#SewWrapped in Red

I finished my project for the #SewWrapped Instagram challenge that I mentioned last week -- I did get it in by the deadline on IG, but haven't got around to writing a full review of it, until today! I decided to use New Look 6081, a pattern from the 80s that's been in my stash for a while. I paired it with a stash fabric, a red & white, faintly sparkly stretch lace that I bought ages ago. 

The pattern calls for wovens or a jersey, so I thought that this not too stretchy lace would work for it. It's a fairly simple pattern, with four pieces -- front, back, and two ties. I had to make adjustments with my fabric in mind. First, I had to cut it out on the crossgrain so that the stretch was going around my body and not vertically. Luckily the floral pattern is random, not a vertically oriented one, so that didn't matter. The hems and finishes were actually easier than the pattern required; since this fabric doesn't fray, and I didn't want lumpy double folds I just turned and stitched - the single fold and the stitching don't show much at all. I can only press this fabric very lightly so didn't want to depend on flattening thick seams or hems. 

The other difficult part was the gathering at the bottom edges of the front pieces where the tie attaches on the right, and the buttons are installed to keep the left side connected to the interior. Gathering a stretch lace with so many open areas was difficult. Luckily the right side (the visible one) worked out well; the left side is a bit more of a mess but as it's inside I didn't try to unpick invisible stitches from a lace, I just 'made it work'. I didn't want to use buttons to fasten the underlap as called for in the pattern since I didn't want anything to get tangled up in the open spaces of the lace. I just stitched on three flat snaps - they are attached to the underlay and the right side seam and close up neatly. This fabric is so lightweight and forgiving in motion that I am not worried about snaps coming open here. 

The neckline is just folded in half at the back neck when you put it on, and that makes the rest of the front edges follow suit and gives that lovely swooping gathered look. One long tie is attached in the right side seam and wrapped around your back, while the short one is attached to the right front edge, and when they meet you make a knot and voila, a very quick wrap top. 

I am very pleased with this in this red lace - I can use it as a holiday piece or in this outfit that I'm sharing today. Here it's worn over a red camisole and with my favourite black skirt. Medium dressy, let's say. Over a red dress and with some sparkly jewellry it could really look fancy. I enjoyed this project and now a couple of my other wrap patterns have shifted up the queue a bit! 

A Floral Top for the Literary Sewing Circle

Today is the last day for posting your project in this round of the Literary Sewing Circle! I finished one more item that I'm including as a sewalong project, since the print reminds me so much of Japanese florals.

I'm repeating another pattern, the Burda Swing Top (115-11-18) that I recently tested out in a stretchy black polka dot knit. I really liked the outcome of my first test so remade it in this stretch lace. Of course, because it's a lace I also had to make a shell to go under it (the Sorbetto) in an appropriately rust-toned stash fabric.

I adjusted the pattern for this top slightly from my first attempt. I moved the shoulder gathers out toward the shoulder seam by about 1/2" on each side, as I found them too close to the neckline in the original version. I added 3" to the length of the pattern when I traced it, but this time I wanted it a tiny bit shorter so didn't add any hem allowance when I cut it out. But I didn't account for the weight of the original black knit as opposed to the lightweight nature of this lace, so it is a bit shorter even than I had planned -- this lace does not pull down on itself at all. It's still a good length, but the difference in fabric is something you might want to keep in mind if you try this out yourself.

I'm wearing it with a bright skirt (Vogue 1247) which I also made for this outfit, from the remnants of an earlier Burda dress. I thought this skirt would pick up the blue/green tones in the floral print of the top.

I also had the perfect thrifted necklace to go with this outfit. Love when that happens - not only is the colour right but the beads are very smooth and won't snag this lace!

This was a pretty simple project, since I'd just made a tester version. There weren't many changes to this pattern other than small adjustments to suit my preferences. With the slightly lesser stretch to this lace though, I could have made the lower sleeve just a smidge larger. But I do love how the motifs did match up at the cuff ends!

This is an unusual outfit for me, made up of three items that are all repeats of patterns I've made before. I don't repeat many patterns, mainly because I have a huge pattern stash and just want to try them all -- but when something works, it's worth making again. I'm going to try to get more use from my patterns by reusing the ones I really like, and this is a good start.

I hope you will be sharing a Literary Sewing Circle project this time, but if not -- you are still welcome to go back and read all the posts and comment on them if you decide to read our title in future. I've enjoyed my two projects this time, and look forward to the next round of the Literary Sewing Circle that will begin in early 2020.