Dreaming Of Sobretto Tops

Dreaming Of Sobretto Tops

Sewing

Sobretto Tank, by Colette Patterns

Sobretto Tank, by Colette Patterns

After giving is a try, I found that I really like Colette’s Sobretto Tank. You can read my review here and here.  The Sobretto is a free pdf pattern that you can download here. It is really great blouse to wear under a suit jacket (with a few modifications) and would be terrific for the upcomming hot Summer weather.

Lately, I have found myself contemplating new Sobretto Tanks. I am interviewing for jobs right now, and need some white or blue tops to go under my suit jacket. Here are some of the possible Sobrettos that I might make, using fabric from Emma One Sock.

The first possibility is a Sobretto using this shimmery blue knit. I think this would be really elegant.

Sobretto-blue

Shimmery Blue Sobretto

The next blue Sobretto top uses this terrific 100% cotton with tea cups and tea pots. I would make this one with the front pleat and blue or white bias binding at the neckline and arm holes. Alternatively, it would be terrific to finish the edges with a dark blue satin piping. Just charming!

Tea Cup Sobretto

Tea Cup Sobretto

Now for some white Sobrettos. Those would go with anything, especially my spring blue tweed suit from Talbots.

Obviously, a white lace Sobretto would be perfect. This 100% cotton bright white lace would be my choice, with a pale blue blue batiste enderlining. I would skip the pleat and clean finish the neckline and arm holes, possibly with a white rayon or silk lining. And of course, since this lace has a scallop edge, that would need to be at the bottom. Finally, I might consider some subtle beading near the neckline. For example, you could put a bead at the center of each of the flowers in the lace pattern.

White Lace Sobretto

White Lace Sobretto

I would love to sew a white linen Sobretto. I particularly love these two striped linen fabrics from Emma One Sock. I would use the white blue-striped fabric for the body and the accompanying blue white-striped fabric for the bias binding. This Sobretto would definitely need the front pleat. Linda also has these striped linen fabrics in a salt & pepper colorway.

 

Linen Sobretto

Linen Sobretto

My favorite of all would be this floral Sobretto. I absolutely love this bright 100% cotton by Jams World. It would be great with or without the front pleat. At this point, I’m not sure if I would bind the edges or clean finish them with facings. Alternatively, I could make it with short sleeves. It is something to contemplate.

Crayon Floral Sobretto

Crayon Floral Sobretto

If you were going to make some Sobrettos for Summer, what would you do?

May 2, 2015
YouTube Sleeve and Skirt Vent Tutorials

YouTube Sleeve and Skirt Vent Tutorials

Sewing

These days, there are many excellent video tutorials on YouTube. Many are of high quality and very professional. I find them particularly helpful, because it is possible to re-wind the video and watch particular portions repeatedly.

For example, when I wanted to learn how to knit two socks on one circular needle, I watched this tutorial by Staci of Very Pink Knits (here is her YouTube channel). I particularly like the format of Staci’s videos because much is filmed from above her hands, so that you can easily see what she is doing. The video is oriented so that it looks like it would if you were holding the needles. Further, each video is paired with a simple pattern, which allows you to follow along while watching the video.

While learning to knit two socks on one circular needle, I found one step to be particularly confusing. I must have re-watched that step about 15-times, before I understood it. Eventually I got it and now on my way to making many pairs of lovely hand knit socks. No second sock syndrome here!

This morning, my daughter called and asked me how to sew a lined sleeve vent. I thought “why re-invent the wheel?” and sent her links to three excellent tutorials, which you can watch below. I hope that you find the helpful too.

Here is Diane Deziel, with her video tutorial on tailoring a sleeve vent with lining.

Here are two videos by FashionSewingBlogTV.

Happy sewing!

Apr 26, 2015
Embellished Invisible Zipper

Embellished Invisible Zipper

Sewing

04202015-ClosueUpWhile I haven’t had much time to work on my Vogue 9850 skirt, this afternoon, I was lucky enough to sew in and embellish the invisible zipper. I prefer to sew my invisible zippers in by hand, if the fashion fabric isn’t too heavy. If you would like to learn how to hand-sew in an invisible zipper, which is usually referred to as a hand-picked zipper, Laura Mae of Lilacs and Lace has a terrific tutorial here.

Prior to embellishing my hand-picked zipper, I sewed it in using the usual method. After the zipper was sewn in, I marked where I wanted my embellishment stitches to go. I decided that I wanted the stitches to be 1-cm apart and about 0.25-inches from the seam.  I marked the stitch locations using a ruler and a blue disappearing ink pen.

I thought that I had a purchased a black zipper, but apparently not. The only zipper that I had turned out to be royal blue. Since the zipper was royal blue, I decided to use royal blue embroidery thread to make the embellishments. I embellished the first side of the zipper using 4-wrap French knots. I used four wraps of the thread, because I wanted the knots to be fairly large, so as to stand out from the busy pattern of the fashion fabric.

Stiching 4-Wrap Bullions

Stitching 4-Wrap French Knots

If you would like to learn how to sew French knots, Sublime Stitching has a great tutorial here.

It was really important that the French knots on both sides of the zipper line up horizontally. To make sure that the French knots on the second side of the zipper were properly aligned with the French knots on the first side of the zipper, I added pins to the blue pen marks, just to be doubly sure.

Marking The Second Row Of French Knots With Pins

Marking The Second Row Of French Knots With Pins

After the French knot locations were marked, I sewed them along the second side of the zipper.

Sewing French Knots On The Second Side Of The Zipper

Sewing French Knots On The Second Side Of The Zipper

And here is the completed zipper. I still need to spray it with water to remove the blue marking pen.

Completed French Knot Embellishment of Invisible Zipper

Completed French Knot Embellishment of Invisible Zipper

Happy sewing to you!

Apr 25, 2015
Vogue 9850 Skirt Part 1

Vogue 9850 Skirt Part 1

Sewing

This is my next project, a Vogue 9850 skirt in Jacquard denim with a poly charmeuse lining. This pattern is no longer in print, but I have seen it on some vintage pattern sites.  I have had this pattern in my filing cabinet since the ’80s and always wanted to make it.  At the time I bought the pattern, I had a Ralph Lauren skirt that was very similar and loved it.

Vogue 9850 Pattern In File Folder

Vogue 9850 Pattern In File Folder

I like to keep all of my patterns in 1-inch accordion file folders.  The envelope figures and pertinent information are glued/pasted onto the front. Then I label the folder and add a color-coded tag. The tag indicates a category (i.e., skirts, dresses, tops, pants, etc.), so that I can easily find it in my filing cabinet.  In the folder, I keep the original pattern (which is traced off and not damaged), my altered pattern and any extra pattern pieces that I add (i.e., facings, sleeves, etc.) and possibly the muslin.

Laying Out Muslin For Cutting

Laying Out Muslin For Cutting

I am using View C, which has box pleats in the front and back. To begin, I traced off the pattern and adjusted the traced off pattern to my size. Then I cut out a muslin for fitting.

After I tried on the muslin and marked my adjustments, such as the proper location of the side seams, I drafted a new pattern to be used when cutting out the fabric. Since the original pattern had only 2-inch pleats that were sewn down for only 2-inches, which looked stupid, I deepened them by adding an additional 3-inches in width and extended the sewn-down portion to 4-inches. This is much better, but I might make them even bigger the next time I sew this pattern. It would also look great if the pleats were sewn down much farther down the front and back, and then top-stitched.

Stretch Cotton Blend Denim Jacquard From Emma One Sock

Stretch Cotton Blend Denim Jacquard From Emma One Sock

The fashion fabric is a stretch denim Jacquard that I purchased from Emma One Sock. For now, you can find it here. Once it is sold out, I’m not sure that it will be restocked. It also comes in a blue colorway.

Stretch Poly Charmeuse From Vogue Fabrics

VF134-38 Spritzer Perfumery – Stretch Woven Charmeuse Conversational Print Fabric From Vogue Fabrics

The lining is a stretch polyester charmeuse that I purchased from Vogue Fabrics. You can find it here. I usually line all of my garments with silk or rayon. But, since I knew this skirt was going to go in the wash and needed to be more sturdy, I decided that this poly fabric would be okay. I didn’t draft a separate pattern for the lining. Instead, I pinned out the box pleats all the way to the hem.

Cutting Out The Fashion Fabric

Cutting Out The Fashion Fabric

I have cut out Part 2 will discuss sewing up the skirt. Until then, happy sewing.

Apr 20, 2015
Colette Sobretto Tank Part 2

Colette Sobretto Tank Part 2

Sewing

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Sobretto Tank, Colette Patterns

As you know, I recently made my second Sobretto Tank, by Colette Patterns. For my first post, which describes how I fitted the pattern to myself, click here. This is my second post, which describes my embellishments. If you would like to see the ways other people have embellished the Sobretto Tank, check out my Pinterest board here.

I am very interested in fabric manipulation, especially smocking. While surfing the web, I found this example of ribbon smocking, and decided to give it a try. I found this tutorial of how to smock ribbon.smockingribbontrim

I couldn’t figure it out until I checked out a tutorial for shell smocking fabric, which is a kind of Canadian smocking. Here is the graph that I used.

shell-smocking-graph

Shell Smocking Graph From Sewn Up by TeresaDownUnder

That helped me to figure out how this worked. So, here is the result, where is am almost finished tacking the smocked ribbon down to the neckline of my Sobretto. You can see both the front and the back of the ribbon, which is a one-inch polyester grosgrain ribbon that is smocked with matching thread. I chose an orange sorbet color, as the fabric already had some much pink in it.

Tacking Shell Smocked Ribbon To Sobretto Tank

Tacking Shell Smocked Ribbon To Sobretto Tank Neckline

The ribbon trim is supported by a self-drafted continuous facing. The facing is made from some batiste that I had left over from making my daughter’s baptismal gown years ago. It is interfaced with a very light knit fusible interfacing.

To fancy-up the top a bit more and to cover the tacking stitches in the middle of the shells, I decided to add a few seed beads to each of the shells.

Auditioning Beads For Shell Smocked Ribbon Trim on Sobretto Tank

Auditioning Beads For Shell Smocked Ribbon Trim on Sobretto Tank

I decided to use the first three beads on the ribbon trim. You can also see the herringbone weave of the fabric.

Beaded And Shell Smocked Ribbon Trim On Sobretto Tank

Beaded And Shell Smocked Ribbon Trim On Sobretto Tank

I made a tiny hem, so that I can tuck this top into my skirt/pants.

Hem Of My Sobretto Tank

Hem Of My Sobretto Tank

And finally, I added a hand embroidered label, so that my husband will know what to do with this when he is doing the laundry. Thread lingerie carriers (not shown) were added to the shoulder seams, so that I can attach the top to the straps of my brassier.

Washing Label

Washing Label

And again, there is my final result. I am really happy with the results and will be making more Sobretto Tanks. They will be perfect to wear under a suit jacket during the Summer.

Sobretto-2-final-1

Me In My Ribbon Embellished Sobretto Top

There are few changes that I might make to this top. The first thing that I might do is raise the neckline a small amount. When I tried this top on, under a suit jacket, it seemed pretty low. With the bias binding, it would have been slightly higher. I might also add sleeves. There are lots of patterns for adding sleeves to the Sobretto on the web. Also, I would like to try other sorts of fabric manipulation. For inspiration, I put together a Pinterest board of other Sobretto tops that other people have made and other embellishments that might be great on the Sobretto. People are very creative! I will definitely be trying some of these out.

Happy Sewing!

Apr 16, 2015

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