Wednesday 13 May 2015

Simplicity Star Sewist - A Boden Inspired 1364



The best laid plans...the garment I have made, is not the one I had planned.  My plans were to use some lovely stretch purple cotton I have had in my stash for ages and use the pattern (Simplicity 1364) to make a shift dress, rather than a top, with funky pockets and a 60's vibe.  But that isn't what we have here.

Just after this lovely complimentary pattern landed on my doormat, so did a Boden catalogue and the Ursula Top jumped out a me.  
 Then a lucky find of some beautiful vintage fabric at the British Heart Foundation shop in Chesterfield, turned my plans on their head.The simple lines of the vintage pattern and the easy style of the Ursula Top, just seem the perfect combination to me.

The construction was relatively stress-free.  I simplified the construction slightly by setting the sleeve on the flat, before sewing the side seams.  I did my usual pattern adjustment, by adding an inch to the length and droping the bust drats a little.  I ended up adding side vents, as it was a little snug around my hips, which I found surprising as I am decidedly not pear-shaped.

So the top was all finished and the facing slip stiched at the shoulders and tried it on...and oh no.  The neck line was just too high.  It looked nice, but was not going to be comfortable to wear.  So the slip stitches we unpicked and the understitching of the front half of the facing undone  and I droped the front neckline by an inch at the front, tapering up to the shoulders.  The result of this, was a very narrow facing (about half the normal width) at the front, so to make sure the facing didn't pop out I did a row of topstitching about 1cm from the edge.


And it met the ultimate test of wearability, it's good for walking the dogs.  

The purple dress it still on my list of plans and I'm sure some other tops from this pattern.


0 comments: