Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Fabricista Fashion Challenge Week 1: Scout Woven Tee

Woohoo the week one entries are up on the Fabric Mart blog! Voting is open until the end of Thursday. In case you missed it, the first challenge was to take the Grainline Studios Scout Woven Tee pattern and ramp it up into something special. Jen from Grainline is a guest judge this challenge! No pressure, right?


Full disclosure: we were all sent the pattern for free. I was pretty excited about this challenge. It made me feel more comfortable knowing we would all be working from the same starting point and just adding our own twists. Plus, it's an easy sew, which left plenty of time for whatever customizations we wanted.


The first thing I did was rifle through my stash to see what I had that worked. I don't stockpile many woven fabrics, and I hardly ever sew woven tops. I also made a trip to Jo-Ann's since the pattern sheet says I needed almost 2 yards for even the smallest sizes. JA had nothing with enough drape (in a solid color in cotton, anyway). After making up a muslin I realized I didn't need all that yardage unless I was cutting self-bias strips, which I had no intention of doing. I ended up going with a grey cotton voile from my stash, bought probably two years ago from Fabric.com. I did manage to get the whole top, even with my modifications, from one yard. I made a size 0.


I should take a photo of my muslin...SO BAD! You can't possibly make this top in a fabric with stiffness, you WILL look like a circus tent. There are no darts, no shaping at all. It's like a dart-less Sorbetto with sleeves. If you like this kind of thing, that's cool. It's a great pattern, well-drafted, for this particular look. But it is not something I ever would buy for myself as it's just too loose-fitting.


So what could I do to jazz it up and make it me? I'm also not big into *bling* or too much frou-frou, but I have a RTW dress with pintucks and lace that I absolutely LOVE. I've always wanted to recreate it, so I did! And of course I added PINK, because, duh.


You can read about all the details on the FM blog. The voile, being cotton, was easy to manipulate, but it wasn't without its challenges. Every pin/needle left a hole, so there wasn't much room for mistakes. I had only enough fabric to cut everything once, so when I accidentally made two identical sleeves (instead of one left and one right) there was a little bit of panic. I just tried to keep calm and make it work!


I don't know if I'll ever make this pattern again, as I prefer knit tops. I'm aware that many people have made this in a knit, but I'd rather make a Renfrew if I'm going that route. The only thing I wish I would have done differently is perhaps lowering the neckline, otherwise this top completely fits the plan/vision I had in mind!


If you love this top as much as I do (and why wouldn't you?) hop over to the FM blog and vote for me, I'd appreciate it! And a big thank you to my husband for being a great sounding board about every little detail as it was in progress. Check back Friday for the results of the voting!

11 comments:

  1. Your contrast binding works so well with that grey color. So pretty. :)

    I used the same lace you put on as a detail on the front and back as a hem facing. I think I need to take your idea and use it on the front of something someday. It looks beautiful as an embellishment!

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    1. The hem tape was pretty easy to work with as an embellishment, you should definitely try it sometime!

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  2. Fantastic work! I love the hemline variations, and it looks super cool from the back as well!

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    1. Thank you! Sometimes just drawing a curved line works out perfectly!

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  3. Pintucks, love them! Add the lace, and it's way cute. :-D

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  4. Love the tucks...they're one of my favorite fabric manipulation techniques. Good luck!

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  5. Congratulations on your win! Yea!!! :)

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  6. Congratulations, Beth! Very well deserved!

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