This month I joined The Monthly Stitch Collective. The theme this month was “Sewing Double”. Quite a broad theme, the idea to sew something that you’d already sewed before. Must admit this was more difficult than I thought, since I have only sewed a limited number of garments. On top of that I was on holiday for a week in April and I wouldn’t get the time to sew two of the same garment in a month. I decided to create a second version of the Sorbetto top by Collette Patterns. I’d sewed a standard version of this top last month. It’s a straightforward pattern, but I thought I’d add a couple of variations to it and create it in a completely different fabric.
My inspiration came from a RTW top I saw in a shop window. It has a high-low hemline and is made from a sheer fabric (no doubt polyester).
I bought a metre of cotton-silk blend fabric from Calico for the project. I inverted the pleat and added the new hemline. The hem at the front of the top was roughly the same length as the standard Sorbetto, but at the back about 20 cm longer.
I did make a couple of extra changes to the steps, using French seams for the side and shoulder seams. I thought this would be a good precaution with this delicate fabric that frayed easily. I also increased the size of the pleat slightly to pattern match at the front of the garment.
I must admit I did struggle with the fabric somewhat. It was virtually impossible to get the creases in the self-made bias binding to stay put, they fell out somewhere between the ironing board and attaching the bias to the inside of the garment. Plus, the fabric had a nasty habit of puckering. I thought that the garment just wasn’t as crisp as my original, but then no-one is taking a magnifying glass to it! I did notice whilst window shopping a silk top with bias neckline and noticed that it wasn’t pucker free either – made me feel better about my creation anyway!
It was one of my greatest aims when starting out sewing my wardrobe to be able to use a photo, drawing or item in a shop window as inspiration for a project. So, all in all, I did feel that I had achieved something with this project.
I’ve had a few requests for more photos. I was a little rushed last night to post both my Monthly Stitch post and the one on this blog. So here we are:
And side on to see the full effect of the hem:
Steely Seamstress 
April 25, 2014 at 8:34 pm
I’ve not tried cotton-silk before. I wonder if hand sewing would help with the puckering?? That would take a lot of time, though, and I’m only JUST beginning to actually sew garments. This looks like it came out rather well overall.
April 26, 2014 at 1:35 pm
My enemy I think was rushing. I think I could have taken more care with the project and escaped the puckering issues. I guess I’ll have to embrace my top’s imperfections!
April 26, 2014 at 4:33 pm
Boy I hear you on that rushing thing – done that more times than I care to count!
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April 26, 2014 at 2:49 am
The Sorbetto is a favourite of mine, I have also just made the Sencha, they are basic tops that can be embellished and made into something special 🙂 I think the silk/cotton blend is a lovely variation, well done. As far as the puckering goes, when sewing really fine fabrics, make sure you use a new, fine, sharp needle and a walking foot is always helpful. If you find the fabric being dragged under by the feed dogs, you can put a firm tissue (like greaseproof paper) underneath the fabric to prevent this happening.
April 26, 2014 at 2:54 am
Oops, I’ve just read your skirt blog and seen that you know all those tricks…sorry!
April 26, 2014 at 1:41 pm
I had sewn a top previously which was cotton-silk blend. I’m guessing it must have been a different mix or more robust, but I had none of the puckering problems. There again it was a different pattern and it didn’t require such fiddly manipulation. Perhaps I was just rushing…completely my own fault. As for the Sencha, it’s definitely one I’m going to try. Although, I have promised to stay away from tops for a bit. I’ve made four this year alone and I think with the demise of two pairs of trousers (they wore out) I need to made some replacements before I have a trouser crisis!
April 26, 2014 at 11:57 am
Very pretty – I’ve not tried this pattern yet. I found when sewing with delicate wovens like silk or silk-cotton that reducing stitch length really helps with puckering….. I normally reduce my stitch length to 2 – experiment next time! 🙂
April 26, 2014 at 1:43 pm
That’s a trick I hadn’t heard before, but makes sense. Not sure what a stitch length of 2 means though, as I have a very old Singer machine and the stitch lengths vary from 6 to 20 (whatever that means!)
April 26, 2014 at 10:51 pm
I also have an old Singer, I think the stitch length numbers refer to the number of stitches per inch, the smaller the number, the longer the stitch length.
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