the Lekala drawstring top

I'm sure you've all read by now, but the Russian pattern site Lekala has their designs free for download, as long as you can use a Burda size 44. I went to the site, and fell for this dress, drawstrings and all.

So off I went, printing and taping the pages together, cutting and plotting how I was going to make a size 44 fit. I'm usually a 40 or 42. I found that the Lekala patterns whose lines are printed single, do not include seam allowances. I double-checked, and my pattern was single so voila! I would simply stitch it up on the serger, reducing the seams by about 1/4" all around. Remarkably, this worked and the top fits.


I wanted to make it up as a top in order to determine how well I'd like it as a dress? I'm still torn. It's pretty fitted and I don't know that I want to put that over my butt. Also, the back pieces are different, so there's a center seam down the back and that means there's a possibility of a crooked seam running over my butt.


I had this piece of stripe left over from a previous project, and I like it. Of course I like it, I like stripes! But I could kick myself - I cut the bottom off about two inches too short for my taste.


Anyhoo, if you haven't checked out Lekala's patterns yet, take a gander. You may have to tweak the sizing and there are no english instructions, but a free pattern is a free pattern! I translated the instructions from Russian on two different sites and still ended up winging it.

Whew, two projects snuck into my "no sewing" time. Score!

Dalsland wrap - an anthro knockoff - with tute

I stopped by Anthropologie the other day, just to see what was on sale and what this Spring is going to look like. I do shop there occasionally, but what with my whole "buy less, sew more" mantra these days, I am trying really super hard not to bring home anything I don't really really really need.

I did find something super darling, though! It's called the Dalsland wrap, and there was only one of them in the store. I totally scoped it out, even sitting down on their couch to take measurements and figure out how they constructed this doohicky. It's made out of a lovely substantial doubleknit.



Then I came home and scoped it out online some more, and then I made a prototype out of cream organic cotton sweatshirt fleece on my shelf.



The great news is that out of ten reviews, it gets almost five stars! The bad news is the prototype doesn't fit me, sadly, but I learned a lot from it and in my second try ~ voila! My own personal version of the Dalsland shrug in alpaca/wool/nylon yardage from my own stash (plus), and the whole thing cost me $12 instead of $118 (another plus). If there's anyone out there reading this who wears a size 4 or possibly 6 and wants the cream sweatshirt wrap, just send me an email and I'll mail it to you. Thanks, she found a home!

Here's a quick tutorial, with diagrams instead of pics because it's a tad confusing.

I am a tall size 8 or 10 in RTW, so these measurements are based off of that and off of the Medium sized shrug in the store. The prototype I made would fit someone with smaller shoulders, maybe a 4-6?

You need a long strip of fabric, 24" wide by 116" long. I cut two pieces of sweater knit, each 24" wide by 58" long. Serge all four long edges. If you're buying yardage, that means you will need 1 1/3 of 60" wide fabric, and cut it in half.

Because I didn't have one continuous piece of fabric 100" long, I seamed my two 58" pieces in the middle, and made it a flat-fell seam because you may be able to see it when or if it folds over. This is optional (the flat-fell part, you really do need a seam).


Then fold the piece, right sides together, at the center back seam. You will be stitching closed the bottom 20".



Now for the hardest part, and it's not too hard. You will open up the piece by holding the center back seam and the seam you've just sewn in each hand, right sides together, matching the two seams up and pinning them together. Leave 9" (or more, this becomes your sleeve opening) open at each end, and stitch this seam closed.



To finish, turn under the serged edges 1/2" and stitch the hems down. I also stitched down a 1/2" around the armholes.

This is the easiest project! The hardest part is envisioning the "envelope" when you pull the two seams to the sides. The great thing about the Anthro site is you can zoom in on their finished product and actually see some of the construction of it.

I'd love to see if anyone else makes one of these wrap/shrugs/cardi/thingies!



Enjoy!

**Edit: I've added some additional thoughts on sizing and fabrics in a second post, here.

oui oui

I feel myself hitting my stitching stride again. Feeling good about something I've made instead of bad, which is a nice little change.

I was in a boutique here recently when I came across this super cute top. I took a stealth Blackberry photo at a bad angle but didn't want to be accused of fashion espionage or something.

The more I thought about that top, the more I came down with Sew-er's Sickness. You know the drill. "Oh, this is so cute. I can make this!" I don't even think the original top was that expensive. But my brain started to list the reasons I could make it.

- It was made out of white French terry, and I had a stash of white French terry I'd bought at Hancock's for $2.95 a yard on my fabric shelves, just waiting.
- It was a simple shape, a button-down top with little flutter sleeves and a waistband. I knew I'd seen a similar pattern somewhere.
- The cuteness of the top relied on some craftiness - the designer had added little ruffles edged with navy serging, and pick stitching along the waistband pieces. All things that are easy enough to create at home.

So....this is what I came up with, complete with my poor posture. It really looks nothing like the original inspiration, but I like it nonetheless. Oh, and I took these pics before I remembered to hem the bottom. Oops.



I downloaded the free JJ top pattern from burdastyle.com and made the following changes to it.

First, I omitted the collar and cut the neckline a little lower so I'd have a scoop neck. Then I used some gingham in a bias band to create a little neck binding. I used that same gingham for the sleeve bands and then got a little crazy and made covered buttons - huge covered buttons.

Why stop with all that? I ended up decorating the princess seams with a stitch from my machine's library. It's like a giant X with a dot in the center.





I cut a size 44 according to my measurements because I falsely thought French terry didn't stretch very much. Well, it does. So I ended up taking in the side seams by at least an inch each and the princess seams by about 1/4" under the bustline. I could probably stand to cinch it up a little more, but I don't want the front to gape open.



I really like the finished product. In my house, there aren't many un-attended photo shoots and this one was no different. My oldest son wanted me to read his fortune cookie fortune while I was on the timer.



1. French terry is pretty hot. It got muggy today and was 78F out and I was hot in this top! So it's probably going to be a spring/fall top, but that's fine with me.
2. The pattern that would have been an exact match to the top I saw in the boutique is Simplicity 2601. After I cut out the JJ I realized my mistake. That's ok, I have plans to make the Simplicity pattern, too! Can't have too many cute tops in my closet, right? I may even try it in a stable knit. I seem to wear a lot more knit tops than woven.
3. I really really love gingham. I think it would be totally cute to make a navy gingham top with white ruffles.
4. I hate making covered buttons. I need three hands. Or two people. Either way, they were my least favorite task from this project.

All told, this top cost me somewhere around $10. I think if I used a total of two yards at 2.95 a yard, there's almost $6 in fabric and two packages of covered buttons at $2 each. Not bad, eh? Way better than the $89 the original top cost.