK with the lack of diagrams in the instructions). Has anybody else been sewing a coat or jacket recently?