The Sewing Place

Two new tops and a tricky fabric

dolcevita

Two new tops and a tricky fabric
« on: July 25, 2021, 17:15:32 PM »
I recently splashed out on some pricey but gorgeous linen jersey (Stone Fabrics) - beautiful stuff. Being a good girl for once, I pre-laundered it as it almost certainly shrunk on the first wash. All good, no problems.

My dilemma came with cutting out as the knit fabric was significantly off-grain; I should emphasise that I'm not pointing the finger at the supplier, it's just the nature of the linen jersey.  Anyhow, my dilemma was whether to cut in line with the vertical direction of the knit, or the crossways variation of the linen slub. In the end, I went with the crossways slub, as this is visually more obvious. It was tricky to decide, though, and not a judgement I would have wanted to make with less experience.  Here's a close up photo of my trapezoidal fabric:
 
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The pattern is a top from the 05/2016 issue of Ottobre Woman and one I've been meaning to get around to for some time. Since 2016, in fact. Surprise, surprise! It's originally made from a single knit merino wool, but my two are linen jersey and some sort of soft slubby acrylic/poly jersey which is much nicer than it sounds. The latter has been marinating in my stash for a few years now.

I did my usual grading pattern alterations but also modified the neck to make the V a little deeper and wider as these aren't intended to be winter tops. I changed the construction of the front neckline to use a gacing as I prefer the finished look of this method. Ottobre recoomend a rolled hem, but it wouldn't have worked on my alternative fabrics. The top has a slight dropped shoulder and flares out to a gentle A line. It also has a centre back seam with some nice subtle shaping. Another easy to wear winner from Ottobre.

Here are the two versions. They appear to have drag lines at the back but these disappear once filled out with my ample derrière.

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« Last Edit: July 26, 2021, 12:14:02 PM by dolcevita »

SkoutSews

Re: Two new tops and a tricky fabric
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2021, 20:08:40 PM »
Lovely tops! I'll have to take a look at the 5/2016 Ottobre mag. I do like a vee neck and those tops look very useful.

Your battles with the off-grain fabric have paid off.

Renegade Sewist

Re: Two new tops and a tricky fabric
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2021, 20:33:04 PM »
Nice. I'd ordered swatches of linen knit fabric as I love the concept but it was definitely squirrely. Although I think I have the technical skills to pull it off I realized I didn't have the mental power to want to figure it out. You did a fantastic job on both of those.  :perfect10:
Hey Bill! Read the manual!  Hehehe.

dolcevita

Re: Two new tops and a tricky fabric
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2021, 20:57:57 PM »
Thanks, both. The linen jersey is really nice to wear, but it definitely messes with your head when you're deciding how best to cut. I have another length of the linen jersey, but a bright green shade. I will have to ponder what to use that for, but it will have to be a simple pattern. Squirrely is definitely the right word, @Renegade Sewist !

Ohsewsimple

Re: Two new tops and a tricky fabric
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2021, 22:10:20 PM »
Nice job @dolcevita.  Linen jersey is a bit of a nightmare.  I’ve got a cardigan in it and it takes some persuading when I’m pressing  it back to shape after washing it. 

annieeg

Re: Two new tops and a tricky fabric
« Reply #5 on: July 26, 2021, 07:29:46 AM »
@dolcevita  :perfect10: 
Your technical know-how is impressive  :D

Silver Rose

Re: Two new tops and a tricky fabric
« Reply #6 on: July 26, 2021, 07:32:02 AM »
Well done @dolcevita  for taming that tricky fabric, I must admit I have never heard of linen jersey, in my mind the two fabrics don't seem to go together. That's why it is so difficult to handle I guess  :rolleyes:
Still learning

b15erk

Re: Two new tops and a tricky fabric
« Reply #7 on: July 26, 2021, 09:17:16 AM »
Love both of these, but the orangey one is favourite, it's lovely, and worth the fiddling.  Nice pattern too.

You've inspired me to go back to a piece of jersey I have that is behaving in a similar way. 

Jessie
Jessie, who is very happy to be here!!  :),  but who has far too many sewing machines to be healthy, and a fabric stash which is becoming embarrassing.

Clareew

Re: Two new tops and a tricky fabric
« Reply #8 on: July 26, 2021, 14:32:53 PM »
Lovely tops @dolcevita.  I have two bought linen jersey tops which are now used as part of my stylish gardening attire due to being so trapezoid.  It must be the nature of the beast - I'm glad you tamed yours.

dolcevita

Re: Two new tops and a tricky fabric
« Reply #9 on: July 26, 2021, 14:48:12 PM »
Thanks all, and apologies for my dodgy handling of attachments. I have no idea what's going on with them and each time I try and correct them, the IT gremlins ignore me, so apologies for the repetition!

In defence of linen jersey, I should say that it's no harder than any other jersey to actually sew; it's quite well behaved, in fact. The hard part is accepting that no matter how hard you try, you won't get it back on grain and you just have to decide which way will work best for what you're making. Once you've overcome, in my case 40 years, of conditioning that your fabric must be on-grain, you can just get on with it. One other thing that I did do to make life easier, was to add a thin strip of super fine fusible down the centre front where I sewed in the narrow vertical tuck. Simple to do, but worthwhile. I did the same to stabilise the shoulder seams.

realale

Re: Two new tops and a tricky fabric
« Reply #10 on: July 26, 2021, 17:14:57 PM »
Oooh, I do like those! Very nice.  :thumbsup:
So many beers, so little time.

Ohsewsimple

Re: Two new tops and a tricky fabric
« Reply #11 on: July 26, 2021, 18:54:36 PM »
Ooh I like the grey one!   

jen

Re: Two new tops and a tricky fabric
« Reply #12 on: July 27, 2021, 08:38:11 AM »
Lovely tops, I bet they are lovely to wear.